Costs, Safety and Insurance

Peter

5 years ago

One of the things that the Covid-19 pandemic has caused is a worldwide increase in freight and material costs. Many businesses tried to absorb the cost increases to ride out the pandemic, but two years into it, we are seeing prices rise across the board. This inflation is something we have to accept won’t get rolled back.

With prices expected to rise between 8% & 10% in 2022, Zack’s Tack is offering an Argentine helmet and Lascano boots promotion, keeping it at last year’s prices. Players may also customize their helmets and boots with their initials, at no extra cost.

KL Academy of Polo started the year with Friday Instructional Chukkas on 7th January. These are introductory, instructional chukkas for new players where fouls and positioning are explained. Two new players, Ben Palmer and Angela Chang scored on their debuts.

After that FRIC, I made the point that we have to be much more safety conscious. From now on, everyone who plays in our FRICs to wear proper boots and knee pads, which are mandatory for use in polo. I also strongly encouraged everyone to use safety eye-wear (shatterproof lenses), elbow guards and even mouth guards. There really isn’t any excuse for not exercising maximum safety standards – horse sports are dangerous enough.

I am very pleased that KL Academy of Polo has been able to secure Group Personal Accident insurance coverage for our riders and players, that specifically covers the ‘high risk’ sports of equestrian and polo. The insurance coverage was very difficult to get, and I am very proud that, through MPI Generali, we are able to offer this to our riders and polo players. This is done through an annual rider registration and group personal accident insurance scheme.

The Group Personal Accident insurance, from 1st January to 31st December 2022 is charged to each rider as a yearly registration fee of RM250.00 by KL Academy of Polo annually. Anyone who has their own insurance for riding may choose to opt out of this scheme.

In addition, KL Academy of Polo has an agreement with the International Polo Academy (IPA), an online polo & equestrian portal which is associated with the Federation of International Polo, Hurlingham Polo Association (HPA), Argentine Association of Polo and US Polo Association. KL Academy of Polo will provide free annual access to this portal to all riders and polo players who register with us through our annual registration and insurance scheme.

Our Malaysian channel of the IPA will provide access to hundreds of eLearning videos, online magazines, and even certification in some HPA online courses.

The charge is RM50.00 per year if anyone wishes to have access to the KLAP-IPA website without registering with our insurance scheme.

We are the first of offer riding and polo insurance coverage. Most riders don’t realise that horse riding is considered a high risk sport by insurance companies, and are specifically excluded in most personal accident insurance coverage. It has actually taken a few years of work, through insurance brokerage firms. As I said, I am mighty proud that we have been able to get at all. I hope that the industry will recognise and support this initiative.

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