Association News

Due to the increased interest in video on-demand and livestreamed games, the USPA Communications Department and Global Polo Entertainment/Global Polo TV are pleased to present guidelines that will allow USPA member clubs to submit an application to film USPA tournaments that can be uploaded to Global Polo TV for “on-demand” viewing. At the sole discretion of USPA/GPE, these games will be available for free to all subscribers once approved by USPA and GPTV staff.

Basic guidelines for a minimum of one camera and approval process include: •Camera to be located on the center field with camera shooting with the sun on your back. Camera should have a 20x zoom. •Camera(s) must be on a tripod and the shot steady. It’s preferred to have the cameras elevated at least 10 feet off the ground, if possible. •Announcer audio must be of clear quality with the announcer speaking directly into a dedicated microphone. Announcer audio levels should be between -6 db and -12 db. They must not exceed 0 db. •Minimum resolution: 1280 x 720 or 3840 x 2160 (if possible) •Preferred frame rate: 29.97 •Minimum bitrate: 15mbps •Preferred formats (codecs): h.264 or ProRes422 •Audio: Stereo

•Final video must include score and time bug (if applicable) •Should include tournament name, trophy name, teams’ and players’ names and logos, if available. •All sponsorable/advertising programming must be pre-approved •Send final video to Matt Baran at mbaran@uspolo.org and Shannon Stilson sstilson@uspagl.com. Please allow 48 hours for review, approval and posting.

Additional notes: •The GPTV production department reserves the right to edit videos and if necessary, add logos for the association and Global Polo TV platform. •All videographers must obey the rules of the club they are filming and follow the filming guidelines set forth by the United States Polo Association. •Once the content/video is obtained by Global Polo TV, it will go into the company’s archives where all rights are reserved. •Clubs have the opportunity to add play-by-play commentary to the game for a small fee.

The Polo Development Initiative grant program is designed to facilitate the growth of polo by empowering clubs and polo schools with grant-based

reimbursable awards. Improving the quality of the polo-playing experience, promoting the sport of polo and advancing the sustainability and growth of club membership are the specific purposes of the program. Long-term investment in the sport of polo, including expenditures for capital improvements, fixed assets, club infrastructure and regional cooperation among clubs are important to the sustainability of polo at the club level.

The deadline for 2021 PDI application submission is Sunday, Jan. 31. Applications can be found on the association tab of uspolo.org.

U.S. Polo Assn., the official brand of the USPA, will once again outfit competitive collegiate polo players through its nationwide Collegiate Partnership Program. This season, the sport-inspired global brand welcomes Morehouse College, its first member of historically black colleges and universities, to the program. It also welcomed the University of Kentucky. Over 40 teams, from schools spanning from the East Coast to the West Coast, small and large enrollments, and state schools to the Ivy League, participate annually.

The partnership involves U.S. Polo Assn. providing collegiate polo teams with branded face covers, performance jerseys, game whites and gear bags along with a financial donation. In turn, the players wear official U.S. Polo Assn. gear while practicing in the area as well as during campus life whether that be virtually or in-person. U.S. Polo Assn. has continued to support these amazing college polo teams and student athletes even as activities have been limited due to COVID-19 restrictions.

“As the official brand of the United States Polo Association, it’s an honor to partner with these amazing student athletes, particularly during these difficult times for sports and colleges,” explained USPAGL President and CEO, J. Michael Prince. “They not only represent the future of the sport of polo but are the future leaders and visionaries of America. We couldn’t be more thrilled to add Morehouse College and the University of Kentucky to our Collegiate Partnership Program.”

“Being a part of the U.S. Polo Assn. Collegiate Polo Program is great exposure for us as students, as well as for our team and our school as we continue to play and promote the sport this season,” said Jayson Palmer, a Morehouse College senior. “As the first HBCU school to join the program, we look forward to proudly wearing our U.S. Polo Assn. gear and living up to the U.S. Polo Assn. core values.”

There is no doubt that COVID-19 has hit sports teams and universities hard from both an academic and athletic perspective. While some schools have not reopened in person or have opted to keep contact sports sidelined this year, the need to keep student athletes practicing and working together is critical to their development and advancement on and off the field.

“The UK polo team is thrilled to partner with U.S. Polo Assn. this year and to proudly represent the brand both on and off the field,” said Federico Puyana, president of the University of Kentucky Polo Club. “This is an exciting opportunity for the club, and one that we feel will be beneficial for everyone involved. We know this is just the beginning of something great for our team and for the U.S. Polo Assn. brand.”

