2020 PTF I/I Players of The Year

Polo has transformed my life in a variety of ways. I am extremely fortunate to have spent over half of my life participating in this amazing sport and enjoying the community that surrounds it. I have been around horses since before I could walk; however, I wasn’t introduced to polo until I was twelve. Growing up I played a variety of sports, but polo captured my heart and became my passion. The connection with the horses and teammates were reasons why I became engulfed in polo. The dedication polo players have and put into their horses has encouraged me to never stop learning how I can improve myself and my horses. My polo adventure began with a ball, a mallet, and a wooden horse. As a twelve-year-old, I had a hard time choosing one sport. I drifted away from fox hunting and jumping to play other sports. Fortunately, I was introduced to the wooden horse which led me to polo. My family was visiting Kelly Wells at Marlan Farm to look at a horse for my younger brother, Taylor. While he was riding, I noticed a strange cage on the side of the arena. I was eager to investigate this odd-looking wooden horse and Kelly said I could try it out. I spent the next hour or two hitting the ball in the cage. I was immediately hooked and couldn’t wait to try this on a horse. The thrill and challenge of trying to hit a ball from five feet above, accompanied by my imagination running wild with thoughts of being able to do this on a real horse sparked my early infatuation with polo. As my interest in the sport grew, my family searched for an instructor to take us to the next level. A family friend mentioned an instructor, Mario Dino, in Saratoga, New York, which was not far from my home. Taylor and I began taking lessons with Mario in exchange for cleaning tack, doing chores, and tacking horses for other lessons. Mario profoundly changed my polo experience. He is one of the most inspirational people I know. From the moment I met him, I could tell there was an infectious positivity about him. Following these initial lessons, he agreed to be our interscholastic coach. We created an interscholastic polo team under Skidmore’s Polo program called EPIC. One of qualities that stood out the most with Mario was his immediate commitment to be the best coach he could be. I remember he downloaded all the top coaching books to listen to in order to coach us to the best of his ability. I’m grateful for this dedication as it became apparent in his coaching style. Instead of yelling constantly from the sidelines or speaking negatively about our plays, he would simply call the team or a single player to the corner and have a quick conversation about improvement or strategy changes. Mario focused on the positives and supported me and my team without regard for the score. Along with his coaching style, Mario never failed to include some polo wisdom from his experiences of working in polo all over the world. Mario shaped my early polo career by providing me with a solid foundation of polo and sportsmanship. When it came time to explore colleges, I was in search of a school that had an intercollegiate polo program that would further my development as a player. I was looking forward to all the opportunities, people, and horses associated with collegiate polo. Cornell was my top choice and where I chose to attend. The coaches in my college career were beneficial to my later accomplishments in intercollegiate polo. David Eldredge assisted me in transitioning from the interscholastic level to the intercollegiate level by pushing me to improve one thing at every practice. Following his departure, Branden Van Loon brought a different coaching style to the program. He provided new methods of learning that allowed me to perfect my skills in the arena and excel as a player. Intercollegiate polo gave me a family while I was away from home. I could always count on my teammates to be there for me on and off the field. The upperclassmen on the team had a welcoming nature that helped me adjust to college life. There were no other people I would have spent my time with; you could always run into a teammate on campus or find a study buddy in the library. My teammates were always there for me when I needed a friend to study with, catch a ride to the barn, or help dealing with schoolwork. This legacy was important to me and I worked to carry it on through my college career and beyond. Graduating last year was one of the hardest experiences. On top of my I/I career coming to a close, we couldn’t experience Intercollegiate Nationals due to the pandemic. These years will always live on in my memories and propel me forward to always be a part of this program as I grow older.

