September 4, 2011, Santa Barbara Polo Club
The meeting was called to order by the chairman, Denny Geiler, and the minutes of the previous meeting were approved. In attendance was Jan Hart, Debbie Morrison and Mike Uretz of Eldorado, Nancy Kirchhofer and Russ Sheldon of Poway Polo and Lakeside Polo, Vicki Owens, Kevin Ittig and Alex Haagen III of Empire Polo, Chip Mc Kenny and Tom Landry of GPL Polo, Scott Walker of Celebrity Polo, Andrew Bossom of Will Rogers Polo, Erik Wright of Menlo, Horse Park, Bel Air and Empire Polo, Lynn Jason Cobb of Menlo Polo, Paige Beard, Dan Walker and Melanja Jones of Santa Barbara Polo, Megan Judge of Central Coast Polo and Domingo Questal of California Polo Club.
The first order of business was reports from the various club delegates regarding the status of their clubs and their current projects and activities.
Pat Nesbitt, secretary of the USPA, made a report on the status of various projects of the USPA.
The chairman made a report of the Polo 2020 strategic planning process. It is expected that the membership of the USPA will increase by 50% by 2020 and the I/I program will double in size. It is anticipated that the number of Regional Polo Centers will increase from 3 to 7. It is further anticipated that the USPA will establish a Regional Coordinator Program similar to the Hawaii experiment which will authorize additional USPA employees that are experienced in club management to meet with club managers and membership on a face to face basis at the various clubs. Is anticipated that the umpire reimbursement program will increase from $50,000 to $500,000 with the establishment of a USPA Umpire LLC which will administer the program. The USPA will also create a budget to develop television coverage of Argentinean and American polo tournaments though an agreement with ESPN.
The Polo Development Initiative Program has a budget of $300,000 which will grow to $400,000 over the next 4 years. Clubs are encouraged to file applications for grants up to $10,000 to fund advertising, marketing or other programs that are designed to grow the club’s membership. A successful program may apply for 4 annual grants. The Pacific Circuit has been receiving about $100,000 a year under this program.
The USPA and Polo Skilz had their first webinar. To date there have been more than 700 views of the webinar. Everyone who saw the webinar thought it was worthwhile and a very good USPA member benefit.
Each delegate was encouraged to increase their communication with their club members through periodic emails, mailings etc. It cannot be presumed that all your members know what is going on.
Branding: It was suggested by the delegate that a PDI be approved so that USPA banners and flags can be sent to the various clubs and displayed. It’s important that the USPA brand be displayed at all clubs. Also when a club has a program they are encouraged to reserve a page for a statement from the USPA. This connection shows the members of the club and spectators that the club is a recognized member of a national organization.
It was suggested that the USPA update their outdoor and arena rules tape.
There was a discussion on lifetime memberships and reducing dues in order to get existing polo players to join the USPA.
Santa Barbara Polo Club graciously distributed tickets to the participants so that they could attend the Pacific Open that afternoon.
The meeting was adjourned