Winter-2017 - page 37

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DAVID LOMINSKA/POLOGRAPHICS.COM, SNOOPY PRODUCTIONS
ver the last six years I have gone from
taking one polo lesson to owning two polo
clubs, a farm in Argentina and 37 polo
ponies, hiring dozens of employees, meeting
sports champions, famous DJs, actors and
businessmen, becoming polo champion of
Switzerland, playing high-goal and making
new friends all over the world. I am amazed
by how this whirlwind has changed my life,
and that of my family, in such a short time.
Let me introduce myself. My name is
Sébastien Le Page and I am a 46-year-old
French national living in Switzerland,
married to a lovely Belgian lady and the
happy father of a 15-year-old son. When
I was 19, I took up rugby and it was my sport
of choice for many years. But at 40, rugby
was becoming painful to play and I thought
of finding another sport. By chance, I saw
Prince William’s wedding on television,
and it made me think of polo. I found
a beginner’s course at Polo Park Zürich
(PPZ) and told my wife that I wanted to try
it out. I was surprised when she told me that
all her life she had dreamed of playing polo,
but had never mentioned it. So off we went,
and we loved it from the first hit of the ball.
We took regular lessons with the
manager of Polo Park Zürich, Francisco
Podesta, who is a wonderfully enthusiastic
teacher. He is partly responsible for the
love we developed for polo, because he
introduced us to everything surrounding the
game – the atmosphere, the work and the
people. Podesta was also very smart in
holding me back at first. A few months
after our first lesson, I told him I wanted
to buy ten horses but he said no, one horse
ROBERT W KRANZ
The new clubhouse
at Polo Park Zürich
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