Istarted playing in the I/I program when I was in seventh grade and being introduced to polo took me out of Pennsylvania and the country for the first time. I have been able to travel to places like Nigeria, Argentina and England, as well as up and down the East Coast more times than I can count because of polo. My entire polo journey can be traced back to a wrong turn. If my mom had not taken that wrong turn, I never would have found Lezlie Hiner and the Work to Ride program or been introduced to horses. Thankfully she did and it changed my life. When my friends would hang out with each other on Saturdays, I would be at the barn from 8am-5pm, sometimes later, cleaning stalls and doing barn work. In the summers when my friends were going on vacations and relaxing, I would be at the barn all day, every day teaching summer camps and exercising the horses. When my friends would be home doing homework after school, I would be exercising horses at the barn, in the dark, rain, snow or freezing cold. I complained about it then, but looking back on it, all the work and time I dedicated to the Work to Ride program molded me into the person I am today and led me to attend Cornell University and play on its intercollegiate team. At Work to Ride all our horses were donations, each with their own little, sometimes major, quirks that we had no choice but to ride. I can recall us falling off more times than I can count while trying to train some of our green horses or from getting bucked off, but it made us tough and instilled a fearlessness in us that made us better riders and players. Because we did not have the facilities to host teams, we were always traveling to teams for games, which I loved doing the most. I think that is the best thing about I/I, traveling to other teams, meeting new people and playing different horses all the time. I loved playing other teams’ horses and trying to figure out how to play them and get the most out of horses that I did not know, which was challenging at times but extremely rewarding when you’re able to get good chukkers on unfamiliar horses. In high school, all I wanted to do was be able to play polo in college and thankfully it has been as exciting as I’d hoped it would be. My team qualified for Nationals all four years and unfortunately COVID-19 halted my team’s pursuit for a national title this year. Even though I haven’t been able to capture a national title in my college career, I am happy to have even been able to compete every year on a national level, which is always an amazing experience. Though I was not able to compete for a national title this year, I was selected for the Intercollegiate International team to compete against Great Britain in England, where we were able to capture the international title. Being able to travel to a new foreign place and meet and play with amazing teammates was the highlight of my senior experience with a nice way to close out my final year in I/I polo. Now being a college graduate from the I/I program, it feels like the time has flown by. It feels like Lezlie was just teaching me how to hold a mallet, lean out of my saddle to take a shot, and to rest the mallet against my shoulder because it was too heavy for me to hold straight at the time. To think that now I am fortunate enough to be named a Collegiate Player of the Year is extremely rewarding. I have Lezlie, Work to Ride, my family, my collegiate coaches, and all my teammates to thank for helping me along the way because it took the guidance and support from all of them to get me here. Polo has definitely been my passport to a world I am grateful to have stumbled into and it’s bittersweet to think that my time in the I/I program has come to an end but it is the start of the next chapter and I am excited to see where it leads to.

I/I polo has been a huge and important part of my life for many years. I have had the opportunity to sharpen my skills through clinics and tournaments, but what I really will take with me for the rest of my life are the friendships that I have made along the way. I started my polo journey when I began in fifth grade at Garrison Forest School. I had graduated from a different lower school and had just left my hunter barn after my trainer was killed in a non-polo related accident. I no longer was interested in hunter equitation, but I missed the camaraderie of a barn and being around horses, so I decided to take polo lessons after school at Garrison Forest. This decision was life changing: it introduced me to the excitement of polo as well as to a huge community of polo players of all ages, many of whom have become life-long friends. I would go down to the barn every day after school to take lessons or, if it wasn’t a lesson day, to sit with my friends and watch the older team players practice. It was fun to see how good the older girls were and how much they enjoyed playing, and it inspired me to try as hard as I could to improve in each lesson. In sixth grade, I began taking polo lessons with the incredible Kelly Wells at Marlan Farm. That same year, I was introduced to the exciting world of I/I polo through the Middle School Tournaments, which had just been created. I jumped at the chance to play in my first I/I Middle School Tournament! I loved the experience of playing competitively in the arena, and I really loved the fact that I was meeting young players from surrounding states. My circle of polo friends was steadily growing, and through them, I learned about the PTF arena polo clinic at UVA. I signed