NATIONAL SPORTING LIBRARY BENEFIT
LUNCHEON & POLO MATCH
Buy tickets, sponsor or reserve a tailgate space, please go to:
National Sporting Library Museum Polo
Sunday September 14, 2014
The Virginia International Polo Club (VIPolo) will host an All Star all women line up for the annual National Sporting Library polo match on Sunday, September 14, 2014. Outside of the US Women’s Open tournament, which will be held in Houston in November, this will be the highest level women’s match held this year. The 24 goal match boasts a collection of the best female polo players in the nation. “With the inception of the new women’s handicap rating by the USPA, we are now formally able to identify who the strongest female players in the country are. To have all invited agree to travel to Upperville, Virginia to support the National Sporting Library is amazing” said VIPolo Club owner Maureen Brennan. There will also be a junior girls invitational match prior to the main event. “Women’s polo is the fastest growing area of the sport, and we are delighted to support and encourage junior girls to play” said Maureen.
The Virginia International Polo Club is the largest polo club in the Virginia and Washington DC area that offers all polo services at one facility. It is located at one of Virginia’s most beautiful historic farms, Llangollen. In addition to world class playing fields and the widest variety of polo levels available, VIPolo is a family friendly environment always working to make polo accessible to as many people as possible.
The match and the luncheon will be held to support the National Sporting Library. A Middleburg, Virginia based institution founded in 1954 that is dedicated to preserving the culture and literature of field and turf sports. The day will also include a performance by the Washington Scottish Pipe Band and a parade of the Piedmont Fox Hounds. For information on where to buy tickets, please go to:National Sporting Library Museum Polo
Player Biographies:
Sunny Hale – 9 goals
Sunny is widely recognized as the most accomplished female polo player in the world. She was the first woman in US history to win the US Open Polo Championships. She achieved the highest conventional handicap of 5 goals ever given to a woman. She is also currently the highest handicapped female player in America. In 2005 Sunny founded the Women’s Championship Tournament which is the largest international women’s polo league in the world. She also founded the successful American Polo Horse Association to recognize and document American polo equines. 
Kristy Outhier – 8 goals
Kristy played polo through her college days and among many accolades was Captain of the Texas A&M Women’s National Champion Team 1994 and 1995. She was USPA Most Outstanding Woman Intercollegiate Polo player in 1995. More recently she played in the finals of the US Open for Orchard Hill Polo Team and was two times US Women’s Open Champion with the Goose Creek Polo Team. Kristy owns and manages a private polo facility in Fulshear, Texas where her family also breeds and trains top Quarter Horses for cutting , rodeo, and polo. Her daughter Madison also plays polo.
Cecelia Cochran – 6 goals
Cecelia has been playing polo for 15 years. A regular on the Palm Beach, Florida 12 and 14 goal circuit, she has played in Florida, South Carolina, New York, Texas and California. Polo has taken her internationally to Africa, South America and Jamaica. She currently lives between Aiken, South Carolina and Palm Beach, Florida. Cecelia is passionate about the sport but even more so her horses. She has started her own breeding program and is looking forward to playing her first generation in the near future.
Maureen Brennan – 6 goals
A former Grand Prix competitor, Maureen has been playing polo for 12 years. She plays at every level from 26 goal to entry level. Maureen has won many national tournaments including the Silver Cup, the US Women’s Open and 16 and 14 goal during the Palm Beach winter season. Maureen’s team, Goose Creek Polo has become one of the top teams in the country.
Kelly Wells – 5 goals
Kelly learned to play polo in upstate NY, where she attended Cornell, captaining her collegiate team to a national title and being named female player of the year in her senior year. Kelly currently own and manages a polo school in Maryland and plays in East coast women’s eventsLive. She has coached ten successful women’s interscholastic national championship teams, most recently the 2014 winners, captained by her own daughter, Marissa.
Marissa Wells – 5 goals
At 17 Marissa is the youngest team member. She started playing polo when she was 8 years old and started competing in the USPA Women’s Interscholastic Championships when she was 12. She has played in the last 4 national final games, capturing the title in 2012 and 2014. She has been named a USPA National Youth Tournament All Star for the last 3 years.
Julia Steiner – 5 goals
Julia grew up playing polo on her family farm in Upperville, VA. She continued to play for University of Virginia, where her team won the Nationals in 2012. Julia currently plays polo in Virginia, running her family’s Foxlease Polo Club and plays in Palm Beach, Florida during the winter months.
Julia Smith – 3 goals
Julia is currently the Captain of the University of Virginia’s Women’s Varsity Polo Team. This past April, Julia and her team won the Intercollegiate Women’s Nationals. She was also a member of Goose Creek Polo Team who won the 2013 US Women’s Open Championship. She is a member of Team USPA.