Ocala Polo Club

The Fun Continues! By Lauren Proctor-Brown

The fun continues! The Ocala Polo Club continues its success with players and ponies alike finding their strides playing year round in Ocala! The community continues to grow around polo and it’s truly magnificent to see everyone welcomed with open arms and bond around a common love of the sport.

With each season, the community of the Ocala Polo Club has grown on and off the field. The Booster Club grew through its inaugural year and the boosters have gotten behind the scenes access to the players, extra polo rules and strategy lessons and bonded over their shared love of the sport. We are excited to welcome our new Booster’s Club President, Donna Woodin O’Brien for the 2023 season! New this year, Horses & Heroes day is growing to a whole weekend and now includes The Polo Ball, a gala & silent auction event which honors our veterans and raises money for the Wounded Warrior Project, on February 24th, 2022 with the annual match on Sunday February 26th, 2022. The boosters can be found every Sunday, cheering loudly and dressed for each week’s match theme! From fancy hats for the Laneway Cup to crowns for the Julie Braswell Memorial, Sundays are always a fun time and the Boosters do it right!

Tailgating at Sunday Polo is a fabulous, family-friendly activity on a Sunday Afternoon in sunny central Florida.On any given Sunday, our spectators enjoy easy access to polo as they drive up fieldside and tailgate right from their vehicles. Well-behaved dogs are always welcome and take center stage at our Polo for Pooches day! Don’t forget to stretch your legs at half time for the divot stomp and join in to win prizes at the Halftime Challenge! You can try your hand at swinging a polo mallet from the back of “Woody” the wooden horse. Don’t worry he has a pretty steady head and all ages and levels can give it a go!

Once you’ve tried your strokes on Woody you’ll have a new appreciation for the fledgling players hitting in the outdoor field in the Horseman’s League. Our polo school, under coach David Eldredge, has been hard at work introducing polo to new riders in the area from a variety of disciplines. Summer brought several new graduates from the Arena League to the grass who found great success on the outdoor field! Congratulations to Katherine Glynn on winning Most Improved Player of the Summer Season! Our polo school runs arena and outdoor practice weekly and provides private lessons to teach riders the strokes and rules of the game. Polo is accessible to riders of all ages and experience levels who wish to expand their equestrian horizons.

The influx of equine enthusiasts to Ocala has also brought several seasoned polo players to the Ocala Polo Club from across North America. These players were attracted to the welcoming community of Ocala Polo; some have moved to Ocala full time while others commute for the season or for weekends. Whether it’s a long or short stay, players are excited to play in Ocala and be a part of the community of polo here. We would like to welcome all of our new players and extend congratulations to David Eldredge and Lupe Castro, recipients of the Player of the Season Awards for Winter and Summer ‘22 respectively.

The Ocala Polo Club believes strongly in supporting Women’s Polo and has developed the Ocala Polo Women’s League, which hosts matches monthly and is now expanding to two flights hosting 4 to 6 and 8 to 10 goal Women’s polo. The Women’s League has grown to be a tight-knit group of women supporting women to excel in the sport. The Ocala Women’s League inspires women to succeed on and off the field. Special congratulations to Laura Willson and Lauren Proctor-Brown, who won the Women’s Player of the Season award for Winter and Summer ‘22 seasons respectively. We’ve partnered with the Florida Thorobred Fillies to celebrate the Julie Braswell Memorial Cup and Beth Rose Cup annually in December and February respectively. Women are succeeding not only in the Women’s League but in the Arena, Horseman’s and Tournament Leagues as well. Polo is a unique sport that allows women to compete on the same stage as men, both professionally and as amateurs. Horses give us all the power to do things we might not be able to do on our own.

After a winter of successful polo, Ocala Polo takes a break in the spring to travel with players to other Polo Clubs in the Southeast and Florida. This past year, the women of Ocala Polo traveled to the Sarasota Women’s Challenge earning themselves a place in both the 4 goal and 8-10 goals Finals. Congratulations to all our players! Summer brings Saturday evening polo! Mother nature is a true polo fan, with summer afternoon storms cooling off to make a weekly 6pm polo match just right. The local community on and off the field enjoy Summer Polo Saturdays from June thru September.

Whether you have never seen polo before or played for several years, the Ocala Polo Club has something to offer you. From a Sunday tailgate, to your first lesson, to tournaments, you can find everything you are looking for. We look forward to playing in sunny central Florida for many years to come and invite you to come join the fun! EE

The Villages Polo Club

Games are played March through May. Please visit our web site to confirm schedule. Located one hour north of Orlando and thirty minutes south of Ocala. Tickets are required. General Admission Tickets $20 Per Person. See Website For Other Options Including Tailgating And Season Passes.

New Season Passes can be purchased at the Polo office Mon-Thur. 10am-4pm 703 N. Buena Vista Blvd. 352-750-7656

www.thevillagespoloclub.com

Ocala

POLO

Games Held At Florida Horse Park 11851 SW 16th Ave Ocala, FL 34476 352-307-6699

www.ocalapolo.com www.teamresolutepolo.com teamresolutepolo@gmail.com www.flhorsepark.com or email events@flhorsepark.com SEE OUR SCHEDULE ON PAGE 24

NATIONAL POLO CENTER

www.nationalpolocenter.com

Weekly Games Every Sunday January 1st - April 23rd

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE

January 1 • NPC Inaugural Cup Final 16 GOAL January 3-22 • Joe Barry Cup Memorial16 GOAL January 20 - February 12 • Ylvisaker Cup 16 GOAL February 12-22 • C.V. Whitney Cup® 18-22 GOAL February 19 • USPA Junior Open Final March 1-26 • USPA Gold Cup® 18-22 GOAL March 29 - April 24 • U.S. Open Polo Championship March 9-19 • U.S. Open Women’s Polo Championship® 18-24 GOAL March 29 - April 23 • U.S. Open Polo Championship® 22 GOAL April 5-9 • Florida Circuit 16-goal Series Championship 16 GOAL

NATIONAL POLO CENTER

(Formerly International Polo Club Palm Beach) 3667 120th Ave S., Wellington, FL 33414 Front Desk: (561) 204-5687 For ticket information visit www.nationalpolocenter.com

PLEASE VISIT VENUE WEB SITES FOR UPDATED DATES