Along the Sideboards
By Alex Webbe
January 11, 2010
Horses are filling the stables and players are setting up house for the winter season in Wellington. The International Polo Club, Gulfstream Polo Club, Port Mayaca Polo Club, the Hobe Sound Polo Club, Sunlight Ranch, Palm City Polo Club (Boca Raton) and the El Sur Polo Club (arena) have all attracted their own followers as the South Florida season opens its first month of competition.
The 20-goal Patagones team of Gonzalo Avendano, Julio Gracida, Carlos Gracida and Carlos Avendano took top honors in the 2010 Iglehart Cup in a very close, 8-7 win over EFG Bank (Jim Whisenand, Andres Weisz, Pancho Bensadon and Luis Escobar). Julio Gracida was named MVP while Carlos Gracida’s Yesterday received Best Playing Pony honors.
Nine teams have entered the 20-goal Joe Barry Memorial Cup with opening game going to the Hawks (Julian Mannix, Fred Mannix, Jr., Mariano Aguerre and Cachi Garcia) in a 15-8 rout of Lechuza Caracas (Victor Vargas, Santi Torres, Nicolas Espain and Guille Aguero).
Mariano Aguerre remains the only 10-goaler in the early IPC season, but by the time the 26-goal season begins in February, seven more 10-goalers will be on hand for the balance of the season including Adolfo Cambiaso, Facundo and Gonzalito Pieres, Juan Martin Nero, Pablo MacDonough, Lolo Castagnola and Eduardo Novillo Astrada.
In an effort to identify talented young American players and to provide them with medium and high-goal playing opportunities to learn from some of the best professional players in the game, competing alongside them and working with them to become more advanced polo players.
After receiving 73 applications from young polo players across the country the USPA selected 24 qualified individuals for the new Team USA program. Team USA candidates are from 19 to 25-years-old and represent a wide range of polo backgrounds from across the country.
They are: Trevor Allen, Belinda Brody, Jake Brown, Chris Collins, Devon Dailey, Christina Fernandez, Taylor Freeman, Carlos Galindo, Nicolai Galindo, Calixto Garcia, Matthew Huckeba, Steve Kruger, Nicholas Morrison, Robert Payne, Meghan Shader, C. B. Schereer, Jared Sheldon, Josh Shelton, Molly Smith, Nick Snow, Jacob Stimmel, William Tankard, Collin White and Mason Wroe.
Candidates will attend a three-day training and evaluation event February 13-15 in Wellington, Florida. The training and evaluation seminar will include three mounted sessions and a coached series of matches. There will be no cost for any of the participants for the three-day event and funding eill be provided for travel expenses to Florida.
Of the 24 attendees at the training and evaluation event, six to eight players will be selected to move on for an internship/apprenticeship with a top-ranked polo professional.
There’s finally going to be some organized activity on the property as Outback at Hobe Sound will get underway this week with eight teams competing in the 8-goal competition. John Walsh’s Shamrock polo team will join other familiar patrons like Scott Swerdlin, Jim Whisenand, Joe Meyer, Rick Baum, Ted Brinkman, John Muse, Michael Price, Ian Angus and others in the Norman Brinker Memorial Tournament.
Medium –goal polo is being offered at the International Polo Club Palm Beach with the 14-goal Wanderers Cup and the 12-goal South Florida Pro-Am Challenge. Gulfstream Polo Club’s George Haas Windswept Cup has attracted four teams for the 12-goal competition while Joey Casey has four teams competing in the 8-goal Challenge Cup at his Palm City Polo Club (Boca Raton). Villa Del Lago/Equuleus have joined forces to produce the January 8-goal, with six entries.