YOUTH POLO

Highlighting the best young players while emphasizing well-rounded skills

HOW ARE NYTS TEAMS CHOSEN?

Players — boys and girls — attend the local qualifiers as individuals, and are placed on teams by the host club. The NYTS program is built around targeting and identifying outstanding young players at each qualifier through the use of an All-Star Selection Committee. At the end of the weekend, All-Stars are chosen based on: • Horsemanship • Sportsmanship • Playing ability at their current handicap • How they play on a team From there, those All-Stars become eligible to be selected to advance to the National Championship.

Summer NYTS Returns

Following a year that saw the National Youth Tournament Series (NYTS) delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the highly anticipated season-long event that puts the sport’s youngest players in the spotlight is returning to Myopia.

On Aug. 1, the NYTS qualifiers will bring a collection of young, talented players to South Hamilton, all of whom will be working together to reach the finals — this year to be held in Chicago.

“It’s an event everybody looks forward to each year,” says United States Polo Association Director of Player Development Amanda Snow. “Myopia has a strong interscholastic and youth program with the emphasis on the next generation. This (NYTS) provides them the best opportunity to get together and showcase their talent.”

NYTS cultivates and promotes junior polo throughout the United States by providing the organizational structure to support junior tournaments. At Myopia, local professionals like Federico Wulff along with Team USPA members CB Scherer, Nick Snow and Felipe Viana volunteer their time to coach teams at the qualifier every year.

“The primary goal is to create more opportunities for youth players to play with their peers,” Snow says. “Polo is a unique sport in that people of all ages and abilities are on the field at the same time. Giving kids the opportunity to play with kids their own age is instrumental to their development and more fun, we feel.”

The second key component of NYTS is to get youth players seen as competitive players at their home clubs and give them goals to strive for. Engaging players at this level provides them with collegiate opportunities and opens doors for international travel, as well as fortifying clubs at the local level.

“It’s going to be exciting to be able to have it at all,” Snow says. “The kids are going to be excited for it. I wish we could’ve made it happen last year, but it just wasn’t feasible.”

The championships were eventually held in January of this year on ground one at the International Polo Club Palm Beach in Florida. The Florida Region team, which included Myopia player Landon Daniels, took the top spot by defeating the Eastern Region 10.5 goals to 4.

National Youth Tournament Series qualifiers will be held at Myopia Polo Club on Sunday, Aug. 1.