Hazel Jackson

Hazel:

So basically, we always had horses in the family, and so yeah, I tried all the disciplines when I was younger, but as soon as I played polo, that was the best. I was completely addicted to that and nothing else really interested me. And then as I grew older, 16, 17, I had like three horses and started playing as much as I could. My mum drove me everywhere, and from then it took off. I started making my own horses, travelling, grooming, driving lorries, playing, making my own horses, everything. So that's how it all started. When I was about, I think, 10 years old, I tried it. I don't really come from a Polo family.

I don't really come from a Polo family. We have always had horses at home because we live in the New Forest in England, which is a national park. So my mum would always have horses to go hunting or to go hacking in the forest. Luckily there was a local Polo Club which had no sand, no water, no boards. So that's where we started. And from there, yeah, from there I got a horse called Small for my 21st birthday. But before then I had one or two for my brother, which he just handed down to me and I got one off the track, which I started making. So a bit of everything.

I definitely think that talent can overcome sort of backing. I think it's a lot more difficult and you need to be lucky enough to find someone who's got a big organisation or to find those opportunities to help you. Yeah, it's very much, you need to be seen, you need to be there, you need to be shown that you're hardworking and enthusiastic to learn. You need to be useful. So yeah, I think it's a lot of patience and luckily there are these big organisations where they can help you. But like I said, it's pretty tough and I think this day and age it's getting tougher because the Argentine families, for example, are so big. A lot of the younger generation are coming through and the organisations get handed down to them. But like I said, there's definitely a way, like UAE were fundamental for me. They helped me in my career like for the last six years. So, you know, if you're lucky you can land on your feet and find someone like that who are super loyal and I think, yeah, that's priceless.

I think the biggest challenge, obviously, in facing Polo is getting people to respect you and take you seriously, and luckily the Women's Polo has really kicked off and it's very competitive and it's a great sport now in itself. But for me the biggest thing which I have found really difficult is obviously just spending all of my money on horses. You know, I'm in my 30s and I still don't own a house and have a lot of travelling. So basically you travel a lot and this means a lot of sacrifices in those respects. But it's obviously all worth it. So yeah, I think the biggest challenge is having just so many sacrifices. For people who don't come from a wealthy background, you know - at the age of 30´s, I would have loved to have my own house and my own car in each country, and I would love to be in one place, but that's a sacrifice we have to take, and you travel a lot, you spend a lot of time on aeroplanes and moving places and living out of a suitcase. Like I said, I wouldn't change it for the world, but yeah, I think that's the toughest challenge. The other thing why it's also tough is obviously I'm 34 now, I'd love to think about children, but at the same time when you get offered a high goal job, of course I don't want to sit down for a year. So that's a really tough situation for girls. I mean, who's going to want to sit down, miss a year of your career when you get offered to play in the high goal? It's impossible. So I think that's always a situation. The other thing is obviously for women, we're not going to get paid when we have children. It's not like we have maternity leave. So I think that's also a big issue.

I don't think there was a moment when I ever wanted to give up. Of course there have been times when I've lost games and I feel really bad and I struggle a lot myself. If I lose a game, I dwell in it or I think about it for weeks, months. The first few days, my poor boyfriend, he gets the shit. He gets all my anger and frustration. But no, I've never wanted to give up because I feel like I've been really lucky in my career that opportunities keep coming, which I do think comes from hard work and discipline. And I keep sacrificing and spending all my money on horses. And now I have a nice base in Argentina and in England of horses. So yeah, now it's kind of paid off. I think I always just want to win. To be honest, the handicaps, I don't mind. I prefer to be lower handicap at winning tournaments. I don't care if I'm 10 goals, 9 goals, 1 goals, anything. But for me, the most important thing is to win trophies. That's my main, main vision.

During the season, obviously pre-season is different, but I'll be in the gym probably six days a week. Doing everything between weights, cardio, reactions, mobility, yoga, two sessions of yoga per week, and then sticking with whatever I can. The thing is we'll usually have maybe two practices a week, plus two games a week, roughly on average, so it depends. But yeah, in general, gym every day, and there'll always be some sort of riding or sticking ball or practice in the afternoon.

