What's It About?

"How did you ever get started playing polo?" a question every player hears from friends and acquaintances. The answer usually includes an introductory clinic or a free lesson somewhere along the way. It isn't so easy to keep going after that initial taste - which very quickly becomes an addiction.
A new player has to have access to horses, a place to play, and consistent instruction. It would be hard to learn to play polo with any one of those three variables missing. Further, adult beginners often comment how much better they would be if only they had started as a kid. In the Newport area, adults and kids alike have a unique opportunity to gain exposure to polo and have a vehicle to continue their education.
Members of the Newport Polo Club got together late in 2000 with the idea to form a group ensuring that polo would continue to grow and attract new players in Newport, the birthplace of polo in America. The Polo Education Foundation formed in order to support and provide opportunities for polo and equestrian education for junior and senior high school students, college students, and adults to learn the sport of equine polo and its necessary horsemanship skills. It also fosters participation in interscholastic, intercollegiate, and international levels of polo competition for people of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities.

The Foundation started by focusing on an emerging interscholastic program brought to life by player Dave Markell. Markell has spent hours coaching a local team and establishing contacts throughout the northeast. The interscholastic program is the fastest growing sector of the Newport polo training program, offering group and private lessons, which can include horses as well as equipment, for male and female participants from ages 10-18. Markell is organizing interscholastic competition against eastern conference interscholastic polo clubs including UConn, Yale, and Cornell. In the past, the Newport Club has produced athletic scholarship recipients and top nationally ranked players. (Of the 20 or more interscholastic polo programs in the US, most are affiliated with a university that has an intercollegiate polo program.)

The benefits of the polo training program are wide reaching, as they offer training and discipline in a sport that is otherwise not available to most participants. The program encourages the values of responsibility, safety, teamwork, and the highest standards of equine sportsmanship and horsemanship skills. It also provides fitness, recreation and community-based socialization with people and animals. The program promotes international goodwill through the organization of exchanges and tournaments. Several former students have been awarded athletic scholarships for their polo skills. These opportunities provide solid mentoring and encourage the pursuit of higher education. In the United States there are presently 40 universities that have intercollegiate polo programs, most of which offer scholarships.

Highlights of the Interscholastic program include: student Rory Torrey was recruited to the National Interscholastic Tournament championship team in 1998 and was named All American for two successive years including 1999 Interscholastic Player of the Year. Heather Torrey, athletic scholarship recipient to Cornell University, was a member of its varsity team that became National Intercollegiate champions in 2000 and was Female Intercollegiate Player of the Year that year. Other students have been offered scholarships by University of Virginia and Skidmore University.

While the Foundation plans to partner with other educational institutions in the future to give schools the opportunity to provide polo training as part of their curriculum, the strength of the existing polo training program is to remain available to students from any school, any location, any economic background. Further, the Foundation plans to offer scholarships to qualified students with financial hardship.

Besides high school students, the polo training program also offers beginning and intermediate level training for adults of all ages. The Naval War College has for the past eight years offered beginning and intermediate polo training to its students, who are mid-career officers pursuing masters degrees. There is a league for adult women who have formed the Newport Women's Polo Association. Other co-ed adult group lessons include college students and adults of all ages interested in learning polo.

Another educational opportunity available to the training program are instructional clinics, including umpire and player training courses, which are taught by top professionals, nationally recognized for their expertise, who offer intensive study of rules and plays.

Eventually, the Foundation plans to sponsor a Therapeutic Riding Program, whose mission and purpose shall be to provide opportunities for personal growth and physical therapy to participants with special needs and disadvantaged youths, through interaction with horses, ponies and an equestrian community. Forays have already been made to establish this program. Historically, polo fundraising activities have already contributed to a neighboring therapeutic riding program.

The Foundation has sponsored a major fundraising event during the past summer to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the formation of the Westchester Polo Club in Newport, the first polo club in America and predecessor to the Newport International Polo Series. Another fund raising event takes place this fall in conjunction with commemorating the first polo match played in North America in August of 1877 in Newport. The Westchester Polo Club hosted a team from Buffalo, New York that summer and that match will be recreated this year.

The Foundation will also sponsor a clinic and tournament for interscholastic and intercollegiate polo players this fall. The event will be the only event of its kind in the country where interscholastic players will have an opportunity to meet and play with collegiate players. The intent of the event is to create a mentoring program to encourage the pursuit of higher education.

The polo training program has benefited from the simultaneous rise of the polo club in many ways, including the club's lending of horses and tack, sharing instructional clinics and providing instructors, mentors, facilities and administration to the program. Of the 20 or more Interscholastic Polo programs in the US, most are affiliated with a university; ours has been fostered by the Newport Polo Club and is now sponsored by the Polo Education Foundation.

The Polo Education Foundation was formed in December, 2000 and incorporated in the state of Rhode Island in February of 2001 to formally manage and allocate the donation of effort, volunteers and resources to support and provide expanded opportunities for polo and equestrian education to deserving students of all walks of life. The Board of Directors of the Foundation includes: John Gelati, Chairman and founding member; Jim Garner, Treasurer and founding member; George Day; Daniel Keating; and David Markell