The United States Polo Association has chosen Aiken as their spring and fall training location for the Team USPA players as well as where they will headquarter their Horse Donation Program. The Team USPA program was established to grow and sustain the sport of polo by identifying talented young American players and providing opportunities to grow their abilities. As part of their training, the members of the team learn from and compete alongside current high-goal stars such as Julio Arellano, Tommy Biddle, Jr., Jeff Blake, Luis Escobar, Sunny Hale, Hector Galindo, Adam Snow, Owen Rinehart and Jeff Hall.
The Horse Donation Center was born out of necessity, says Bowman, Team USPA program director, “We have the talented players but they don’t all have high goal horses. It’s like having racecar drivers with no racecars to drive!” The horse donation program will enable polo players from around the country to make tax deductible donations of polo ponies to the Team USPA program.
The USPA chose the Aiken location due to the accessibility to high goal polo at prestigious polo clubs like New Bridge Polo Club and 302 Polo. The high concentration of polo professionals and top level competition horses coupled with the affordability of polo in the Aiken area made for a perfect location for Team USPA.
Former 10 goal players Adam Snow and Owen Rinehart will be hosting games at their private fields for the Team USPA players and other high goal American players such as Julio Arellano and Tommy Biddle will be helping to coach these promising players while they are training in Aiken. For more information on the Team USPA program, please contact Kris Bowman at kbowman@uspolo.org.