CNN: Top-ranked polo players hail from Philly’s inner city

Work To Ride, a prevention program for Philadelphia’s at-risk youth, is turning out some of the best young polo players in the country.

On Friday, the Work To Ride men’s high school polo team will defend its championship title at the National Interscholastic Polo Championship. The team routines trounces Ivy League college teams in preseason scrimmages for practice. Last year, they beat Harvard 20-3.

The program, founded by executive director Lezlie Hiner, allows low-income youth the opportunity to ride in exchange for cleaning stalls and grooming horses. It includes about 30 horses and 20 kids ranging from age seven through high-school graduation. The stables are located in Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park.

Some of the players hope their skills will lead them out of the dangerous neighborhoods where they live and into a professional polo career.

“This is my second home, and I need to be here if I want to be something in life,” Kenshaun Walker, 15, told CNN. “This is my top way to get me out of Philadelphia.

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Thanks for Carolyn and Megan for the tip.