I think my proudest moment so far was last year, getting asked to play the High Goal and being paid as a professional, as a female professional, which in England hasn't happened before in the High Goal. This year is also the same. And another highlight of my career was winning the Royal Windsor in 2019 with the UAE Polo, and we met the Queen at the prize-giving. That was with Jacinto Crotto, Tomas Panelo, and Lucas Monteverde Jr., all because of Sheikha Maitha, who helped us put the team together. There's many, many moments which I've loved. Obviously, winning the Argentine Ladies Open is one of the big highlights every year as such, something which we all as girls aim for. But yeah, there's plenty. Captaining the England team, I've just recently been named the new official captain of the English ladies in general. So that's a massive step in my career as well. Super happy to help represent my country, not necessarily play, but help choose teams and try and help the younger generation come through.

I don't really mentally prepare for big tournaments. Of course I get nervous and try and distract myself, but simple things, watching series or just trying to live the most normal life as possible is the best way to keep us grounded and keep us distracted. But yeah, of course in the zone, whenever I have a big game, I like to stick and ball a couple of horses in the morning, so I'm ready for the afternoon. I love watching the opponents and I will always watch their games, study the players, team meetings, make sure that we're super prepared with all the tactics so I know exactly what I'm doing when I arrive to the field. I usually always make my list the night before, so then the day of the game I have nothing to worry about, I just have to arrive to the field. But mentally, I don't really practice anything, I just go and play and that's it. Of course, just stay concentrated and not get distracted.

I think it's incredible when you go to, especially Argentina. I've just come from there recently and the level and the amount of girls playing now is phenomenal. The thing which has changed so much is the organizations and the amount of horses and good horses which has improved the level. Some of the big tournaments now, you know, it's quite expensive to play and organize a team because you're competing against the best of the best, which is brilliant. I think it's great that we can give women the opportunity to play some seriously good Polo and show what we're capable of. And I hope it carries on. I I think there's a big future for female in Polo. I also love the fact that, you know, I've had a lot of luck in the men's Polo and I've seen that Cata Lavinia and Milly Hine are also playing the 15 goal here in England this summer. And I think it's great that the girls are getting used to the mixed Polo as well. I think we're very disciplined and we listen and we learn quickly. So, yeah, I think we're on fire. Yeah, I'd like to see more international matches and a higher level of ladies' Polo. The most important thing for what I see in ladies' Polo, and what I'd like them to change, is I'd like the umpires to umpire us more like men's and more like high goal Polo, so that they let us play a bit more. I feel like they've been a little bit restrictive with that. They're just a bit too sensitive on the whistle against us, I personally think, instead of letting the game flow. Because obviously we don't hit the ball as far as the men, so it gets a little bit more stickier in general. But I would love to see the level of umpiring improve in the future and let the girls do their thing.

No, I definitely feel... I mean, I feel supported in the fact that I've had a lot of help by UAE over my career. And thank God to Lucas and Lucas Madureira and Mayfair that they help me also with... always with flights for horses and wintering horses and giving me horses. So that for me is... that's been a massive help. But I don't think I'd be where I am today without them and a number of other people. But I definitely feel, yeah, I need to keep still... I mean, obviously in the mix part, I'm here in England where I've got my mainstream and in Argentina. I definitely feel like I still need to prove myself. But I think, you know, last year playing the High Goal I think was great. And I think the guys are beginning to respect me as such and treat me like another male professional as such. And to be honest, I've never ever been disrespected by a male player, in fact, the majority of them are all very, very positive and helpful and encouraging. I also never stop learning, so I'm always open and always asking questions, so yeah, that's important.

