All Aspects of Youth Polo
Youth
Junior Arena Gold & Silver Cups
Photography by Gillian Hughes
Neogem Asian Art, winners of The Junior Arena Silver Cup
To round off the arena season, over 10 – 11 April, junior players battled it out for the Royal County of Berkshire Polo Club Junior Arena Silver (U14) and Gold (U16) trophies. Neogem Asian Art, led by Captain Charlie Hipwood took The Silver Cup, winning 18-13 against Harris Hound Art, led by Leander Sauter, with Neogem Asian Art’s Rafi Bruckner the Most Valuable Player. The Gold Final was a hard-fought battle between Neogem Asian Art, led by Captain Josh Hyde, supported by Hipwood and Bruckner against the Oxford Polo Team, led by Captain Hector Rogberg supported by Ulysses Hu and Archie Hesseltine. Strong leadership and lots of positive coaching from Hesseltine ultimately meant Oxford won 15-11 and took the title. Great team play on both teams with
improvement from Ulysses Hu and skilful technical play from Josh Hyde, continuing the Hyde arena legacy. Oxford’s Rogberg won the Most Valuable Player trophy. The Gold Subsidiary Final was won by New Forest Stags 12-5 to Mono Lilienbach. A comfortable win for George Williams, Jacob Watson and Lucas Stern; a few ‘proglory’ moments for Hamish MacLennan with Bonnie Barnes and Nico Hiller holding up the Lilienbach Mono team. The organisers gave a special mention to the upcoming under 14s Hipwood, Bruckner and Nico Hiller for playing in both tournament Finals and surviving eight back-to-back chukkas, and to Scarlett Picksley and Barnes for giving the boys lots of stick, and the committee commented, “We were particularly
Junior Arena Silver Cup Team Captains, Leander & Hipwood battle it out
Oxford Polo Team, winners of The Junior Arena Gold Cup
impressed with the camaraderie and team spirit between all players and parents on the day. We look forward to seeing you all again next year!” The Junior Gold Cup Teams: Mono Lillenbach (0): Hamish MacLennan (0), Nicholas Hiller (0) & Bonnie Barnes (0) Neogem Asian Art Jnrs (1): Rafi Bruckner (0), Charlie Hipwood (0) & Josh Hyde (1) New Forest Stags (1): Jacob Watson (0), George Williams (0) & Lucas Stern (1) Oxford Polo Team (1): Archie Heseltine (0), Ulysss Hu (0) & Hector Rogberg (1) The Junior Silver Cup Teams: Neogem Asian Art Jnrs (0): Rafi Bruckner (0), Charlie Hipwood (0) & Nico Hiller (0) Harris Hound Art (-3): Scarlett Picksley (-1), N Watson/T Williams (-1) & Leander Sauter (-1)
Action from The Junior Arena Gold Cup
Pony Club Polo Summer 2021 The Polo Committee has published a Spring/Summer 2021 Pack which is packed full of useful information, to view the entire Pack visit pcuk.org and select Polo from the dropdown menu. Some of the pertinent points include that this year, the Polo Championships will be joining in with the main Pony Club Championships at Offchurchbury, which allows siblings to attend different disciplines without extra
camping and travel, there are two ‘money pts’ for starters and training available for distribution through branches and Centres and Pony Club Polo has access to a travelling coach who has equipment which can be used for taster sessions. To find out more, contact Laura (polo@pcuk.org) or Charles Whittington (chw@hillbarn.plus.com).
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Polo Times, May 2021
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