USPA WOMEN'S ARENA OPEN®
TOURNAMENT HISTORY
Women’s arena competition has a recent history in the sport beginning with the creation of the Women’s Intercollegiate Championship in the late 1970s, followed by the Girls’ Interscholastic Championship in the early 1990s. Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, hosted the first USPA-sanctioned Women’s Arena Open® in 1991. After a three-year stint however, the tournament fell into abeyance. With the exponential growth of women’s polo in recent years, the Association recognized the need for a national tournament celebrating the best of women’s arena competition.
Championed by University of Virginia Coach Lou Lopez, the USPA Women’s Arena Open® first took shape in 2016 at Virginia Polo, Inc. in Charlottesville, Virginia, as the Women’s Arena Challenge Cup. While the original aim had been to hold an open tournament, Association regulations limited an “open” arena tournament to a 12-goal handicap and above. The highest-rated woman at the time, the late Sunny Hale, was rated at 5-goals in the arena, followed by only two 4-goal women’s arena players, closing the door on the possibility of the tournament with regular arena handicaps. Luckily a precedent had already been set with the creation of the U.S. Open Women’s Polo Championship™ the outdoor grass version. The addition of women’s outdoor handicaps sparked the concept of women’s arena handicaps, which allowed multiple teams to meet the required handicap level for an open tournament.
The 2020 USPA Women's Arena Open® featured four teams as Five String Farm (Cindy Halle, Lindsey Morris, Jessica Schmitt) and Bad Ass Polo (Posey Obrecht, Anna Winslow-Palacios*, Victoria Picha) faced off at Great Meadow Polo Club in The Plains, Virginia. Forcing the championship into a penalty shootout, Five String Farm’s Cindy Halle performed under pressure securing the only overtime penalty goal to win the trophy 12-11.
For 2021, the competition will be held at the Virginia Polo Center in Charlottesville, Virginia, and will showcase four talented teams, Ace Sportswear, Boothwyn Pharmacy, Granville Farm and UVA battling for the opportunity to become USPA Women's Arena Open® champions. This years competitors include 2020 USPA Women's Arena Open® finalist Posey Obrecht (Granville Farm) and defending champions Cindy Halle and Jessica Schmidt on Boothwyn Pharmacy.
Amongst the competition is Team USPA Alumna, Anna Winslow-Palacios (Ace Sportswear). The Open will offer $2,500 in prize money, split between first ($1,500) and second place ($1,000).
As a National USPA Arena Event, the USPA Women’s Arena Open® is a qualifying tournament for all amateur players -1 through 3 goals to earn points towards the National Arena Amateur Cup (NAAC) which will be held at Legend's Polo Club in Kaufman, Texas, in November 2020. Points are be based on the number of teams and team standing in each tournament. All points are awarded to each team member, not the team as a whole.
As the country emerges out of the COVID-19 crisis, the USPA established opportunities to support USPA Member Club events through the use of the COVID-19 USPA Polo Tournament Stimulus Package, which provides eligible USPA Member Clubs with waived tournament fees, trophies or reimbursements, one professional umpire and $2,500 in prize money per tournament at no extra cost. Offered to each club for the first two USPA tournaments of 2020 following the COVID-19 USPA Tournaments and Events suspension, Virginia Polo, Inc. will be taking advantage of the program for this tournament.
Photo: 2020 USPA Women's Arena Open® Champions: Five String Farm - Jessica Schmitt, Lindsey Morris, Cindy Halle. Presented by John Gobin. ©David Murrell
