Costa Careyes
Tel. + 52 315 35 103 20/21/22 Fax.+ 52 315 35 103 24
E-mail: Susan Stovall Web site: www.careyes.com
Km. 53.5 Carr. B. de Navidad-Puerto Vallarta, Costa Careyes, Jalisco, Mexico. Zip.code. 48894.
Costa Careyes Polo hosts Match Play – Punta de Mita, a new Four Seasons Resort north of Puerta Vallarta, sent a contingent of polo players down to Costa Careyes to play in match game on Saturday, March 14. Robin Reyes, Punta Mita sales manager, and Gabe Fernandez, originally from California, joined forces with seasoned player Ivan Echeverria, owner of the San Pancho Polo Club, and Matias Galli who is spending his winter at the San Pancho club. Several special guests from the Punta Mita area traveled with the players.
Costa Careyes fielded its own players of Giorgio Brignone, owner and Careyes resort general manager, Raul Ramirez, club pro, Alberto Ardissone, home owner, and James Giebeler, who assisted in developing the 25 years old fields – truly a local team.
Although the local team had a higher rated team, the Punta Mita team came to win. The Punta Mita had the disadvantage of playing all borrowed horses.. The game was head to head thru the third chukker with Gabe Fernandez, Matias Galli , Ivan Echeverria – all with one goal and two on handicap. The home team lead – scorer was Raul Ramiez with 3 goals, Alberto Ardissone – 2 goals and and Giorgio Brignone with 1. After the tequila divot stomp at halftime – the Careyes team took control and never looked back. All the home team players started scoring and the visitors could not seem to stop them with the final score 11-5.
For the next weekend, March 20 & 21, players came from out of Mexico to play on the mature Bermuda fields – visiting from California, Canada, New Mexico and Alabama. An on site painting of polo was organized by Linda Kauffmann and Efren Gonzalez to capture the ¨Sport of Kings´.
Teams were divided by handicap to make the games competitive. Friday fielded the Canadian team of Dave Buller, Chris and Will Falk, all three originally from the Winnipeg area and Brian Boyd of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Careyes team players were Katie Falk, Fresno, California, Jimmy Giebeler, Paris, France, Alberto Ardissone, Milan, Italy, and Raul Ramirez, club professional for Careyes. Both teams were rated equal. Giorgio Brignone, manager and owner of the Costa Careyes Polo Club, was sidelined with sore ribs and shoulder from a fall earlier in the week.
The first chukker ended in a tie with Will Falk scoring for Canada and Ramirez for Careyes. Chukker two saw Careyes pull ahead with two unanswered goals by Ardissone and Ramirez. Canada came to life in the third with DaveBuller, Chris Falk and Brian Boyd all scoring one and Careyes was held scoreless. Halftime was a South of the
Border tradition of complimentary tequila for the divot stomp.
Chukkers four and five saw the score go back and forth each team scoring ended the game in a tie of 8-8. Before the final chukker throw-in both teams had agreed to no overtime play as Saturday was another day and would be the third day of play on the horses. Chris Falk let the Canadian team with 3 goals and Raul Ramirez, Careyes, was the leading scorer with 5 goals.
On Saturday teams were changed from Friday play as some of the players had other commitments. Canada led by Dave Buller and Will Falk added Diego Gonzalez and Manuel Matos both up from Guadalahara to practice for the upcoming Agua Alta tournament. Careyes was Jimmy Giebeler, husband-wife combination Katie and Chris Falk and Brian Boyd. Again the teams scoring went back and forth and at halftime was 3 -2 Careyes leading – Chris Falk had scored all 3 goals and Brother Will playing for Canada made the only goal and one on handicap. The tequila divot stomp at halftime was a great success as about 200 residents of the nearby village of La Manzanilla came to their first polo game.
The next chukker was scoreless and hard fought. The beginning of the fifth chukker Will Falk tied the game. After that it was decided that if the game ended in a tie – there would be a shootout. It seemed that is exactly what was going to happen when the first bell rang. Diego Gonzalez then took the ball literally end to end with a great run and put the goal through for Team Canada with one second left. Great way to end the weekend and was a crowd pleaser!
The next tournament for Costa Careyes is the Alberto Ardissone´s Agua Alta. Players, from Germany, USA, Mexico, Italy, France, Argentina, Columbia, England and Peru will vie for the coveted trophy. The competition goes from April 4 through April 11.
To see information about Costa Careyes see www.careyes.com.
Giorgio Brignone
Beatrice Jacobs – photographer
Costa Careyes hosted several match games from March 14th – 21st. Take a look at the photos from these games.
The victorious Canada team toast the Careyes team - l to r Dave Buller, Manuel Matos, Will Falk, Diego Gonzalez and Careyes with Kate Falk, Brian Boyd, Chris Falk and Jimmy Giebler.
Sidelined with a broken collarbone Giorgio Brignone and his father Gian Franco enjoy the game. Chrissy Falk and Major Dawnay call the game.
