On Memorial Day weekend Grand Champions Polo Club hosted a USPA National Youth Tournament Series Tournaments in both the 0-4 goal and –4- 0 goal levels. The event kicked off on Saturday with a warm-up for the USPA rated players.
The first NYTS game showcased Grand Champions White (Wesley Finlayson, Lorenzo Merlotti, Johnny Lavine, and Ayaan Quraeshi) against Grand Champions Black (Grant Ganzi, Michael Bellissimo, Juancito Bollini, and Matias Gonzalez). Grand Champions Black took the lead early in the first chukker and ran with it until Grand Champions White put up three goals to end the game strong with the final score 10-3 to Grand Champions Black. The 0-4 goal All-Stars were:
Juancito Bollini
Matias Gonzalez
Wesley Finlayson
Grant Ganzi
Congratulations to the All-Stars, they will have an opportunity to be selected to represent Zone 4 in the USPA’s NYTS Finals in Virginia on Labor Day weekend. Additionally, awards were given for Sportsmanship to Ayaan Quraeshi and Horsemanship to Johnny Lavine.
In the lower flight The Polo School Green (Cipriano Echezarreta, Chase Schwartz, Jack McLean, and Grant Ganzi) faced off against The Polo School Blue (Riley Ganzi, Jacqui Casey, Anthony Devrient, and Clemente Devrient). Both teams played tremendously well, but in the end The Polo School Green came out ahead 3-2. All-Stars selected for the 0-goal flight were:
Anthony Devirent
Clemente Devrient
Jack McLean
Cipriano Echezarreta
A special Sportsmanship award was given to Riley Ganzi and a Horsemanship award was given to Clemente Devirent.
Later on in the day 12 young players competed in intermediate chukkers on a shortened field. Joseph Schwartz and Buhl Fenner were given Sportsmanship awards for their performance on the field. At the end of the day, three teams competed in lead-line. A big “Thank You!” goes out to the Polo Training Foundation and Grand Champions for hosting a USPA NYTS tournament in conjunction with their annual Memorial Day Junior Tournament so junior players of all levels could take part in this weekend’s competition.