As a former I/I alumni from the University of Virginia, Carlucho Arellano, USPA executive director of Services, is proud to see the brand support these young up-and-coming polo players. “Student athletes need support now more than ever and the USPA is proud to have our U.S. Polo Assn. brand partner with these schools,” Arellano said. “While this year is unlike any other with fewer schools playing and practicing on college grounds, we are thrilled to have Morehouse College and UK as valuable additions to our polo roster as we look to expand our list of schools for years to come.”

The spring board of governors meetings will take place the week of Monday, April 12 through Friday, April 16, 2021, and each committee will have a virtual participation component.

Published by the United States Polo Association Offices at 9011 Lake Worth Rd., Lake Worth, Florida 33467 • (800) 232-USPA Chairman: Stewart Armstrong President: Tony Coppola Secretary: Charles Smith Treasurer: Steven Rudolph Chief Executive Officer: Robert Puetz

The National Youth Tournament Series qualifier tournaments will begin in early spring. USPA members born after Jan. 1, 2002 with a minimum minus1-goal handicap are eligible to participate. Clubs

Intercollegiate and interscholastic teams must secure a string of horses for tournament play. interested in hosting a tournament this year should contact NYTS@uspolo.org to discuss scheduling. All applications for NYTS tournaments will be submitted through the USPA tournament portal available to club delegates. Oak Brook Polo Club will host the NYTS National Championships in early September.

After a delayed start, the Argentina polo season provided many opportunities for Team USPA members to play. Six Team USPA members were supported in tournaments, ranging from 14- to 24-plus-goals. The higher-level polo available to players encourages a competitive atmosphere, motivating players to improve their game and learn from new mentors and players.

The PDI grant program is designed to facilitate the sustainability of polo by empowering clubs and polo schools with grant-based reimbursable awards. The success of the sport depends on the success of its clubs. The USPA PDI application guidelines and PDI application are available online at uspolo.org. All applications must be submitted online. The application deadline is Jan. 31.

Please contact Pam Mudra by email at pmudra@uspolo.org if you have any questions regarding the PDI program.

A quick reminder that all I/I teams must secure a string of horses for tournament play. Tournaments will be played from early February to mid-April. Intercollegiate academic paperwork, coaching requirements and entry fees are due Jan. 15. Interscholastic paperwork, coaching requirements, and tournament entry fees are due Jan. 5. Make sure to renew your USPA player memberships for 2021 before participating in any games.

If you need assistance completing the paperwork by the deadlines, please contact Ali Davidge at adavidge@uspolo.org.

by Jewel Connelly/United States Polo Association

While the start of the 2019-2020 academic school year held both the promise of new beginnings and the opportunity for a stellar tournament season, college life and athletics, as students knew it, turned out to look very different.

Rising to the top of their regions fueled by a competitive fire for polo and collegiate pride, 10 intercollegiate polo teams (men: Cornell University, University of Virginia, University of North Texas, Southern Methodist University, Oregon State University and women: Cornell University, University of Virginia, University of Kentucky, Texas A&M University, Point Loma Nazarene University) earned their places in the 2020 National Intercollegiate Championships, only to have their hopes of raising the historic trophies disrupted by COVID-19. For underclassmen the dream was put on hold while for graduating seniors the cancellation signified an abrupt and disappoint-

Point Loma Nazarene celebrates after winning regionals early last year.

ing end to their intercollegiate career.

Sacrificing and investing so much time and effort on the often rocky road to nationals, four teams in particular were looking forward to proving themselves; with Point Loma a first-time qualifier and UK a wildcard recipient. Overcoming some obstacles to reach this point, each of these team’s achievements, both seen and unseen, and the lasting friendships they formed along the way have sustained them through the challenging times and made it all worthwhile.

A former interscholastic polo player (Poway and Lakeside) and freshman with a vision to start an intercollegiate polo team, Molly Agee took charge and founded Point Loma Nazarene Polo team her sophomore year. Now an incoming senior, she has invested countless hours and worked tirelessly to build a competitive women’s team over the past two years. Establishing a team at her small university in

Oregon State’s Joel Potyk races down the boards. Nazarene, California, Agee struggled to find players with experience to fill out the roster, landing only two—Addy Fuller and Sydney Falk—for the 2019-2020 season.

“This was our second year competing, but this is the first time we had people who had experience playing polo on the team,” Agee said. “Having experienced players gave us a lot of confidence and we had a strong win at regionals, but also the time we have spent together outside of polo has made us a really tough team and close friends.”

While coach Nicole Bankhead focused on helping the inexperienced women improve their riding skills, Agee and her fiancé Garrett Bankhead (Nicole’s son and also a polo player) coached the team together. Since all the new participants were freshman and were prohibited by the university from having cars on campus, Agee drove the team to practice at Lakeside Polo Club (Lakeside, California) twice a week until a university van was provided a month before regionals.

