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Teen becomes first black woman to ride in U.S. polo’s highest league

Teen becomes first black woman to ride in U.S. polo’s highest league

Shariah Harris made history on June 30th when she became the first African-American woman to play high-goal polo, the top tier of polo in the U.S.

The 19-year-old Cornell University sophomore rode with her team, the Postage Stamp Farm team, in the Silver Cup tournament at the end of last month.

“It’s great. Everything’s going by really fast, actually so it’s been great. This is something I’ve always wished I could do but never thought would happen. It’s pretty amazing,” she told the Huffington Post

She explained that her love of polo came from a wrong turn that her mother took while driving when Harris was 8 or 9, leading them to drive past the grounds where black children were riding horses. They discovered that the kids were there as part of a program called Work to Ride, where disadvantaged children were given the chance to learn to ride and in exchange did chores around the barn.

“As a mother of three children on a single income, I saw it as an opportunity to make their lives better,” her mom, Sharmell Harris, told the Hartford Courant. “Instead of a soccer mom, I became a barn mom.”

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Harris fell in love with riding and polo in particular, joining the organization’s team and then Cornell’s team once she got to college. It was through Work to Ride’s program, which allowed her to travel for polo games, that she met the owner of the Postage Stamp Farm team, Annabelle Garrett, in Argentina.

Garrett had recently broken her back before this year’s tournament, and when she saw Harris’ talent, she recruited her for the team, completely unaware that it was a history-making decision.

“What we’re doing is taking someone who’s played high school, middle school basketball and throwing them into the NBA, right? And I think she has surprised everyone,” Garrett said. “I think everybody is so impressed with how she’s handled it and how she’s really kind of… asked us for coaching, asked us how she can get better, asked how she can, you know, really wanting to do well. Not just to prove to herself but for the team. And it’s a huge learning curve… she’s really taken on the challenge and excelled.”

As for Harris, the attention she has received for making history has surprised her, and she said that she really just enjoys playing, admitting that she has not quite been able to get her head around how big her role in history is.

“All this came popping up, like ‘you’re the first African American female to do this,’ and I’m like, ’Oh. Well that’s great, too, but I just wanted to go out there and play. It’s kinda great that I’m making history as well,” she said.

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