Jun 01, 2020 6:16 PM
Story courtesy of Chicago Polo Association.
The Chicago Polo Association (Chicago Polo) is expanding to support the advancement of polo by organizing and promoting the sport through activities in and around the metropolitan Chicagoland area. In advance of the 2020 season, Chicago Polo added Las Brisas Farm & Polo Club in Elgin, Illinois, and the Oak Brook Polo Academy in Bolingbrook, Illinois, to its roster of facilities. This brings the total number of polo facilities to 13, including 17 outdoor fields, eight arenas, three polo schools and seven USPA Member Clubs with room to grow.
Led by Executive Director, Pam Mudra, the 2020 Chicago Polo season will have three polo schools: Barrington Hills Polo Club (Wauconda, Illinois), Go Polo and Oak Brook Polo Academy (Oak Brook, Illinois) with great instructors, endless offerings of days, times and clinics. The season will host as many as 30 outdoor and arena polo tournaments from June through September, including multiple USPA sanctioned events, women’s tournaments and National Youth Tournament Series (NYTS) competitions, including the National Youth Tournament Series Championship® in September. The season will culminate in the newly USPA sanctioned international tournament, the Butler International Cup, featuring six teams representing different countries.
Chicago Polo is one of the most diverse polo destinations in the country. The season offers a variety of playing opportunities for amateur and skilled players. Participants can play for a few weeks or stay the entire summer as stabling and housing options are available. Chicago Polo member facilities are located in the north, west and south suburbs of Chicago making it convenient and accessible to multiple commercial and executive airports as well as interstate highways.
For those interested in bringing a team, Chicago Polo is hosting 0-goal, 4-goal, 8-goal and 12-goal polo matches every week. Visitors interested in playing in Chicago are encouraged to bring a full or half team for a tournament or longer. For the more casual player, bring your friends, children and spouse and enjoy competitive 0- to 4-goal leagues. In addition, Chicago Polo has one of the most competitive senior’s tournaments in the U.S. hosted by George Alexander at the infamous Blackberry Polo Club (Batavia, Illinois).
Chicago’s polo history dates back to 1879 when the first recorded match was played in Lincoln Park in downtown Chicago. Over the next 140 years, the sport of kings prospered in and around Chicagoland with as many as 50 polo clubs hosting competitive professional and amateur polo. Various well-known Chicago families were avid polo players and helped bring attention to the sport, including the Wrigley’s, McCormick’s, Armour’s and Butler’s. Chicago was also home to a number of notable and historic polo events, including 22 U.S. Open Polo Championships® from 1954 to 1979 at the Oak Brook Polo Club.
Students, players and team owners interested in Chicago Polo may contact Pam Mudra at 979-270-2860 or pam@chicago-polo.com. For additional information for Chicago Polo, please visit www.chicago-polo.com.
Effective Date: Saturday, May 16, 2020
The suspension of USPA Tournaments and Events will be lifted for USPA Member Clubs in locales where hosting polo matches and tournaments is permitted under applicable state and local laws, executive orders and similar decrees. The USPA Member Clubs in these locales are encouraged to follow all such requirements of their state and local authorities with respect to polo operations. In addition, we also encourage all USPA Member Clubs to take the precautions recommended by the CDC. We are preparing a detailed list of best practices for USPA Member Clubs as they return to hosting USPA Tournaments and Events and plan to circulate these guidelines within the next week. We will continue to monitor the COVID-19 situation closely and will notify you if we determine a different course of action is necessary.
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