This past weekend the Virginia Polo Center was host site for the Division II Southeastern Regional tournament. Planned to take place during UVA’s spring break, the tournament was an excellent opportunity to share our club’s wonderful facility with other school’s student players, and bring in income for the program through the rental by the United States Polo Association.
A handful of dedicated UVA polo players remained through spring break to ride, help feed the horses and muck the barn. These players were essential to the smooth running of the tournament as they volunteered for scorekeeping, announcing, throwing hay, and facilitating the VA Polo ponies rented to the visiting teams. They were outstanding representatives of the club. The tournament was managed by Virginia Polo’s Assistant Coach and Barn Manager Abbie Grant and the weekend ran like a well-oiled machine.
Virginia Tech’s Aleem Sidiqui, Marshall Covington, and Diego Cortes, won the DII Southeastern Regionals Men’s Division
Teams came from Michigan, Wisconsin, Maryland, Kentucky, and Virginia Tech to compete. We saw memorable demonstrations of sportsmanship, talent, and remarkable horsemanship throughout the weekend from these promising teams.
The USPA sent Cindy Halle to mentor the DII teams at the tournament
The United States Polo Association launched a new mentorship program at DII regionals. Designed to connect newer or smaller I/I teams with experienced mentors to help advise them, Cindy Halle met with teams individually and as a group to discuss rules, strategy, and answer questions that arose.
Marshall Covington received the Horsemanship Award in the men’s division
University of Kentucky women’s team with Cindy Halle before the final match
The Virginia Tech men’s team, including former Virginia Junior Marshall Covington, won the men’s division and the University of Kentucky women were victorious in the competitive women’s division. The women’s final was a closely fought match between UK and the new University of Maryland women. The score stayed neck and neck throughout the game, thanks in part to a number of impressive 2 point shots, all the way up to the last minutes of the fourth chukker.
Thank you to the MSU, UK, Wisconsin, UMD, and VT teams for coming, to the UVA students who helped out so much, and to all our donors who’ve made our facility possible.
The University of Kentucky with Best Playing Pony, Ola Polo’s pony from their string