Entering college with a strong foundation in interscholastic polo and three-day eventing, Agee’s endeavor to start a brand-new polo team was a substantial undertaking but one she is grateful to have experienced.

“I ran the entire program and did everything you can think of, including finances, marketing, finding players, coordinating horses and practices and driving teammates to and from the barn,” Agee said.

Beginning the 2020 fall semester online, Agee is preparing for the likelihood of not playing her senior year as two team members will not be returning this year for personal reasons.

“All the struggles we went through, including one of our teammates having an unexpected health issue at regionals, have made us stronger, but we were able to end our season really well,” Agee said.

Facing similar obstacles in the Western region with new players in the men’s division, the men’s team at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon, is especially devoted to the sport, making a lengthy drive off-campus and doing whatever it takes to attend qualifying games. Renting a 12-passenger van, the team travels an hour and a half (60 miles) to practice near Portland weekly, making each practice roughly a six-hour commitment.

“Our coach Brandon Alcott provides all the horses,” senior Joel Potyk said. “It’s a pretty hefty price to pay for every practice, and for our coach to haul in all the horses.” Due to the geographical isolation of the campus, Oregon State rents horses for its games, which in the past has posed a challenge for the beginner players.

“Our team is comprised of three men [Joel Potyk, Wyatt Weaver, Andrew Hobson] who had never played or ridden previous to coming to college,” Potyk revealed. “However, all of us come from some athletic background and have decent hand-eye coordination so we picked up polo pretty fast.”

Although spending a lot of time first learning how to ride, the team struggled with riding some of the other university horses. “Cal Poly had some very difficult horses and we had a hard time playing in tournaments there in the past,” Potyk said. “I was expected to play a particular horse of theirs but we had a surprise for regionals, which caught them off guard. We sent a couple of our freshman players to weekly riding lessons so in the final, one of them played the horse and I was able to play an awesome horse and do well.”

Historically having difficulty filling the Oregon State men’s roster, the fall semester produced 20 new members for a total of 30 between both men’s and women’s teams.

“Headed by women’s team captain Erin Bush, we held a free ‘Intro to Polo’ clinic for potential players, which began in the classroom with rules, foot mallets, basic swings etc., and provided pizza for everyone,” Potyk shared. “Then we shuttled everyone up to a mounted practice led by our coach Brandon Alcott. We also created a really nice flyer and posted it all over campus, worked with advisers in the agricultural department to distribute it to their mailing

lists and did paid, targeted advertising on Facebook.”

Proud of the progress and effort his team has made, Potyk is hopeful to have another opportunity to compete at nationals with one more season of eligibility.

“Everyone is so committed with the time put in on a weekly basis, they don’t think twice about leaving on a Thursday evening and driving all night to reach the arena at noon and start playing,” Potyk said. “It’s what we have to do to play and it’s worth it.”

Doing whatever it takes for the team is a resonating theme at the heart of the I/I community, including waking up early in the morning to drive to regionals at 4 a.m. like the women’s University of Kentucky polo team. Just beginning her college career in 2019, Lila Bennett was ecstatic to join her friend Louisa Huber from Garrison Forest School on the UK team.

“We arrived on campus in Lexington, Kentucky, and hit the ground running because our team was young and we really wanted it,” Bennett said. “We reached out to Anna Palacios, who lives in New York, and she became our remote coach. We wanted someone who was going to invest time in us and she would send us weekly drills and we’d send her back videos of us doing them.”

Starting to condition the horses the second week of January for regionals in March, the women got their string completely fit by the middle of February and were able to scrimmage twice a week.

Members of the University of Kentucky’s men’s and women’s teams

“We took an entire Saturday and clipped all eight of our horses that we were bringing to regionals,” Bennett recalled. “We were exhausted, but we were so proud that they were each in such great shape. It was so cool to see our hard work pay off with just how amazing our horses looked.”

Unexpectedly losing a seasoned teammate who had to step down from the team for the winter semester, the UK women continued to prepare and look ahead to a competitive weekend at regionals. Not overlooking the importance of practicing penalty shots, each member of the team made sure they could make three Penalty 2 and 3 conversions in a row before leaving the arena. Playing an incredibly tight game against the University of Virginia in the regional final, UK made significant and noticeable progress since the last time they played each other at the Fall Invitational at UVA, even though they lost the game.

“We all grew as players during the season and it really showcased itself during the regional final,” Bennett said. “After watching both game tapes, Anna praised us on how much we had improved between those two games.”

Impressing the National Host Tournament Committee after such a close game, UK was awarded a wildcard, only to have its hopes dashed with the postponing of nationals.