Show jumping to polo was the route to the Gay Polo League

Chip McKenney had hung up his show boots in 2006 and was looking for a new sport. He found it at the Santa Barbara Polo Club. Fast forward to this weekend when the Gay Polo League [GPL] celebrates its 15th anniversary of the International Gay Polo Tournament in Wellington, FL with finals tomorrow at Patagones Polo Club.

“I thought I’d take a polo lesson,” Chip recalled of his life-changing moment in the California sun. “And while I was taking that lesson I decided that I was going to start a gay polo league. And that was where the idea was born.”

The idea ticked two main boxes for Chip. “One, I wanted to continue my life with horses in some way, but different from show jumping,” he said. “And I also wanted to create a social network or expand the social network of LGBT people. And I thought it would be a perfect sport to do that.”

From that moment on, Chip got to work, organizing clinics, group lessons and tournaments, expanding the movement to the point that the GPL now has members in 15 countries – and working alongside his husband, polo player Gus Larrosa, Chip produces five international gay polo tournaments a year.

The Gay Polo League follows a unique format. Players sign up to play as individuals and are then assigned teams. “So we really have blended teams,” said Chip. “We have teams of really experienced players, semi- experienced players, and we try to mix it up so all teams are equal or as equal as you can make them.”

Horses are also assigned under a large operation of sourcing enough polo ponies locally as well as allocating them fairly to the teams. This year, the task falls to professional polo player Michel Dorignac, who is one of three seven-goal players to anchor teams in the tournament, with an upcoming three-goal player spearheading the fourth. “We want everyone included in the gameplay,” said Chip. “We want them to have a wonderful time and go away learning something.”

At the end of the day, the concept of the GPL is as much a social one as it is a sporting one. “Off the field, the idea behind GPL is really about camaraderie,” said Chip. “And making good friends and sharing this interest, and there’s no better way to do that than to play polo with somebody.”

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