The future of junior polo looks bright at The Polo School at Grand Champions Polo Club.
Brothers Nico and Lucas Escobar, Will Jacobs and Nico Alberdi were in polo heaven playing with and against some of the sport’s former greats Piki Alberdi and Charlie Armstrong and up-and-coming stars Lucas Lalor and Juancito Bollini.
One of the highlights of the game was when Piki Alberdi worked the ball downfield and passed to his 12-year-old son Nico who scored the game-winner with 3:42 left in the fourth and final chukker for a 5-4 victory over Grand Champions.
Nico Alberdi of The Polo School outraces Lucas Lalor of Grand Champions. Photo by Alex Pacheco
The Polo School (Will Jacobs, Nico Alberdi, Piki Alberdi, Charlie Armstrong) and Grand Champions (Lucas Escobar, Nico Escobar, Juancito Bollini, Lucas Lalor) played evenly thoughout the game.
The Polo School jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the opening chukker before Grand Champions reeled them back in to tie the game at 4-4 on Lucas Escobar’s goal at the end of the third chukker.
Nico Alberdi scored four goals including the game-winner and Armstrong scored one. Nico Escobar, 14, scored three goals and Lucas Escobar, 12, had one.
Each team of players competed with a pro, following the ProKidz format that Grand Champions President Melissa Ganzi developed last year. For the second installment, each team got to play with two pros.
Before the game Piki Alberdi got his team fired up.
“We are okay in the back,” Alberdi said referring to Armstrong and himself. “In the front we have a problem.”
Nico Alberdi and Jacobs played well with their mentors.
“It was a lot of fun,” Nico Alberdi said. “For sure getting a pass from your father is always the best. He taught me how to play polo and I like playing with him.”
The junior players were able to learn while they were playing. The pros were constantly coaching while keeping the game moving.
Alberdi, a former 10-goaler in Great Britain, had fun playing with his son and other juniors.
“It was fun and good to watch my son score the winning goal, but all of the boys they played very well,” Alberdi said. “They are good and they want to learn.
“This idea of teaching the younger players is the only idea that works,” Alberdi said. “They have to learn playing with us. If you want the children to be good polo players, you need to play with them.
“I used to play a lot with my father and he taught me how to play. In Argentina, we play every weekend with the children and once a week.”
Melissa Ganzi, USPA Florida Circuit governor and secretary-treasurer of the Polo Training Foundation, plans to continue the Polo School League’s weekly sessions through May and again in the fall season.
“The idea is we want to have somebody that can keep the ball moving, coach and have fun and teach the kids to make the right plays,” Ganzi said. “We want the kids to play polo with good habits and knowledge of the rules.”
“We want them to be able to take what they learned today and move forward into their future polo playing,” Ganzi said.
2015 POLO ON DEMAND
Grand Champions Polo Club, featuring five world-class fields, has a full schedule of tournaments from January to May. Let our polo experts create a turn-key experience including top pros to bring out the best in you and your team. Lessons are available.
2015 SPRING SCHEDULE
May 14-17, Polo Gear Challenge Cup; May 21-25, The Memorial; May 24-25, USPA NYTS; May 28-31, Santa Rita Memorial.
GRAND CHAMPIONS POLO CLUB
WHERE: 13444 Southfields Road, on the corner of South Shore Boulevard and Lake Worth Road, Wellington, 33414.