Handicaps
To compete in an official fixture a player must be registered and issued with a handicap, by their governing body, to rate their play. A handicap is usually expressed in goals but has no bearing on how many goals that player can score.
The Federation of International Polo (FIP) defines the following to be measures of a player's handicap: 'horsemanship, ball control, understanding of strategy and general ability'. This also includes the range of strokes a player has and the speed of play.
Handicap's in polo run from -2 to 10 and are reviewed annually by each country's individual governing body. The figure after each team member indicates their individual handicap. Each individual player has a handicap, which means that the team then has a total handicap.
Newcomers to polo start on a -2 handicap and there are only a handful of registered players with the highest handicap you can achieve of 10 goals. Ratings are reviewed annually by local and national committees of the player's home country. According to the Federation of International Polo (FIP) two out of three players don't go above a -2.