Belgian pastor wants to develop polo in the US

Combining his skills as a youth pastor and professional athlete, Belgian polo player Horace Henriot hopes the lessons he offers this spring will stick in central Ohio, This Week’s Marla K Kuhlman reports. The 36-year-old wants to make the sport he loves available to everyone via his business, Play Polo. Henriot started playing polo in Belgium as a boy and turned professional in the US when he was 19. He has trained in Argentina with some of the world’s best players and played competitively in Europe and throughout the US. Though Henriot stopped playing professional polo a decade ago so he could study theology, he’s returning to competition this season with the Columbus Polo Club. He and his American wife, Tina, and their three children moved from Belgium to the US about seven weeks ago. “I felt this was the right time and place to get back into polo,” he said. “It will be helpful for teaching. I hope this will draw some new blood into the sport.” Although he’s initially targeting more affluent areas to give lessons, Henriot would eventually like to introduce polo to inner-city youths who couldn’t otherwise afford it. “Our eventual goal is to provide access to kids who couldn’t afford polo,” he said. “We would like to create a structure to support that.” He said Play Polo was committed to being a voice of hope by adding value to the world through giving, serving and advocating for causes that matter. Henriot said polo hadn’t flourished in this area because the infrastructure wasn’t sufficient to support it. “It needs a place with a stable and field,” he said. “I’m trying to find ways to partner with someone who wants polo in their facility. By the autumn, we hope to have a partnership for an indoor facility to go year-round. That’s key.”