Source Sports Exclusive: Interview with African Polo Player Neku Atawodi

Neku Atawodi is the first African Female International Polo Player.

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Being the first female African professional polo player to compete on the International Stage.  How does that feel? 

I’m more just really pleased to be able to do what I love, and get paid for it.

What inspired you to play polo? How did you learn?

I studied equestrian science at University. So, before that I was absolutely obsessed with horses. I was literally obsessed. Then, I met my coach David Anderson and he pretty much raised me in polo.  He’s about seventy something now so he has stopped teaching people and he met me and I was again, really obsessed. I was about thirteen/fourteen when I started playing which in the life of a professional sports person is kind of late.  So,  I say to anyone you can start doing what you love regardless of how old you are.

You are Nigerian. How did your family feel about you wanting to play polo?

I think they just came around to the idea, literally like last week. I told my mom “I’m traveling to Florida” and she said, “Do you have to go? It’s really cold out there.”  I said, “Yeah, but I’m going to Florida” and my mom said “I heard it’s snowing in Florida.” I told her  ”Mum, it’s definitely not snowing there.”

Well especially being a female, right?

Yes and being African. It’s actually walking a path that no one has walked, so they cannot look to anyone and be like “How is this going to turn out for her, might she do well ?”  The only person I was able to put them to was a natural figure (laughs). But for them my dad is a tennis player and a pilot, so you would think he’s used to dangerous stuff, but no they thought I should be in a kitchen.

Not many females are into the polo sport why do you think that is? Do you think that will change?

Female polo is probably the FASTEST GROWING market at the moment. Sponsors prefer female polo…I also  think women becoming more encouraged to do that as the world comes to a stage where everyone looks at themselves as equal to men and there is no stereotypical roles anymore. We’re trying to break them then everyone can play polo. There really are a lot more women now.

You have a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree. Can you speak more about your studies?

As I said prior, with my bachelor’s degree, I studied in equestrian sports, so I studied about horses and science of horses. For my masters, I studied international business management, because as much as I knew about horses, you still need to make some money. I own a hotel back home now and I really wanted  to look into that side of things, so I thought it was important to be well educated.

Speaking of style How would you describe your polo style and your personal style?

My Mom describes it as “Neku has no in between.”  I dress like either a bum or really dressed up there is no in between. I’m mostly in gym clothes.

It’s the most comfortable.

It really is, and if I have a game then I probably spend the whole day in my polo clothes. Right after I’m done playing I get accustomed to going to watch a different friend’s game so I get comfortable staying in my whites. I’m also working with “La Martina,” an Argentian polo brand, and I love their clothes, so I mostly wear their stuff.

What has been both your proudest and toughest moment as a Polo Player?

My proudest moments are working on “Ride to Shine,” the charity I founded. It helps younger children, especially orphans, to get into polo by giving them a chance to ride the horses.  Seeing the kids making improvements every single day is so rewarding. The smallest things they do are such big milestones. For one kid named John, my horse Charlie threw him off the first time and we were all really worried. And the next time he was on it, Charlie tried the same thing and John just had him so under control and didn’t fall off! And John is just a little four year old controlling the same horse I play polo on and he put him in check. So to see the little growths that they have is amazing and I can’t wait to see what they do in the future. I am really, really proud of them honestly and I think your toughest moment is always having to encourage yourself. For me, my only competition I guess or your speed bump has been my insecurities…So having to always overcome that.  Like sometimes when I play in Nigeria, I get really nervous cause I feel like everyone’s watching you. Sometimes it’s like people come out just to see this “African girl” play polo they just want to watch you and so you feel like if you let them down, you let so many people down. That used to be quite tough for me and it still is, but having to go out of being in your head so much, has been my toughest obstacle.

Can you tell us more about the organization you have?

We officially registered about two years  ago. I was doing it for quite a while before that. I was working with kids in football because initially I didn’t even think we could do it with polo. I was worried about bringing African orphans into a sport like polo and as I said my insecurity has always been; “ what will people think about me? How will this go down”. So when we registered, that was about two years ago and the kids have been riding ever since then.

What advice do you have for any younger girls who have the same aspirations as you?

Stay really persistent if you believe in it try to make it work for you.  I look at this surfer girl that I really find quite fascinating her name is “Bethany Hamilton” and she lost her arm during a shark attack. You would think that someone like that would quit because you need your arm to balance while surfing but with persistency she’s become a big inspiration for many young girls to look up to. So I think if you stay persistent, persistency brings about dedication and hard work in which you would achieve what you set out to do.

What can we look forward or expect from you in the near future?

Last year we started a “Polo for a cause” event.  Basically we play polo in a different city around the world and we pick different charities local to that city. We did it in Atlanta last year, so we are looking forward to doing it again this year and in many different cities . We love to help out other charities because “Rides to Shine” doesn’t collect donations. So we get all this attention that we don’t collect money from people, so we like to use it to help other worthy causes, so we look forward to that being a much bigger thing.

-Jasmine Clarke