Intercollegiate/Interscholastic

An I/I Legacy

Player, parent and coach Anne Branscum

By Ali Davidage

Anne traveled to England in 1984 to compete in the firstever women’s exchange program.

Everybody has a story about how they got introduced to the sport of polo. Especially interesting are those who don’t come from a polo family, and the journey they took to get into the sport. Anne Branscum, née Broeder, coach of the St. Louis interscholastic team and Cornell intercollegiate polo alum, is no exception. Anne is working to rebuild polo in St. Louis while running a busy vet practice and raising her teenage polo-playing daughter Winifred.

When you think of St. Louis polo, the first name that comes to mind is probably Dolph or Steve Orthwein. A polo family through and through, the Orthweins have brought many people into the sport, including Anne. As a teenager, Anne started working the Orthwein’s polo ponies during the week. As she grew more comfortable with the small nuances of polo, she started short working the horses and traveling with Steve Orthwein Sr. when he was 6 goals, one of the highest-rated amateur players.

While Anne never picked up a polo mallet during her time grooming, the summer before her senior year, Danny Scheraga, then coach of the Cornell intercollegiate team, was picking up donation horses from Dolph and saw an opportunity. Danny encouraged Anne, with the Orthweins quickly hopping on board, to apply to Cornell and pursue playing intercollegiate polo.

Anne took the jump and later that year was trying out for the Cornell polo team. With Danny and the Orthweins behind her, she joined the team and showed her natural athletic ability and horse sense. By her second year, she was a starter on a national championship team. The next two years, Anne led her to team to national titles, becoming one of the elite players in I/I history.

Danny explained, “Anne was a heck of a player in college. I was traveling across the country with a trailer and stopped in St. Louis. I met Anne the summer before her senior year and started to recruit her to Cornell. Four years later, she had won three national championships and eventually was inducted into the Cornell Athletic Hall of Fame for her contributions on the polo team. That team is one of two in Cornell history that had three national championship seasons.”

After graduating, Anne took a break from polo to focus on vet school and start a family. As her daughter, Winnie, grew up, it wasn’t long before she started showing an interest in the sport. Anne happily dove right back in.

She describes the turning point as the weekend she and Winnie traveled to Northwest Arkansas to compete in a women’s arena event (vs. Oklahoma State) and the first USPA middle school tournament. Both were successful and they took home the wins.

While Anne was familiar with the intercollegiate program from her time at Cornell, the Middle School League was brand new, and she was excited to have an avenue for her daughter to explore the sport.

As Winnie grew up and was able to compete at the interscholastic level, Anne jumped at the opportunity to share her knowledge and become the coach.

“I texted Danny Scheraga, my coach at Cornell for two of three national championships, to tell him I could not believe how fun and rewarding it was to coach and watch the kids improve. It feels amazing to share my passion for polo with the high school players. Winnie won her first MVP last year in an Oklahoma women’s tournament and when they announced her name I cried proud, happy tears,” she said.

This past year, Anne has embraced the opportunities and programs the USPA has made available to her team and club. With the help of the Orthweins and the PDI program, the club is building a new outdoor arena and has extended the footprint of the indoor arena to allow for full practices throughout the winter and rainy spring.

Ginny Orthwein said, “The new arena will give us the chance to teach new players and host arena games and events. Danny [Orthwein] has stepped in to take over the operations and wants to wrap the people that grew up here around the club. We want to recreate the neighborhood feel that made St. Louis polo special for so many years.”

Anne is committed to extending the long history of polo at St. Louis. The club has been a USPA member club since 1893 when the first charity match was held for Children’s Hospital.

The first high school team was started 125 years later with Winnie in 7th grade.

The oft-used Winston Churchill quote, “A polo handicap is a passport to the world,” certainly proved true for Anne. From learning at the heels of Dolph and Steve Orthwein, to traveling to the U.K. for the first-ever women’s exchange program in 1984, to living in Australia for six months after college, polo created many opportunities for Anne and she is working to carry that forward.

She recently recalled driving to a game when one of her high school players found the USPA intercollegiate catalog in the backseat. What started as flipping through the catalog turned into a long discussion about colleges with intercollegiate polo and access to USPA and PTF scholarships for students looking to continue their polo careers past high school. It is moments like this that can open the door for yet another bright polo future! •

Anne with the interscholastic team she coaches, including daughter Winnie, second from right.

Anne, second from left, won three national championships while at Cornell and was inducted into the Cornell Athletic Hall of Fame.

The Orthwein’s newlyrenovated indoor arena in St. Louis.