Polo, once a popular spectator sport for Long Islanders, may have entered a new era when the Polo Training Foundation and Meadowbrook Polo Club held a clinic for twenty-four children on August 3rd and 4th at the Meadowbrook Polo fields on Whitney Lane in Old Westbury.

The clinic was coordinated by Jim Brodie and was modeled on a three-day Brandywine Polo Academy event attended last year by one of the junior Meadowbrook players, Vivian Brodie. While the Brandywine clinic stressed safety and playing, the Meadowbrook clinic provided a basic introduction to the game and its rules as well as advanced riding and hitting skills for the intermediate.

The children in the Long Island clinic were divided evenly between beginners and intermediate level players forming six teams. The Polo Training Foundation provided the teaching skills of Wilbur O’Ferrall from California. Wilbur has 11 years
experience conducting similar clinics. He worked the first morning with the beginners explaining the rules, the safety aspects of play, the defensive methods and basic hitting skills by means of a foot mallet.

The intermediate children split their morning between the ‘swing doctor’, Meadowbrook Polo Club manager Mauricio Devrient. He helped refine various shots from the back of a wooden horse; while Martin Estrada (Meadowbrook's head pro) demonstrated various advanced riding techniques useful to polo players. 

Although a few children brought their own, most of the horses were borrowed from players and the pros at Meadowbrook. Each child was assigned a horse according to his or her ability and played two chukkers each day. Brandywine Polo Club dispatched eight horses and six children; several kids came from Connecticut and the rest were locals.

After lunch, the children tacked-up their assigned their mounts, and played two chukkers in a round-robin format. Each team was given colorful playing jerseys numbered one through four, emblazoned with the famous Meadowbrook logo. The play was overseen by Wilbur O’Ferrall, of the PTF, who
displayed boundless patience with the new recruits; he blew his whistle, stopped the play and explained the rules of the road. With eight kids charging about on ponies, chasing a ball while armed with mallets, things can quickly get interesting.

The beginners played a somewhat cautious, slower game as they tried to adjust to riding with one hand, swinging a mallet and hitting the ball. The intermediate players were faster and more consistent in striking the ball and understanding the rights of way. More than one parent stood gazing with amazement as their child galloped by in pursuit of the little
white ball.

Friday ended with a pool party at Luis and Julie Rinaldini’s Groton Place. It marked the end a hot day for both the children and the ponies. Dinner was donated by the restaurant Agave in NYC, which is owned by a parent of a player. Many kids camped at Groton Place only to have a squall blow through late Friday night causing their tents to collapse. It was a rough night, but as the Saturday clinic got under way,
everyone was full of smiles.

For Saturday, the organizers opted to play the ponies early in the day in order to avoid the heat. After a brief review of the rules from the prior day, each team was asked to select two members to conduct a tacking race.

In a tacking race the two players work together to fully tack the pony. And a polo pony wears a lot of special tack that many kids were seeing for only the second time. There was more than one that looked as they had never put tack a horse. Besides all the tack, they were required to apply the front polo wraps and braid the tails to keep the tails free of the mallet.
The tacking race was a close but was won by part of the Brandywine contingent. Afterwards all the ponies were tacked and checked and the round robin play proceeded in the same order as the previous day.

Since it was Saturday, there were more parents on the sidelines. It soon became obvious that the previous day’s clinic had produced a marked improvement. Everyone from players to coaches to parents were pleased. The chukkers went smoothly
except for one horse falling over (no one was injured). Play was done by 12:30pm.

During and after lunch Roberta Gleicher from Purina Feeds gave a detailed talk to the young players about feeding the performance horse. The talk was well received and went for one and one half hours. (who would have thought they would sit still that long!). Finally, awards of I-pod cards were given by the coaches to kids that impressed them, such as one girl
for the big effort she made at playing on her hunter-jumper, one for being extremely helpful to one and all with the tack and questions and one for sportsmanship. There was also a best Mom for Ms. Cox who drove the Brandywine ponies and six teenage girls up to play on the grass at the historic Meadowbrook Polo Club. There were also polo shirts given to the winning teams in the intermediate and beginner squads. The day ended with a Polo Training Foundation movie about rules.

The clinic cost $100 per person and included horses plus breakfast and lunch for players and parents. This clinic represents a big effort by parents and young players to develop the base of support for polo. Three of the players are members of the Yale Scholastic Team while others play on the
Brandywine Youth team. The Polo Training Foundation supports an active program of high-school (Interscholastic) and college (Intercollegiate) polo. Details at www.us-polo.org. 

Who knows, polo may soon be the new sport of choice on
Long Island once again! 

For more information email jasabrodie@yahoo.com

Click here to view photos from our Polo Training Foundation Clinic - August 3rd & 4th

Click here to view information on our Polo Clinic for Rules and Umpires.