United States Polo Association®

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Kit Collins

Batavia, OH

Kit started playing polo in 1968, when he worked at the Houston Polo Club, for Will Farish. It was there that the late Joe Barry taught Kit how to swing a mallet and hit the ball in a wooden cage. At Joe’s suggestion, Kit went to college at New Mexico State University. In 2001, he created the first totally portable hitting cage, utilizing a mechanical horse & digital video to do computerized swing and riding analysis. Like techniques used in golf and other sports, he refers to his invention as VirtualPolo. Over the last 16 years, he has traveled with his hitting cage from San Diego to the Hamptons and from Miami to Toronto, visiting as many clubs as possible. He has also traveled with his camera and computer to Buenos Aires, Argentina & Melbourne, Australia. For many years, Kit did video analysis at the Field Cup at Cornell University to assist Umpires in the review process. Kit is also a PATH Certified Riding Instructor and has also been working with Veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder to train Wild Mustangs.

What has been one of your favorite teaching memories?
“Coaching a long-time player, (He had been playing for 40 years.) explaining to him the swing mechanics and showing him on the computer how to make that work for him. He said he had taken lesson from many High Goal Players and never understood what they were trying to get him to do. He was dumbfounded by how easy it was to make a small change for a dramatic and immediate difference.”