By Amanda Hersey
January 7-15 2012
The Team USPA January Umpire Clinic wrapped up this weekend at Palm City Polo Club. The Team USPA clinic attendees were kept extremely busy since their arrival on Saturday, January 7th. The participants have been riding the string Team USPA donation horses at the barn, assisting mentor Tommy Biddle with his horses and also have been frequent guests at Audi and Grand Champions Polo Club. On Sunday they were hosted by IPC to the Sunday feature game before attending the classroom session on Monday covering Rules & Positioning at the Polo Museum & Hall of Fame. Professional Umpire, Mike Harris, conducted the clinic. Tuesday and Thursday was the beginning of the observation part of the clinic where the participants were mounted on the field and were able to put their new skills to the test. Mike Harris gave them specific areas that needed improvement. On days that they were not participating in mounted practices and games, Palm Beach Polo Club invited them to Third Man their 8 goal tournament games and then they were observed for certification on Friday and Saturday in 12 goal tournament polo hosted by Palm City Polo in Boca, FL.
The participants were not limited to just umpire training during their stay in Wellington. Senior Team USPA members, Steve Krueger(3) and Nick Snow (4) organized a Skills & Drills Session at the IPC Stick & Ball Field which was also attended by several local members of the Young Player Outreach Program. On Thursday evening the Player’s Club hosted a Team USPA lecture with Kris Kampsen, Nic Roldan, and Brandon Phillips. The topics these three American polo stars discussed were Branding and the Importance of Building Strong Relationships. On Friday, Tommy Biddle and Palm Beach Polo invited two of the Team USPA players, Zach Grob and Kareem Rosser to play in the season kick-off party 14 goal arena game with Tommy Biddle, Hector Galindo, Luis Escobar, Boone Stribling and Brad Blake. As you can see the January Umpire Clinic was a tremendous success thanks to so many people involved that have made this opportunity available to these young polo players!
For more information on the Team USPA or Young Player Outreach programs email TeamUSPA@uspolo.org.