Robin Sanchez has two things that make her unique to the professional umpire program. Firstly, she is the only full-time professional female umpire and secondly, she has been in the program longer than any of her peers.

“I always tell everybody I’ve been in polo since disco was cool,” said Robin who has been riding all her life and who umpired as soon as she had an understanding of the game. “My dad started polo as an adult in the '70s and then pretty soon the rest of the family was playing polo in Oklahoma and Texas.”

Robin’s father ran multiple polo clubs including Willow Bend Polo Club and Royal Palm and embedded in his daughter the idea that umpiring was a duty. “He instilled in us that you should do the best job you can umpiring someone else’s game then you can expect them to do the best job they can when they are umpiring your game,” she said.

Initially certified in 1985, Robin became a fully professional umpire in 2015 but had been umpiring in the interscholastic and intercollegiate program and other polo games prior to that, as well as running and umpiring the PTF Florida Junior Polo Program for 7 years.

One of the aspects of umpiring she enjoys most is passing on the craft. “I would rather umpire lower goal polo where I can do the rules reviews and clinics and where I feel like I helped someone’s game.” She also likes umpiring in the Arena at all levels “because the quickness of the game is especially challenging.”

Umpiring at the lower levels, Robin is often the sole professional and takes the field mostly with an amateur umpire.

What does it take to be a professional umpire? “An even temperament, a confident rider, decision making and multi-tasking abilities - and you have to be a good teammate with your other umpire, that’s super important.”