Two weeks ago (February 5th through February 8th), I played in a 14 goal memorial tournament at the Chapaleaufu polo club in Intendente Alvear. Prior to the start of the competition, the tournament committee decided to split Gaston, Todd and myself up due to the fact that the last two groups of USPA kids had won the tournament with Gaston. My team consisted of Geronimo Del Carril on 4 goals, Ivan Lariguet on 5 goals, Juancito Nagore on 2 goals and myself on 1 goal. We played three days of bracket games (Thursday-Saturday) and won each of our games, which gave us a berth in the finals on Sunday.
Geronimo Del Carril 4 goals, Ivan Lariguet 5 goals, Juancito Nagore 2 goals and Russell Stimmel 1 goal
We won our bracket games relatively easily so we were a little flat-footed playing against a very well mounted and organized team in the final. The first chukker started well for us; I missed a deep neck shot on goal by inches and it seemed we never left our half of the field while playing good defense and attacking plenty. Geronimo ended up scoring a goal on a penalty. The opposing team picked up the pace in the second and third chukkers, scoring three un-answered goals. The fourth chukker went a little more smoothly with goals from Juancito and myself to bring us closer. The fifth chukker was definitely the most action-packed with three goals from the opposing team and two from our team. That particular chukker seemed to be faster than the rest with lots of open field running and attacking on goal. As the first horn blew, our team was trailing by a goal, but we drew a foul right in front of goal. We started the sixth chukker with an open goal penalty that tied the game and gave our team the boost that it needed to win. After that, the momentum was in our favor and Ivan scored two more un-answered goals. As the final horn blew our team pulled off the victory with a score of 8 to 6.
My Dad, Harvey Stimmel, Myself and Gaston
Throughout the game, Gaston was on the sidelines coaching me between chukkers, which was a major confidence booster. Todd’s team came up short the previous day so I was able to use three of his best horses with three of mine and that played a huge part in our success. It took a big group effort to win and it was an amazing feeling after a month and a half of hard riding and practices. To top it off my dad and bother Steven were visiting and it was great to have family in attendance. My hat goes off to Gaston and his grooms who helped me every step of the way on and off the field and made this an experience that I will remember forever.
(21 year old Russell Stimmel is originally from Midland, Texas and joined Team USPA in 2014.)