Sarah Ramsey remembers the day her son came home with exciting but odd news.
Quinn Ramsey, a 14-year-old at B.E.S.T. Academy, where he plays football while fighting his way into an honors class, wanted to take up a new sport: polo.
“My kids grew up playing traditional sports and I never would have thought polo would be one of them,” Sarah Ramsey said. “It is a traditionally white sport and I have never seen Black people play polo.”
Credit: Jim Blackburn for the AJC
Credit: Jim Blackburn for the AJC
Yet, on a recent sunny Sunday afternoon, Sarah Ramsey found herself at the luxurious Bouckaert Farm in Fairburn, wearing a floral dress to watch her son and his Black teammates from B.E.S.T. Academy take on a team from the prestigious Congressional Polo Club in the Washington, D.C. suburbs.
“It is beautiful out here,” Sarah Ramsey said. “It’s something we would have never thought of.”
The idea of introducing a group of Black kids from Atlanta to the so-called “Sport of Kings” came from fashion designer and polo player Miguel Wilson.
Credit: Jim Blackburn for the AJC
Credit: Jim Blackburn for the AJC
Wilson grew up in Washington, D.C., where his great-grandmother, who made about $11,000 a year, paid for his riding lessons. Wilson said it was on horse farms in Maryland that he was first exposed to white people.
“I was somewhat embarrassed because I knew the environment I was returning to wasn’t anything like the ones they came from,” Wilson said. “Their conversation is very different. They had access to things we didn’t. Many of them had their own horses at that barn. That’s the life-changing part because once you see it, you can’t unsee it.”
Credit: Jim Blackburn for the AJC
Credit: Jim Blackburn for the AJC
In 2020, two years after starting a group called Ride to the Olympics introducing Black kids to equestrian sports, Wilson helped organize the Morehouse College Polo team. It was considered the first such squad at an HBCU.
Wilson said he always dreamed of building a network of high schools to grow the sport. The perfect place to start was B.E.S.T. Academy, the all-boys Atlanta public school started in 2007.
Credit: Jim Blackburn for the AJC
Credit: Jim Blackburn for the AJC
There are 275 boys in the schools from grades six through 12. Most are African American.
“I wanted to start our inaugural team at B.E.S.T. Academy because it is the exact demographic I want to serve most — underprivileged Black boys,” said Wilson, who worked with 100 Black Men of Atlanta to get the team going. “Black boys are the most underserved in our community. If you look at it from the standpoint of a finish line, they are the furthest away from an opportunity like this.”
Credit: Jim Blackburn for the AJC
Credit: Jim Blackburn for the AJC
The idea of the polo team at B.E.S.T. Academy predates first-year principal Robert Williams, but he is all-in. Last spring, 100% of the 40 graduating seniors were accepted into college, and programs like polo only enhance their experiences and resumes.
“Anything that our students are interested in, we want to provide them opportunities to excel and be around professionals that can help accelerate them in that particular endeavor,” Williams said. “It is letting them know that anything is possible. No matter what their dream is, it is achievable.”
Credit: Jim Blackburn for the AJC
Credit: Jim Blackburn for the AJC
The B.E.S.T. Academy’s inaugural game against a seasoned team from the Congressional Polo Club in Maryland was the centerpiece of Wilson’s 7th Annual Atlanta Fashion and Polo Classic.
If polo is a sport for whites, you would not have known it.
Surrounding the polo field were dozens of stark white tents, each hosting an array of well-appointed Black people.
Credit: Jim Blackburn for the AJC
Credit: Jim Blackburn for the AJC
The women wore hats, high heels, and glamorous sundresses. The men wore tailored suits in green, lilac and white. They enjoyed cigars, lobster tails and top-shelf liquor. Valets fought over who would park expensive cars.
Credit: Jim Blackburn for the AJC
Credit: Jim Blackburn for the AJC
“Polo, they say, is a sport of kings and it’s attached to luxury,” said Modupe Adesanya, an adult player who grew up in Nigeria, where the game is popular, but didn’t start playing until he moved to the United States. “Seeing people of color getting into the game at a young age is a very welcome initiative and it’s a way to bring equity among people of color.”
Before the match started, Quinn Ramsey grabbed a horse named Bosco and walked with him. Holding the reigns, Quinn Ramsey broke out into a trot to get a feel for the horse. His teammates, dressed in white and red jerseys, joined him.
“This has helped me with my discipline and how to listen, because when you’re on the horse there are a lot of steps that you have to follow,” Quinn Ramsey said. “It feels good because the horses actually listen to you, and you can build a relationship with a horse because they are good animals.”
Credit: Jim Blackburn for the AJC
Credit: Jim Blackburn for the AJC
The players on the B.E.S.T. Academy team play other sports, like basketball, football, and track, yet many of them had never been on a horse before joining the polo team. They were learning to ride horses as they learned polo.
“This is a great experience for my growth and knowledge of different things,” said Caleb Choice Sanchez. “But this is a very unique experience, because this is my first experience with a horse, let alone riding it and playing polo.”
Credit: Jim Blackburn for the AJC
Credit: Jim Blackburn for the AJC
At the start of the match, both teams marched in single-file lines to the middle of the 300-yard field. They were introduced and four players from each team were assigned a horse.
Credit: Jim Blackburn for the AJC
Credit: Jim Blackburn for the AJC
Both teams cantered up and down the field, pushing the ball across the grass and navigating their horses while swinging mallets. A deejay doubled as the play-by-play announcer, keeping the crowd informed.
“Representation matters with anything, so it is important for my young Black kings to be out here,” said Rashida Prioleau, whose sons Justin and Noah play for the Congressional Polo Club. “They are showing that polo is for everyone.”
At the final whistle, B.E.S.T. Academy lost their first-ever polo match 5-0.
Credit: Jim Blackburn for the AJC
Credit: Jim Blackburn for the AJC
That didn’t matter. They dismounted their horses, got food and drinks, and soaked in the moment as they watched the adult match.
“This right here represents the American dream and a reality for a lot of people because it hasn’t been always real to most of us,” Wilson said. “This is something that gives us a glimpse of saying, ‘Maybe.’”
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