The USPA Seeks New Candidates
By Pam Gleason
How do you improve the standard of polo in America? How do you ensure that young people who play the game are properly encouraged, and are allowed to develop into the best amateur or professional players they can be? How do you give the sport of polo has a solid future in our country?
These are questions that the United States Polo Association has been grappling with for decades. There have been various solutions, including instituting such things as the “American Rule”, which limits the participation of foreign players at higher levels of the sport, thus helping American professional players get jobs. There have been umpire clinics and training camps. And now, there is the most ambitious program yet, Team USA. This program, started last February, gives young players the chance to attend training sessions and receive mentoring from some of the most respected professionals in the country.
The name Team USA is a bit misleading, because the purpose of the program is not to identify the best young players in the country and form a team to compete internationally. The idea is to identify a group of players who represent the future of the sport, and give them the tools that they need to become better players, umpires, and eventually, teachers and mentors to other people coming into the sport.
“Of course we are hoping that some of the members will become the next high goal players in America,” says Kris Bowman, who is the USPA National Club Development Director. “But some of the players will go out and be club players and amateur players. We want to give them an education so that when they go back to their home clubs all around the country, they will be bringing that education with them and improving the level of polo everywhere.”
The first group admitted into Team USA included young people from ages 19 to 25. There were 24 players selected from 75 applicants across the country. These players attended training sessions in Florida over the winter, spent the spring receiving mentoring from professional players, and then the majority went to Wyoming for the summer. There, they had numerous playing opportunities and attended umpiring clinics conducted by Steve Lane. A new requirement for participants in Team USA is that they should not only learn to be good umpires, but they should get certified by the USPA. This way, when they go back to their home clubs, they can improve the standard of play there and help standardize the umpiring of games across the country.
Team USA 2010 was a big enough success that the USPA is now calling for applicants to the 2011 team. There are a few differences in the program this year. For one thing, the age requirements have changed: now applicants must be between 18 and 23 years old. For another thing, just 12 applicants will be selected to participate in training sessions, to be held in Florida in February.
“All the members of team USA 2010 will stay in the program,” says Kris. “We will continue to support them as much as possible and we’ll be tracking them and their careers.”
Another important thing that Team USA is doing is allowing the USPA to compile a database of young people who are serious about the sport. According to this year’s Team USA application, “all applicants will be asked to provide information for the USPA database (if they have horses, transportation, are available to play or work, etc.) This database of young players will provide a networking tracking system that will be promoted by the USPA to the polo community.” All applicants, regardless of whether they are selected for Team USA or not, will be included in the database. This, in effect, spreads some of the advantages of Team USA to any interested young player.
“The Team USA program is just the first step,” continues Kris. “The next step is up to the polo community. We’d like to encourage people to include these young players on their teams, to give them a chance to play.”
Playing with a Team USA member is not, of course, a purely altruistic act, since many of the young players are on their way up in handicap, and bring both talent and youthful enthusiasm to the field. From January to August of this year, the 24 members of Team USA 2010 have been on the winning team in 71 tournaments and on the runner-up team in 30. There have been 12 who were recognized as Collegiate All-Stars and 10 have earned Most Valuable Player Awards.
Some members of the 2010 class were in Aiken this spring, and a number will be returning this fall. Look for them on the field and at the awards table.
Team USA 2011 applications are available now on the USPA website (www.uspolo.org.) They are being accepted between August 15 and October 15 of this year.
This article is republished with permission from Pam Gleason of The Aiken Horse.
Http://www.theaikenhorse.com
