Along the Sideboards By Alex Webbe October 19, 2009 Aiken’s 20-goal season ended with Tom Uskup’s MavOffice team defeating wife Barbara’s Barrington side in the finals of the 2009 USPA Silver Cup in Aiken, South Carolina on Sunday. A happy ending to season that rewarded both Uskups with 20-goal trophies, as Barb’s Barrington team had earlier captured the Monty Waterbury Cup while falling to her husband’s MavOffice team in the finals of the Silver Cup. The Aiken season will wind down with two 16-goal tournaments in the USPA Northrop Knox Cup (Oct. 21-Nov.1) and the USPA Continental Cup (Oct. 30-Nov. 15) before the players and horses start traveling south to prepare for the winter Florida season. The USPA Kay Collee Memorial Cup will be played for this coming weekend at the Grand Champions Polo Club with John Goodman leading an Isla Carroll entry in the four-team tournament. The Grand Champions fall season will continue through the middle of November with spirited competition escalating up to the season ending Pedro Morrison Memorial Cup. USPA meetings are the word of the day in Aiken, South Carolina this week as budgets are created and plans are made for future activities of the esteemed association. It has been reported that this year’s USPA budget has been elevated from less than $2M to $2.2M with an additional $1M in supplementary funds. The USPA also distributed unspecified funds to the ailing PTF while the Marketing Committee committed $90,000 to hiring a PR firm with an additional $89,000 as supplementary funds for the same firm. It was reported that George Alexander called for an end to the Polo Training Foundation. Speculation credits lack of accomplishment and excessive expenses. Little has been decided regarding polo handicaps, with patrons arguing their cases as last minute adjustments are contemplated before the onset of the winter season. Some fourteen teams have been identified for the 20-goal field with 10-goaler Mariano Aguerre appearing with Fred Mannix, Jr. on the Millerville team. For the first time in 20 years, Peter Brant’s White Birch polo team won’t be participating in the Florida winter season as he sorts out private matters. A number of teams have been identified for participation in the 26-goal season at the International Polo Club, but Jedi won’t be one of them. It appears that Jedi will continue to play practice matches behind the hedges with such polo luminaries as the Merlos brothers, the Von Wernichs and Alex Agote, among others. Haley Bryan will be coming down from Aiken to assist Jimmy Newman in running the 8-goal, 12-goal and 14-goal polo that IPC will be offering this year. The Outback Polo League lost its lease on the fields and will be trying to replicate its success under Phil Heatley, an hour north at the Hobe Sound Polo Club. The women’s beach polo teams for the 2010 South Beach Women’s Polo Cup are lining up quickly, with five of the eight team positions already taken. A number of international players have voiced their interest and posted deposit checks for one of the hottest polo tickets of the season.