Piki Alberdi Named MVP
Travieso, making its spring tournament debut at Grand Champions Polo Club, left a lasting impression in its final appearance of the season.
With precision-like teamwork, Travieso became the first polo team to win three tournaments during the spring season.
On a windy, sun-drenched Sunday in front of a packed house and worldwide Chukker TV audience, Travieso (Marc Ganzi, Hector Guerrero, Piki Diez Alberdi, Teo Calle) dominated Palm Beach Equine (Geronimo Obregon, Facundo Obregon, Lucas Lalor, Scott Swerdlin) in the final of The Memorial, presented by Chukker TV, for an impressive 13-9 victory.
Former 10-goaler Piki Diez Alberdi, who scored a team-high seven goals, was named Most Valuable Player. His horse, Penelope, owned by Halo Polo, was named Best Playing Pony
Piki Diez Alberdi of Travieso hits the ball out of the air.
Photo by Alex Pacheco
“It was a good win,” Alberdi said. “I think we had a good day and played well against a very good team. We made good tactics before the game and we played well together as a team. We are very happy.”
It was back-to-back tournament victories and second consecutive win over Palm Beach Equine in a final for the first-year Ecuador team in the club’s most competitive season. In the May 17 Polo Gear Challenge Cup final, Travieso edged Palm Beach Equine, 11-10.
“Their team got a little stronger when they replaced their injured player with one of the Obregon kids,” Calle said. “We got a little worried about it and knew it was going to be difficult.
“They had three really good professionals and our team had two professionals and two padrons. One of us had to step over and take one of those guys and make sure we evened up the situation. We were able to do that. Marc is a great rider and good player, and I tried to help as much as I could.”
Early in the opening chukker, Travieso broke a 2-2 tie on Alberdi’s first goal for a 3-2 lead and never trailed after that. Travieso shut out Palm Beach Equine, 2-0, in the second chukker highlighted by a 250-yard run by Alberdi for another goal.
Travieso led 9-4 at the half after outscoring Palm Beach Equine, 3-1, in the third chukker.
“Playing together as a disciplined polo team is 50 percent of the game for me,” Calle said. “If you are able to do that, if you are taking your man and helping the rest of your teammates, the team picks up. It’s the little things that turn out to be a big thing at the end.”
Travieso looked even stronger in the second half maintaining its rhythm and open play. Travieso led 11-5 after the fourth chukker and 13-6 after the fifth.
“I am very happy,” Calle said. “It’s a new team. We are trying to do things the best way we know. We like to have good horses, be well-mounted and we like to have fun. We are just giving it everything we have. That, with a little bit of luck, helped us a lot. If we are having fun and we are winning, great.”
Ganzi added five goals and Travieso picked up two goals based on handicap. Facundo Obregon led Palm Beach Equine scoring with seven goals including three on penalty shots.
“We were joking in the tent that the brains beat the talent today,” Ganzi said. “They had a lot of youth and handicap and it looked like it was going to be a long day for us. We knew we had to play really disciplined, communicate, work for each other and try to make sure we didn’t give up any space. This was a tough final today. The polo was high and the speed was fast.
“Teo earned it, he played great polo all season,” Ganzi said. “He is incredible and a hell of a teammate.”
Calle and Travieso’s success story exemplifies Grand Champions Polo Club’s goal for players and teams of all levels during its winter, spring and fall seasons.
“You saw Teo’s confidence rise every week and he played better and better,” Ganzi said. “His teammates kept asking more and more of him and he was ready to respond. That’s what you want here. You want to learn, want to get better and play good polo.”
Tato’s Mallet Cup champions, MVP Kris Kampsen, Hal Lehr, Christian Weisz, Lucas Lalor. Photo by Alex Pacheco.
Aithon (Hal Lehr, Mackie/Christian Weisz, Kris Kampsen, Lucas Lalor) won the Tato’s Mallet Cup with an 11-8 victory over The Polo School (Sean Yazbeck, Nico Escobar, Santos Bollini, Piki Diez Alberdi). Kampsen was named MVP. It was Aithon’s first tournament victory at Grand Champions.
Throughout the day, family, friends, players and fans were treated to a five-star brunch by Grand Champions chef Shannon Atkins and his staff Verdell Atkins-March and Patsy McClain, provided by hosts Melissa and Marc Ganzi of Grand Champions. Atkins is a Johnson and Wales College of Culinary Arts alum and recent Flavors of Wellington winner for his desserts.
Lucas Lalor of Palm Beach Equine reaches for the ball mid-air.
Photo by Alex Pacheco.
Other spring tournament champions are Polo Gear Challenge Cup–Travieso (Teo Calle, Marc Ganzi, Miguel Novillo Astrada, Hector Guerrero);USPA Eastern Challenge Cup–Casablanca (Grant Ganzi, Juancito Bollini, Wes Finlayson, Nic Roldan); USPA Sun Cup– Palm Beach Equine (Scott Swerdlin, Facundo Obregon, Brandon Phillips, Martin Estrada); USPA Spring Challenge–Travieso (Tony Calle, Carlucho Arellano,Julio Arellano, Teo Calle) and Grand Champions Cup–Psycho Bunny (Piki Diaz Alberdi, Brandon Phillips, Andrew Seibert, Kris Kampsen) in the first six medium goal tournaments.
Grand Champions spring season ends this week with the May 28-31 Santa Rita Memorial. The event is named after Melissa Ganzi’s Ocala-based Santa Rita Farm which was named after her grandmother, who passed away on Dec. 29, 2012. The Ganzi family rests, breed and train polo ponies at the farm.
One of the biggest highlights of the spring season has been the use of state-of-the-art technology featuring live streaming, instant replay, challenges and team review from Chukker.TV, which has also received rave reviews on its new and improved interactive website.
In January, 2014, Grand Champions Polo Club became the first polo club worldwide to offer instant replay and team review much to the delight of players and patrons in hopes of improving officiating and quality of play at all levels of polo.
Chukker.TV is providing unduplicated state-of-the-art technology to provide instant replay. In addition, the technical staff has live-streamed games that have been viewed around the world on its website.
Chukker.TV also partnered with Roku, Inc. to bring polo to fans live in the comfort of their homes at no cost. Chukker.TV has a channel on Roku.
Grand Champions, with its five well-manicured fields and turnkey facility, is enjoying its finest spring season in the history of the club, which opened in 2008. Everyone is welcome to enjoy the games. Admission and parking are free.
2015 POLO ON DEMAND
Grand Champions Polo Club, featuring five world-class fields, has a full schedule of tournaments from January to May. Let our polo experts create a turn-key experience including top pros to bring out the best in you and your team. Lessons are available.
2015 SPRING SCHEDULE
May 28-31, Santa Rita Memorial; Saturday, The Polo School League, 10 a.m.
GRAND CHAMPIONS POLO CLUB
WHERE: 13444 Southfields Road, on the corner of South Shore Boulevard and Lake Worth Road, Wellington, 33414.