up as soon as I heard about it, and the threeday clinic with 18 intermediate/advanced players was the absolute highlight of that summer, as well as several summers to follow. The following year, when I was in seventh grade, I reached a turning point in my I/I journey when I earned a spot on the Maryland Girls’ Varsity team!!! My team of four consisted of me and three amazingly talented sisters: Maddie, Abbie and Sophie Grant. We were an incredibly young team, but we worked extremely hard; and, through an intensive practice and travel schedule, we bonded, hit our stride, and won the National Championship our first year! The excitement of achieving that accomplishment as such a young team in our first year together is something that none of us will ever forget. It inspired us to continue giving our best to our coach and to each other, and that mindset and work ethic brought us two more National Championship titles! Polo has taught me the value of hard work, perseverance, commitment, and loyalty. It has filled my life with wonderful coaches, mentors, teammates and supporters. Most importantly, it has allowed me to make lasting friendships with people around the country and throughout the world. Thank you to the PTF for selecting me as Player of the Year. I am so thankful that I have had the opportunity to be part of the I/I program. I would very much like to thank the USPA for providing Interscholastic tournaments and PTF for their comprehensive arena clinics. Both of these organizations provided me opportunities, not only to play at a high level, but also to hone my skills and create friendships with other players throughout the country. I would like to truly thank my coach, Kelly Wells. She took me into her program when I was in sixth grade and taught me everything I know about polo, from skills to strategies. She is extremely passionate about the sport and she gives a piece of her heart to each one of her players. She always inspires me and motivates me to work harder, while still supporting the person and player I am. I wouldn’t be the player I am today without her guidance and help over the past several years. I would like to thank my original Maryland Girls teammates: Maddie, Abbie and Sophie Grant. You all are amazing polo players! I am so honored that I had the opportunity to play on a team with the three of you, and I am especially grateful to be your “fourth sister.” I would also like to thank my most recent teammates: Olivia Reynolds, Josie Dorsey and Madison Jordan. You all became such good friends of mine and I want to thank you for always being there for me, no matter what. Lastly, I’d like to thank my parents. Without your support, and honestly pushing me, I wouldn’t be where I am today. You gave me amazing opportunities, and I am so thankful for all that you do for me.

“Hi, my name is Matteo Chaux, I play for Gardnertown, I am a ____ in high school, I have been playing polo for the past _ years, and here is our joke (*Explicit content*).” For the past four years, as a member of the Gardnertown team, I have stood up at the I/I regional formal dinner in front of parents, officials, and teammates, introducing ourselves and giving a joke that, unfortunately, I am not allowed to write in this article. Weirdly enough, these are the moments I remember the most about my six years competing in I/I. I could say that the best part of polo is the competition, the game, and the amazingly scenic locations you get to travel to, but that would only be half true. While all those things are great, I attribute many of my incredible friends I know to polo. I/I is about countless genuine people who play the sport and help it come to life. It’s those who help with the horses, the parents who drive us everywhere, the coaches who put in all the effort to see you succeed, the organizations that help you get better, the friends you make, and even those who bring the food. Thanks to the endless opportunities that the people in polo have given me, I have accomplished more than I could have ever imagine during my years in I/I. Those individuals who have helped me still look out for me long after my last season is over, and that is as much I can ask for from a sport. The I/I program has helped me, someone who doesn’t come from a family of horses, to be able to feel indefinitely involved in a sport that cares deeply about the game, the animals, and its members. Before competing, polo was a hobby that I didn’t know how far I could go with. Along with polo, I played soccer and tennis, but when it came to choosing which one I will be continuing for the rest of my life, I decided polo in a heartbeat. Without knowing much about the USPA or high-goal polo, I took a leap of faith and started taking it more seriously. I had the chance to participate in the first-ever middle school tournament. By eighth grade, I participated in my first preliminary tournament and emphasize “participate” because I lost both games. The following year, I made it to regionals, and the year after that, I made it to Nationals. Even though we had a different team at Gardnertown every year, we are all a close group of friends who have grown up together. Now, I am moving on to a college with no polo team, and I can already tell you that I miss everything about the interscholastic season. Regardless of whether I am playing in college or not, polo has already given me a leg up in life by making me speak up in front of large crowds, each year with little more confidence, and work hard to achieve my goals.