One of the best things in life for me is spending time with people who inspire me.
One weekend recently, I was bowled over by our friends Paul “Stalkie” Stalker and his wife and business partner, Dawn.
They invited us to watch a polo game with them - I jumped at the chance as not only does it tick my box for my “Try New Things” goal, but it fulfilled a long standing wish of mine to watch a real life polo game.
Polo combines two of my childhood loves - horses and hockey. In fact, they told me polo has been called “hockey on horseback”.
I knew nothing about it before that day, and it was fascinating getting to know the rules and background behind what I was watching.
I was so impressed by the skill of the riders and the dexterity of the horses.
Having both ridden horses and played hockey in the past, I was in awe of how the riders could spin the horses around and connect their mallets with the small ball whilst travelling at high speed, not to mention how bloody dangerous it looked with the ball flying high and fast, and mallets swinging all over the place!
Fair enough, it might be an elite sport due to the sheer cost of taking part, but hats off to anyone with the skill and guts to play that game.
Apart from my absolute delight of finally watching a real polo game, I was inspired by Stalkie and Dawn’s new path with their business.
Stalkie is a brilliant coach and motivational speaker, and Dawn controls operations in their company (as well as being a great coach in her own right.)
They’ve had huge success over the years working with companies both large and small, but in the last few years, Stalkie has pursued his interest in coaching polo teams and has quickly established himself as the leading mindset coach for the sport.
He took the England team to victory against the USA in the Westchester Cup earlier this year.
What inspired me most was hearing him say how he found it hard to get going in the world of polo to begin with. It was a new sector for him, and he had to put in a huge amount of effort to become known and trusted.
However, Stalkie had faith in his ability to make a difference to the teams, and he and Dawn kept pushing to make things happen, often sacrificing time together as Stalkie has had to do a huge amount travelling, but their investment of time, energy and focus has paid off and they are both excited to be on the next chapter of their business together.
I heard a great adaptation to a common phrase today that reminded me of Stalkie’s tenacity to get into the world of polo:
Instead of “Fake it till you make it” which is a phrase I dislike because it smacks of deception, use the phrase “Face it till you make it”.
Face the fears, face the dip of confidence you might feel, and face the worry of wasting your time in pursuit of something that feels difficult to begin with.
Keep going, and have faith in yourself until you get results.
It feels like a much more useful, positive phrase to me.
I’ll definitely be watching more polo games, and following Raise Polo’s success with great interest in the future - and if you want a taste of what polo mindset coaching looks like, then go to www.raisepolo.com to see their testimonials.
I’ve definitely been inspired to raise my game after spending time with these little legends!