Team USA Application and Details
By Dennis Geiler, Governor of the Pacific Coast Circuit
Deadline is Dec. 15th ‘09 for appllications

The USPA is looking for a few good polo players, age 19 to 25, to participate in a Team USA training camp. The camp will be held February 13 to 15 in West Palm Beach, Florida. The USPA pays all expenses plus a $350.00 travel allowance. From the participants at the training camp 6 to 8 players will be chosen to be Team USA. Each member will be assigned a high goal professional as a personal mentor for them throughout the year. Team USA will be invited to play at various venues throughout the country.

This is a great opportunity to not only receive some good training but to meet similarly talented, young polo players from other sections of the county. This is also a good opportunity to be “seen” by other polo individuals throughout the USA which will certainly help when exhibition teams and international teams are assembled.

Applications and more information can be obtained through the USPA website and by calling Kris Bowman at the USPA. The deadline for applications is December 15 and we would like to see as many participants from the Pacific Circuit as possible. Click here to download PDF Team USA Application.

More information below the photo . . .

Team USA

The United States Polo Association announced the creation of a new program that will be launched and implemented this year to address the several key concerns about the future of our sport in the United States.  The concerns were identified as: the lack of American players who have the ability and the opportunity to advance in their handicaps; the lack of young American players aspiring to compete either on a professional or amateur basis at clubs around the country; and, that the USPA was not doing enough to facilitate learning, training and playing opportunities for younger American players.

The most important goal of Team USA is to grow and sustain the sport of polo in the United States. Without a strong, vibrant, growing sport in the United States that is played and supported by U.S. citizens who are participant polo players (professional and amateur), polo team sponsors, polo club owners/managers, there will be fewer and fewer opportunities for all players of all handicaps, including foreign players, to participate in the United States.  Other important goals of the Team USA program include the preservation of the tradition and history of our sport by creating home-grown players and teams that can compete at the highest levels of international competition; and, that teams organizers and sponsors should not have to (or desire to) import and hire exclusively higher-handicapped, foreign players.

The USPA has instituted a number of interrelated programs designed to recognize that if polo is to grow, be sustained and be preserved and remembered ultimately in the United States, opportunities must be carved-out and created within the dynamics and politics of the sport as it is played today.  In addition to the Team USA concept that will develop, organize and provide learning/playing/competing opportunities for identified and aspiring American players from 19-25 years of age – the USPA Board of Governors instituted a change to their Rules that requires “one Registered Player” excluding the designated team sponsor – whereby a Registered Player is defined as a player who is a U.S. citizen.

Rule 1.  TEAMS

Effective January 1, 2010 each Team in a USPA event with an upper handicap limit of 22 goals or less shall, excluding the sponsor, have a minimum of one Registered Player Member as defined in the Association By-laws.

The intention of this change to the USPA Rules is to provide for more playing opportunities for USPA members who are U.S. citizens.  In addition to this rule change and Team USA, the USPA is committed to long-term funding for USPA Regional Training Centers (RTC) and the Polo Development Initiative (PDI) funding for player training at the club level as essential programs of the USPA National Club Development (NCD) Program; increases in the budget and scope of the USPA Intercollegiate/Interscholastic (I/I) Program and; supporting the role of international polo competition to provide playing opportunities for teams to represent the United States.

Team USA is about recreating and preserving a distinctly American tradition and culture of polo in the United States and includes the young players selected to participate; the USPA leaders charged with managing the program; and, the mentors who are the current high-goal players as well as the team and club sponsors who are willing to give of their time, talents, clubs, horses and expertise to give back to the sport of polo so that there will be a sport of polo, in the United States, in the future.

Team USA has been and will continue to be implemented in various phases and steps.  Step one of Phase One was the identification of all USPA members who are U.S. citizens, mainly in response to the so-called “American Player” as stated above. Step two was to identify USPA members from the Junior/Senior level of college age (19) to age 25 and to select twenty applicants to attend a three day training and evaluation seminar planned for February 13-15, 2010 in Wellington Florida.            Step three will be to identify six to eight selectees from the twenty attendees of the training and evaluation event for an USPA internship/apprenticeship program with selected high-goal professionals located throughout the country.

Phase Two will focus on the USPA, in conjunction with clubs, international events and selected team sponsoring individuals to organize events for identified Team USA members such as Junior East-West matches; tryouts and selections for international and national events; and traveling Team USA teams to compete in USPA circuit/club events.

