a national championship to its record. 50 percent of the 2020 MPC membership currently plays interscholastic or collegiate polo. Not only were these members competitors for a Maryland interscholastic team, nearly every one of them has won an Interscholastic or Intercollegiate National title. The primary coaches responsible for creating these outstanding interscholastic teams are all members of Maryland Polo Club. Former GFS and West Shore coach, Cindy Halle (UC Davis), is an original outdoor member of MPC. Garrison Forest School is an all-girls school located in Owings Mills, Maryland and the polo program was founded in the late 70s by Dan Colhoun and was coached for years by Cindy Halle. Many of these former GFS players in the 70s, 80s, and 90s are relatives of families that belong to Maryland Polo Club. In the summer, they would join their families outdoors playing their own strings of ponies. The Colhouns were among the founding families of MPC. After establishing a strong polo program at GFS, Halle stepped away from coaching to raise her family and Kelly Wells (Cornell University), another outdoor player at MPC, came on board to coach at GFS. While coaching at GFS, Wells was constructing the Marlan Farm polo facility upcountry near the Pennsylvania state line while raising two young children. Wells eventually opened up her own interscholastic program in 2003 at Marlan Farm where she now resides and coaches as many as four interscholastic teams at any given time. West Shore Polo Club’s Open team was founded around 2010 for several male players that lived in Maryland and Pennsylvania. It was not permissible to roster boys on a GFS polo team, as they did not attend the school, so West Shore’s I/I team stems from Max Hempt’s own polo team in Pennsylvania. Hempt is a board member of MPC where he plays tournament polo with his son, George, who was an original player on the West Shore interscholastic team. George went on to play collegiate polo for Roger Williams University where he led them to a National Championship victory. After returning to GFS in 2007, Halle was appointed to coach West Shore’s I/I team in the GFS arena two nights a week. More and more students that did not attend GFS learned about the West Shore team and several of these girls and younger boys joined the West Shore ranks. Tom Huber (University of Virginia), Vice President of MPC, has a son and daughter that played for West Shore and now both play collegiate polo for University of Kentucky. His son, Tommy Huber, won Interscholastic Nationals while playing for West Shore Polo and in the summer, father, son, and daughter Louisa represent the Huber’s Dovecote polo team at MPC. In 2007, GFS gained another former intercollegiate player to assist Halle, Emily Dewey (Michigan State University). Dewey assisted with instruction of the Garrison Forest and West Shore polo teams for several years before accepting a position at the USPA working in the I/I Program. During Dewey’s time in Maryland she also managed the Maryland Polo Club. Over the years, Halle and Dewey leased out
GFS ponies and several of Halle’s own ponies to GFS and West Shore students to use for summer polo at MPC. These leases created an outdoor opportunity for youth players that did not have a string of their own polo ponies. As Maryland Polo Club’s youth membership was growing by leaps and bounds, intra-club youth tournaments were being added to the club’s schedule. Simultaneously, the USPA National Youth Tournament Series (NYTS) was taking off with an abundance of young players all over the United States. With so many Maryland NYTS participants, MPC has been able to form two flights of NYTS in recent years. MPC has proudly sent several NYTS All-Stars from Zone 4 to compete in NYTS and these astounding players have brought home several wins in recent NYTS Championships. There is no doubt that their summers spent playing NYTS and USPA tournaments at MPC prepared each of these individuals to become valuable team players when faced with unfamiliar teammates and different locations. As Halle began focusing more on instructional clinics and traveling to play polo all over the world, she decided to retire from coaching. A GFS I/I alumna, Jenny Schwartz (Virginia Tech), has taken the helm at GFS with assistant coach Kaycie Campbell (Michigan State University) during the academic year. While Schwartz does not play with MPC in the summer, several of her beginner students play with Posey Obrecht (University of Kentucky). Obrecht, another GFS alumna, became West Shore’s go-to coach. Obrecht has played outdoor polo with Maryland Polo Club since she was a teenager. She lives in Maryland’s Greenspring Valley and owns a gentle string of school ponies. Obrecht provides transportation for these ponies to MPC youth tournaments every summer for her GFS, West Shore, and local Pony Club students. For several years, Kelly Wells found time to manage the Maryland Polo Club’s outdoor intermediate sessions and MPC’s intermediate night, while raising her own children who also enjoyed I/I polo and outdoor polo. Her daughter, Marissa, has graduated from Texas A&M, became a Team USPA alumna, and coached the Virginia based Battlefield Polo Club’s interscholastic team. When Wells’ son, Brennan, enrolled at UVA where he plays intercollegiate polo, she decided to stay close to home and provide access to summer polo at her own facility for mostly beginners with arena lessons, outdoor lessons, intermediate camps, and outdoor pony leases with the option to play outdoor polo matches in the mid-Atlantic region. The Marlan Farm summer programs created another opportunity for students from near and far to learn polo. As Wells phased out of the MPC intermediate program, MPC was fortunate to gain leadership from a President and Club Manager that had both experienced I/I Polo. Maryland Polo Club now has a husband and wife team, Club Manager Nate Berube (University of Connecticut) and President Olivia Berube (Colorado State University) that bring cumulative years of I/I polo experience to MPC. The Berubes teach all levels of arena and grass polo in I/I MAGAZINE - 2021
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