Horses race down the field as the riders try to outreach their opponents and catch a lacrosse ball in their white woven baskets at the top of their aluminum sticks.

The game is polocrosse, a combination of the traditional horseback sport and the American Indian pastime of lacrosse. According to the American Polocrosse Association web site, the sport originated in Australia in the 1930s.

Adriane Gill, a junior in environmental science and natural resources, said she has been playing the sport since she was eleven. Gill first heard about the hybrid sport through her local pony club, Great Circle Pony Club in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania.

For Gill, polocrosse is “a family atmosphere where everybody knows everybody.” Gill said she also loves polocrosse because “it is definitely a sport in which you not only have to be in sync with your teammates, but that you also have to be totally in sync with your horse.”

Gill’s partner in competition is her horse, Posh.

Now she plays with the Carolina Polocrosse Club, which practices in both Greensboro and Southern Pines, North Carolina. She said she welcomes anyone who is interested to come give the sport a try.

Chris Younger, a senior in biological engineering and animal science, also plays the hybrid sport.

Like Gill, Younger said he first learned of polocrosse from a pony club and started playing seven years ago.

Younger said there is nothing like the feeling of playing polocrosse.

“I love the adrenaline rush that I get when you are going at full speed down the field and the companionship between you and your horse,” he said.

Known as the “King of One-Horse Sports” because a player can only use one horse for an entire tournament, Younger said this aspect differentiates the sport from polo because the horse must be in peak physical condition to endure the entire game.

Younger said he practices at the Carolina Horse Park in Hoke County, North Carolina and in Greensboro. He also competes in tournaments up and down the East Coast.

Both Gill and Younger participated in a recent tournament — polocrosse nationals hosted by the American Polo Association in Pinehurst, North Carolina on Labor Day Weekend.

According to Gill, the Carolina Polocrosse Club had twenty participants in the tournament and teams and players in every division except the Junior Division.

Gill and Younger played on the A Grade team in the tournament.

And Gill said the camaraderie is one of her favorite aspects of the game.

“I love the fact that we can play our hearts out on the field, but once the game is over relax and enjoy each others company, even though we are competing against each other,” Gill said.