The USPA Team USA Program subcommittee is chaired by Polo Hall of Famer Charles Smith and on his committee is Chuck Weaver, Joe Meyer, Kris Bowman, Jimmy Newman, Kim Syme, Tom Biddle and Peter Rizzo.  There will be numerous other individuals who will be consulted for their guidance and access to the resources necessary to build this program from the ground up.

The following information is from the Team USA report from the Team USA subcommittee to the USPA Board of Governors at their annual meeting in October 2009:

Team USA:

Vision:

• To provide exposure to key elements of polo to young American players in order to give them the tools to remain in polo throughout their active playable lives
• To help raise the level of play and maximize handicaps to help reduce the dependence on foreign players
• To create opportunities for young American players to learn from the top polo talent and offer networking between the two
• Focus on the I/I program and determine what playing and developing opportunities could be created by the USPA and the Team USA concept

Culture:

• The creation of higher handicapped American polo players begins with the right mix of program management, motivated and caring mentors, the USPA willing to spend time, effort and funds to create playing opportunities for up and coming American players.
• Focus on players in the I/I program and determine what playing and developmental opportunities could be created by the USPA and the Team USA concept to help these trained and educated players become higher handicapped amateur or professional players
• The program has to be a nurturing one – like growing a baby into an adult, combining improved playing skills with sportsmanship.  This program is not to grow professional players, but that may be a consequence for some of the selectees.
• This program is not anti-foreign player. This program is designed to grow the sport of polo and sustain it by helping to develop higher handicapped players who love to play and compete and will be the backbone of the sport in the future.  Foreign players must realize that without a strong American presence in the sport in the United States, the sport will wither and disappear – along with it all those opportunities to earn a living as grooms, players and horse sellers.
• Team USA culture is about good team management, good club management.
• Team USA is about having fun while leaning from others and about giving back to the sport as the sport will hopefully be giving the selected players something to remember and learn.
• Team USA is about being the best polo player that you can be, even if the goal is to be the highest rated player at the home club.
• Team USA is about a sense of pride and accomplishment.

Organizational structure:

• Team USPA subcommittee:  Tom Biddle, Joe Meyer, Charles Smith, Chuck Weaver, Kris Bowman, Kim Syme and Peter Rizzo.
• Program Management:  Peter Rizzo with staff assistance and subcommittee oversight.
• USPA I/I Program

People:

• USPA committee oversight and funding for USPA staff management of the program.
• Team USA selectees, their family and friends, their home club members.
• Professional polo players such as former and presently high-goal players, professional instructors, professional horsemen, veterinarian, horse trainers and just about everyone that is involved in the sport of polo including guidance from selected high-handicapped, foreign players willing to see the big picture and help preserve the sport of polo in the United States.

Pruning:

• The Team USA subcommittee should address effectively, then to the USPA Executive Committee and USPA Chairman and Board of Governors.

Metrics:

• Measurable handicap increases in player selectees in the Team USA program.
• Measureable numbers of handicaps in the 2-5 goal and above range over a 3-5 year timeframe.
• Written evaluations of the program by Team USA players.
• Written evaluations of the program by Team USA internship/apprenticeship providers.
• College coaches and parents responses to the program.

Polo Skills to be emphasized and developed:

Riding: How to school/train horses – (green and made). Learn appropriate exercise programs depending on polo game schedule and level. Training includes: how to bit a horse, how to correct specific horse performance problems and exposure to high quality horsemanship.

Hitting: Stick and ball sessions with mentor including instruction on placing the ball, hitting to specific spots, penalties, etc. (it is assumed that the student is relatively proficient at striking the ball)

Game Strategy: Two way exchange between mentor and student (student questions are key to these discussions). How do you “think” the “game/” How do you get the most out of your teammates? How do you select members of your team, players for best team lineup, etc? What are the proper plays in certain specific situations?  Actually play the game with the mentors and others in high-level competition.

Horse and Barn Management: Horse care, discussions/examples on feed, shoeing, stalls vs. turnout, exercise, hauling, etc. Attention to individual horse as one exercise/feeding program will not work for all horses or all players.

Playing: Playing with/under supervision of the mentor would be highly beneficial. Details of availability of games, horses, etc. would have to be negotiated in advance. This would include help with anticipation, field placement, appropriate ball placement, horse management, etc.

Sportsmanship: Instill the value and virtue in sportsmanship and how to comport themselves on an off the polo field.  Create bonding, camaraderie and networking opportunities for all participants of Team USA.