Recently, The Santa Barbara Polo Club hosted a Young Players Outreach (YPO) mentoring clinic Tuesday, Aug 13th, sponsored by USPA NCD and taught by 2 talented American polo players: Adam Snow and Jeff Hall.
“This clinic was a great opportunity for the younger players to learn from the best. It isn’t often that they get to spend several hours listening and receiving tips from 2 highly experienced and competitive high goalers. This was a lucky bunch of kids.” Melanja Jones, Santa Barbara Polo manager exclaimed.
A total of 10 young polo players were invited to participate in the mentoring clinic, from 9-noon, on a beautiful Tuesday that took place at Pat Nesbitt’s incredible polo field and venue. Melanja Jones, SBPC manager, helped to organize it, David Lominska photographed it and Team USPA members, Jesse Bray, Patrick Uretz assisted.
A big thank you to Adam Snow and Jeff Hall who took time out of their busy schedules to donate their morning to mentoring the up and coming polo stars. Beginning with introductions then leading into a strategy chalk talk, the the participants were divided into 2 groups later in the morning for penalty drills and drills for shooting on goal. The clinic ended with practice chukkers coached by Adam and Jeff.
It is evident that these clinics are important for several reasons:
1. To provide grassroots support from the USPA to the next generation of up and coming players at a more focused skill level then the kids tournaments and provide them with tools to improve their polo.
2. To recognize young American players who have worked hard at their sport and are keen to carry on to the next level, including those who may not have the financial opportunities otherwise.
3. Networking: It is a rare to have high goal players available in this part of the country (California) for some of these younger players to meet as mentors. These clinics give the higher goal players a chance to observe and meet some promising young players where there might be opportunities as a result from this kind of exposure.
4. Promote the sport to the younger players and their families. For example, both the Uretz family and the parents of Athena Malin (from San Luis Obispo) observed their children taking part in the clinic and were profusely appreciative.
5. Encourage camaraderie and support among the young players themselves. Later on it will be very important to these players when trying to form teams to have connections and support from each other. It was nice to see Jesse Bray and Patrick, who are both past this level, enthusiastically taking part and helped out with the entire clinic in support of their fellow American players.
The USPA and the National Club Development would like to thank, Adam Snow, Jeff Hall, Melanja Jones and the Parents of these fine athletes for helping make this worthwhile mentoring clinic take place on Tuesday, Aug 13, 2013.
For more information on National Club Development programs and clinics, please contact Kris Bowman at bowman@uspolo.org
