Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 6 · column 6 of 7 · from the scan, no model involved
stress. The people are friendlier and it’s more fun to watch,” she said.
Converts and
Females
The most interesting statistic for Noguerra, given polo’s tradition as a maledominated sport, is the fact that “70% of my students have been female.” He thinks it is due to the fact that, at least in the DC and Northern Virginia area, “women are in the same jobs as men and earn the same.”
A number of players are converts drawn from other equestrian pursuits. Maureen Brennan was a confirmed “velvet-head,” a show-jumper, for most of her life until her family acquired Jack Kent Cooke’s estate on Atoka Road in 2000. The estate included Middleburg’s famed Phipps Field and the purchase left area players wondering about the future of that cherished Bermuda turf.
She got a call from Kris Bowman, then polo manager at.Great Meadow, and was invited to participate in an exhibition game pitting show jumpers against each other in a “Twilight Polo” arena match. The club puts on such exhibitions as a cross-pollination technique, exposing riders from other disciplines such as steeplechase racing and foxhunting to polo, often for the first time and usually to raucous taunts and applause from their peers in the stands. And, it makes for a few converts.
“I took a few lessons and was hooked. I bought two ponies the following year and played in the 3-goal but I was still showing. Then, in 2002, I sold all my jumpers and was totally committed to polo,” Brennan said. Now, she runs the Upperville Grass League which plays 810 goal polo, the highest format in the area.
“My objective is to have the highest level polo on the best quality fields,” she said. Aside from Brennan’s field, the Upperville League uses Eric Steiner’s at Foxlease. Currently in its third season, it is an extremely competitive league and draws polo professionals from Chile, Argentina and Uruguay. And now, “practically every single team has a woman on it,” Brennan remarked.
In fact, Upperville will be hosting a qualifying game for the US Polo Association’s Women’s Championship Tournament this summer. “Some of the best women players in the world will be coming to play, including Sunny Hale,” Brennan said. Hale, now at 4 goals (she was previously rated 5), is the highest rated female polo player in America and has won the US Open.
Marketing
“Twilight Polo” at Great Meadow was traditionally held on Friday evenings. “However, with the worsening commute, I thought we could get a lot more people out to the games, both'locally and from Washington, DC, if we held it on Saturday instead,” explains Great Meadow polo manager Juan Salinas-Bentley.
Area businesses, cognizant of the sport’s increasing draw, have signed on as sponsors. The long list includes real estate companies, local banks, veterinary
See POLO, Page A7
96.3%