A chance visit and a discovery at his grandfather’s farm in Argentina proved fateful for Gaston Lucero. There, he and his brothers stumbled across old mallets and a saddle and from then on began to play polo.

“My father started playing with us too,” Gaston said. “And then he supported us from off the field. We played for many years myself and my five brothers, and my sister [show] jumped.”

Gaston was no stranger to riding as he had been riding since he was three. “When I was only 5 years old, we [he and his brothers] made a 600km horseback journey 10 days from the farm where we lived to my grandfather's farm in Cordoba,” he said. “A unique experience.”

He ran a polo school for kids and worked on the farm until a friend suggested he take the Argentine Polo Association course, to become a professional umpire. He began umpiring low goal in 2013 and five years later committed to being a full time professional.

“I was able to stay connected to the sport that I like so much,” he said. “I could work outdoors and get to know amazing places. Umpiring the best players in the world at the high goal level - living with that adrenaline gives me a lot of satisfaction.”

In his opinion being a professional umpire demands modesty. “You have to have a lot of humility and self-criticism to accept your mistakes and learn from them,” he said. “You need to be professional, to try to avoid making those mistakes.”