PTF Academic Scholarship for Polo Players

The Polo Training Foundation is introducing a new scholarship program in 2011.  The schaolarship is:

• Available at colleges and universities with an athletic program in polo.
• Provides financial assistance for students who participate in the sport of polo.
• Designed to reduce the financial burden of tuition for those who demonstrate financial need.

In addition to meeting a high academic standard, applicants will be required to participate in the collegiate polo program at the school they are attending. These scholarships will be awarded on a need based.

Scholarships will be funded from donations made to the PTF scholarship fund. Donations will be divided with one half being for immediate use and the other half to go towards building a scholarship endowment.

Those interested in donating to the scholarship program should contact the PTF office by phone:

888-PTF-POLO (783-7656)

or

use the "donate now" button on this site and earmark the donation for the scholarship fund.

The application is here.

And They Came to the Desert to Play

by Paula Webb 

It's old news by now; Poway took the title of 2011 Western Regional Interscholastic Champions. Congratulations to Poway and to all the teams participating in that I/S tournament!

As parents of a first-timer on a start-up team heading to the I/S tournament, we were anxious to see what I/S polo is all about. Our team had clinics, drills and scrimmages, but now we were looking forward to our first tournament weekend. We loaded up the car and headed down South.

Eight teams from Northern, Central and Southern California gathered together at Empire Polo Club in sunny Indio early Friday morning, and the tournament began. My first observation was that the veteran teams looked out for the rookies, from the tournament committee, to the coaching level, to the player level. It was still polo-worthy competitive, but with a great example of sportsmanship by all. Riders from every team worked together grooming, walking, bathing etc. to assist those on other teams, and to help the tournament committee ensure the games would run efficiently.

The first day of the tourney went off without a hitch. As always, there were winning teams and losing teams. But either way, all these teams had come to the desert to play - and play they did! Toward the end of this first day, though, clouds began to gather, the skies darkened and r-a-i-n trickled into the arena. Luckily, game play was not impacted. At the end of the day, riders tucked-in their horses and set off for their own lodging to rest up for day number two.

That night, wind and rain beat down on the desert -- all night long. We were awakened Saturday morning, early, by a call from our coach, "The arena is flooded. We are meeting to explore our options. Tell the kids not to worry; the committee will do its best to make this work. After all, we did all come to the desert to play ...."

Fast- forward to the meeting. I/I Committee Co-Chair, Russ Sheldon, announced a remote possibility to use an arena nearby that had not been used for several years. Russ said the arena was a little flooded, needed a bit of grooming (i.e. weed pulling and draining), but if we all worked together, we might be able to make it happen. So at 9:00 a.m., the whole tournament roster, parents, coaches and officials slogged (literally) over to the arena to survey the situation. It was not too bad. Artificial footing, perimeter weeds, and a pond sized puddle. Hmmmm. Well, kids got right to work pulling weeds and removing debris. Debris included rocks, weeds, broken glass, litter and at least one lively scorpion! The competitors were now working toward a common goal, because after all, they came to the desert to play.

Someone scared up a portable pump, and the pond-puddle decreased in size. But that was not enough, so kids redirected water with shovels, rakes and brooms. Parents put their heads together and rigged up a makeshift rig to drag the arena. And Mr. Billie Sheldon sacrificed his brand new SUV to go mud- runnin' and drag the arena using a chain link fence stabilized with railroad ties! By noon it was sunny, almost warm and things were looking good. So good, in fact, that there was I/S polo that day – a little muddy, but safe. At first it was questionable whether all the teams would get their games in. But that's why these kids worked so hard in the first place, so everyone who came to the desert could play. With good planning and hard work all the teams were able to get their games in. There were no operational sound or lighting systems in this newly redone arena, but it was only the last chukker of the last game of the day that was called on account of darkness. Not bad.

That night at a banquet honoring the players, Russ Sheldon served as master of ceremonies (and stand-up comic, to the detriment of Coach John Wesley!). Russ graciously greeted all the players, and specifically welcomed two new teams into the I/S polo family. Officials, coaches and riders and were introduced. By that time, though, even if we didn't know everyone's names, we had worked side-by-side to promote polo, sportsmanship and camaraderie.

The final day of the tournament gave us an exciting play-off game between Poway and El Dorado Polo Clubs, followed by awards at closing ceremonies in -- you guessed it the I/S players' arena!