Caption: 2014 Major Collins Memorial Cup winner-Casablanca -Jacobo Bacariza, Nico Escobar, Anson Moore and Demitra Hashimihalis.
It’s that time of the year again and eleven teams have gathered in Wellington, Florida to compete in the Major Collins Memorial and the Tackeria Cup as young players continue to hone their skills as they continue to embrace the sport of polo.
Under the direction of PTF Executive Director Danny Scheraga and Assistant Director Jennifer McLeavy a full day of polo competition is on tap for Wednesday, December 30th at the International Polo Club.
With three levels of play in the Major Collins Memorial Cup, the day will get started at 10am with a four chukker battle between Alex Photography (Landon Daniels, Elizabeth Fenner, Noah Hyde and Fin Secunda) and County Line Feed (Lila Bennett, River Blake, Olivia Reynolds and Alfie Hyde) in the Middle Group with layers age 7 to 15 years-old.
The Lower Group is scheduled to get started at 11amattracts players age 5 to 10 years of age and features walk, trot and canter play divided into two 10 minute chukkers and will field Tato’s Mallets (Peyton Bickford, Weston Meade, Harrison Reicher and Theodore Reicher) against Grand Champions (Guilliana Battista, Mia Maldonado, Maeve Reicher and TBA).
At 11:30am Stefano Laviano (Hope Arellano, Oliver firestone, Jack McGruder and Jack McLean), Casablanca (Cipriano Echezarreta, Juanse Olivera, Tenzin Tognini and Tiernan Tognini) and Dutta Corp. (Nico Diaz Alberdi, Jacobo Bacariza, Benji Daniels and Timmy Dutta) will compete in a three team round-robin in the Advanced Level (12-16 years of age).
The Tackeria Cup will field teams of players age 16-21, and will present four teams participating in eight chukkers of play and is scheduled to get underway at 2pm.
The teams consist of GJ Racing (Michael Bellissimo, Matias Gonzalez, Hannah Reynolds and Jordan Schwartz), Patagones (Benjamin Avendano, Santiago Avendano, Kelsey Burhans and Hugh Dollard); World Polo News/Escue (Wes Finlayson, Felipe Mia, Guille Maia and Ayaan Quraeshi); and Casablanca (Javier Caero, Jaqui Casey, Justin Daniels and Merrall Echezarreta).
The Major Collins Memorial and the Tackeria Cup are two in a series of tournaments conducted by the Polo Training foundation in an effort to support and advance the sport of polo.
The Polo Training Foundation’s purpose is to establish and administer a series of funds, including memorial, advisory, international, endowment, intercollegiate/ interscholastic, and others. These funds are dedicated to support Polo in collegiate or scholastic sports curriculums, promote international goodwill through Polo competition, and above all, encourage development and sportsmanship through teaching young people the principles of the game of Polo.
Since 1967, the Polo Training Foundation has been committed to excellence in the great sport of polo. The PTF supports polo training at all levels by providing funds for the development of current and future generations of players and umpires. The Foundation’s many programs include beginner clinics designed to teach young people the principles of polo, intercollegiate /interscholastic tournaments and clinics, and international player exchanges. Through its activities, the PTF seeks to encourage the highest standards of sportsmanship and to promote international good will through polo competition.