UNION — Quinn Evans has turned a gap-year pursuit into a passionate career goal.

The Union High School graduate was a three-sport athlete in football, basketball and baseball, but when he graduated in 2017, he wasn’t sure college was the right next step for him. He decided to try one of his sport passions, but it was not on the gridiron, court or diamond — it was polo.

That’s right, the kid from Eastern Oregon was going to try to make a go of it in the sport with horses, mallets and a ball.

“I grew up riding horses and both of my parents (George and Annetta) and my grandfather played polo,” Evans said. “My parents did it for a hobby and my grandfather, Rube, played at New Mexico Military Institute in high school and college.”

Evans played at the La Grande Polo Club just outside of La Grande growing up and traveled to Tacoma and Spokane, Washington, to play when he wasn’t busy in one of his other sport endeavors. It wasn’t until he graduated that his interest turned serious.

“I didn’t know what I wanted to do after school, so my mom convinced me to take a gap year and play polo,” he said.

Now, Evans travels from coast to coast and internationally playing polo. He spends significant time in California, Texas and Florida and the past two summers in Argentina, a polo hotbed.

Working his way up

Evans has spent the last three years working with the Coca-Cola Polo Team, trying to work his way up the ranks of one of the top teams.

“I work in the background as a horse trainer,” he said. “I play practice games and ride horses.”

His days begin at 5 a.m. and out to the barn by 6 a.m. to exercise the horses. He will practice with the team three to four times a week and also get a workout in for himself.

Evans is a 1 handicap on a scale of -2 to 10, and each polo team is made up of four individuals with a handicap that equals 22 combined among the four players.

“Playing in tournaments helps raise your handicap, and a lot of people go to Argentina because the level of polo is so good and there are so many horses down there,” he said.

Even with his sports background, Evans said polo is physically demanding on both the rider and the horse. It requires a lot of core strength with plenty of arm strength to direct the horse and hit the ball with a mallet.

“You have to be able to ride horses at 20-30 mph and also be able to stop them, so it takes a lot of strength and cardio,” he said.

Polo consists of four to six, 7-1/2-minute periods, called chukkers. Players score by driving the ball between the opposing team’s goal posts using a bamboo mallet, and the team with the highest score wins. At the highest level, two to three horses are needed for each rider to complete a chukker on a field that measures 300-by-150 yards, enough for nine football fields.

A big opportunity

Evans, 24, got his first chance at playing in a major tournament in February when he got the call to join the La Dolfina team for the C.V. Whitney Cup at the National Polo Center in Wellington, Florida. He was part of a four-person team that went 3-1 in bracket play and advanced to the finals before finishing as the runner-up.

“It was a big accomplishment because I haven’t been playing as many tournaments, so to be able to play in one of the three biggest tournaments in the United States is huge,” he said. “I had to try out three of four times with them before I made it and it was a great experience.”

Evans said he faced arguably the greatest polo player ever in the final, who still is performing at 48 years old. He said his many practice games had him ready, but the speed and intensity were something to get used to at the highest level. It was a learning experience he expects will benefit him in the future.

“I want to become a regular player with a team, and hopefully this opens some doors for me to continue playing,” he said.