NATIONAL ARENA CHALLENGE CUP
TOURNAMENT HISTORY
Established in 1987, the National Arena Challenge Cup is a 0- to 3-goal tournament. After a decades-long hiatus, the tournament was revived in 2017 at Commonwealth Polo Club in Paris, Kentucky, where it was held for three years. Previously hosted by Twilight Polo Club (The Plains, Virginia) in 2020 and Brandywine Polo Club (Toughkenamon, Pennsylvania), in 2023, the National Arena Challenge Cup will return to the west coast for a second consecutive year of competition at Orange County Polo Club (OC Polo) in Silverado, California.
In 2022, HYT Polo (Juan Gonzalez, Grace Wang, Maria Dahlmann Gupta) took the competition by storm, defeating OC Polo (Heather Perkins, Shelley Geiler, Derek Wall, sub. Kelsey Corcoran) with a decisive 17-10 title victory. Read article here.
Featuring many familiar faces from the Pacific Coast Arena League (PCAL), this years edition of the National Arena Challenge Cup will field four competitive teams vying for the title including 2022 finalist OC Polo, Can This, Rancho Arroyo and Rancho Silverado.
Orange County Polo Club will be taking advantage of the USPA's Tournament Support Program (TSP) for the National Arena Challenge Cup, which provides eligible USPA Member Clubs with waived tournament fees, trophies or trophy reimbursements up to $1,200, one professional umpire and $2,500 in prize money at no extra cost.
The USPA originally created the Tournament Stimulus Package (TSP) 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, with the option of a third under specific circumstances.
Photo: 2022 National Arena Challenge Cup Champions: HYT Polo - Grace Wang, Juan Gonzalez, Maria Dahlmann Gupta (Maximillian Gupta). Presented by Major Marlene Miller and Hospital Corpsman Third Class Ivan Krimker. ©Josh Kizziar
