ALLIED SERVICES CUP
TOURNAMENT HISTORY
Established in 2020, the Allied Services Cup is a national 3- to 5-goal arena competition which allows participants to accrue individual points towards National Arena Amateur Cup (NAAC) standings. Participants in the Allied Services Cup must have served in the military of any country in order to participate, whether currently in active duty, retired or honorable discharge. However, if there is an insufficient number of players meeting that criterion, a military family member of any country can then participate. Led by the Armed Forces Committee, the Allied Services Cup aims to maximize participation and include military family members in the event.
In 2021, heavy rain in the San Antonio area resulted in a last-minute venue change for the inaugural Allied Services Cup, relocating from Texas Military Polo Club (Poteet, Texas) to Legends Polo Club (Kaufmann, Texas). Villa Ecleto (Juan Campos, Morgan Tennant, Lalo Ramirez) booked their spot in the final after surviving round-robin play with two victories, while Legends Polo Club (Marcus Murphy, Don English, Nacho Estrada) captured a hard-fought 15-13 semifinal victory, setting the scene for a competitive final. Establishing a strong lead after a dominant second chukker, Villa Ecleto emerged victorious 14-6, securing their position in the annals of Allied Services Cup history. Read the article here.
In 2022, the Allied Services Cup returns to Texas Military Polo Club and will feature four teams with notable military representatives and family members vying for the title including Patton Legacy Sports (Karl Hilberg, Commander, US Navy, Retired), San Antonio (Gal Shweiki, wife active duty US Army Colonel, Medical Corps currently deployed, Trey Crea, US Army, honorable discharge, and Jack Crea, son in US Army, currently deployed, daughter in US Coast Guard active duty) Phipps Polo (Rob Phipps, US Air Force, honorable discharge, Chris Jones, Staff Sgt. US Marine Corps Reserves and James Glew, family member of UK military) and Polo InterActive (Javier Insua, family member of Argentine military and Nadir Khan, family member of Pakistani military).
Texas Military Polo Club will be taking advantage of the USPA's Tournament Support Program (TSP) for the Allied Services Cup, which provides eligible USPA Member Clubs with waived tournament fees, trophy reimbursements up to $1,200 for a national tournament, one professional umpire and $2,500 in prize money at no extra cost.
The USPA originally created TSP, formerly known as the Tournament Stimulus Package, to help Member Clubs host USPA Events when the United States was emerging from the first wave of the COVID-19 crisis. The USPA wanted to continue to support Member Clubs with TSP benefits in 2022. Therefore, it extended and expanded TSP under a new name - the Tournament Support Program. Each USPA Member Club can obtain TSP benefits for two USPA Events.
Photo: 2021 Allied Services Cup Champions: Villa Ecleto - Lalo Ramirez, Morgan Tennant, Juan Campos. ©David Murrell