Inside SoCal: Trotting to a Different Beat (4/21)

TROTTING TO A DIFFERENT BEAT

At the California Polo Club, you can come and learn how to play one of the fastest growing team sports in the country: Polo. At their club, it's a family of sorts with welcoming arms, dispelling any notice of elitism.

CALIFORNIA POLO CLUB

Rodney Fragodt fell in love with polo right after moving to California for school, but he wasn't expecting his rodeo-turned-polo arena to gain so much interest. Yet, the California Polo Club kept growing its membership, and continues to do so nearly 30 years later. Perhaps why members keep joining is because it's exactly what you want in a club: welcoming, affordable, familial; and nothing you don't: snobby, unkempt, unhappy employees. Rodney prides himself on the quality of instruction thanks to Kirsten Ludwig and her unique approach to teaching (she is a molecular biology professor by day with impressive polo lineage), and the quality of the facility. He grooms the arena himself with his tractor as if it were his own personal Zen garden. He's a retired fund manager and did well for himself throughout his career, but his Minnesotan roots seem happiest outside of an office building and among the horses and their riders, watching joyfully as his club members trot around his perfectly groomed arena.

California Polo Club

11035 Osborne Street

Los Angeles, California 91342

626-629-8193

californiapoloclub@gmail.com