For the young girls who are dreaming of playing professionally, I just think it's a non-stop job. It's a lot of work, a lot of hard work, on and off the field. You need to be prepared to give your everything. And never stop taking lessons and never stop asking for bigger players. It's always good to ask for opportunities and ask for help, ask for feedback. I think it's doable, but I think you need to be fully 100% committed and accept that you need to be super professional. No drinking, no partying, a lot of sacrifice when travelling and such. But like I said, it's the most amazing, incredible sport, I couldn't ask for anything else. So of course it pays off, but you need to be prepared to give everything.

My social life, my personal life, unfortunately, is quite non-existent. I don't see my family as much as I would like to. Especially in the big organizations, you've got to be there at the yard. You need to be there with everyone to find out what's going on the next day. So it's not like you can just shoot off whenever you want. I've missed a lot of weddings and christenings and big events like that, birthday parties, because I have always being away or being far from home. So that really sucks, to be honest. Luckily, my boyfriend is kind of like my stick. He gets it. He's Polo player, so he's at the end of the phone the whole time. So whenever he can, he can come visit me. But I think it's really important to surround yourself with a nice group of people and know exactly who your real friends are. Whatever happens on the field, stays on the field - especially in the ladies' Polo, because there's a lot of really nice girls. I think we're quite good at, you know, whatever happens on the field stays on the field and we all have a good time afterwards. I think that's really important. Of course we're all competitive and of course we get angry at opposite players, but that's sport. That's completely normal. So it's good to have a cold head. And like I said, keep your close friends close and keep them nice and loyal. Because they play a big part, especially in a sport which genuinely is quite lonely by the time you travel so much. So yeah, I would love to, especially now I'm getting older, I think I would love to put a little bit more effort into going home to see my family whenever I can. And also taking holidays, which we never do. It's difficult because the season's go from season to season. I think that's just as important to be honest.

I think off-field passions is literally just catching up with my friends, going back to my village, going for a walk in the forest because we live in the New Forest, it's a national park, dog walks with friends, you know, going to the pub with my local old school friends which I never see. That's for me one of the most important things, and I rarely get to do it. I rarely get to see them, so for me, that for me is literally gold dust. And having my girls, my girl groups on my WhatsApp, having those guys on tap is just, that's the most important.

The Polo community, um, I mean, of course, like, now I'm older, like, I feel, you know, a lot of it is business, a lot of you got to think about it. A lot of people are your colleagues, you play with one people, one person, one year, and you'll be against them the next year, so sometimes it's really difficult to keep friendly relationships, but I'm a bit more honest and open in those respects. I think it's important to have close friends, and it doesn't matter about the sport as such. I think friendships is obviously more important, and I think it's really important to keep you grounded in those respects, It doesn't matter who you play with, what patron, in which team, it shouldn't change who you are, or who you say hello to - that's one of my pet hates. When you play with someone one year and the next year you see them and they don't even say hello, just because they're in a different organization, a different team - I hate it! I think it's fake. So yeah, but the Polo community in general is an amazing bunch of people. I personally just can't believe how much appreciation there is for the younger generation coming up now. They're so talented and have the most incredible opportunities. There are boys now at 13, 14 years old, who have done more in their career than I have done in 34 years. So, of course, it's quite tough to see and I really hope they appreciate how lucky they are, because for anyone to have horses just there in your backyard or hand it to you on a plate I just really hope they have a big appreciation, because there's a lot of people who would love to be in their position.  So that's why I think it's always really, really important to stay humble, stay grateful, and appreciate what you've got. Like I said, the younger generations now are coming up with very, very incredible organizations organized by their fathers or families. So I think especially with those big organizations it´s amazing. It would be nice to see, you know, if they can help out some players who don't have that backing, you know, people like myself. Unfortunately, I don't have enough horses to help other people, but I would love to see - I would love to see more people in my position get a bit more help in the future.

A heartfelt thank you, Hazel, for such an open and warm-hearted interview!

Many thanks to the photograpers:

Paul Grove www.paulrgrove.com

Tatjana Frayssinet Instagram

Pablo Ramirez Instagram

Private pics by Hazel Jackson Instagram

ENPOLO