"Chukker Chatter" at Mashomack Polo-Volume I

Transcription

1 "Chukker Chatter" at Mashomack Polo-Volume I MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND POLO Memorial Day Weekend carried Good and Bad news. The Good news was that it rained, a lot (great fields). The bad news was that it rained, a lot (no polo). I have always said the way to have great polo fields is to just not play polo on them ; ) If it wasn't for the quick thinking of Juan Olivera, we may not have seen any chukkers whatsoever. Juan suggested that we play in the trailer parking area. Henry immediately responded that we might ruin the parking area. Juan responded, "Henry, it is just the trailer area". Juan used a powerful adjective before the word trailer that helped carry his intended point at that moment. However inappropriate it may have sounded, it seemed to work as we had chukkers both Sunday and Monday. We have now discovered that we have an additional stick and ball area that will help relieve the stress on the playing fields. So when parking, please stay alongside the fence line of the paddock by the water spickets. If you have your own water on your trailer, please park down by Felix's barn or on the pool side of the main fields. THE MEMORIAL DAY BBQ Duke Buchan spent most of the time he would have preferably been playing polo, arranging our first bbq to be at the Mashomack Club. The Club had hosted their Spring Opening Party the day before, so they allowed us to use the facility last Sunday evening. We purchased the meat, the Club hosted the event. It was a fantastic evening with cocktails by the Lake and dinner under the tent. About midway through the dinner, the skies opened up and poured, giving us our answer to whether we would be seeing any Monday polo on the main fields or the trailer parking area. THANK YOU TO THE MASHOMACK CLUB STAFF WHO DID A WONDERFUL JOB!!! Mashomackpolo.com & New Member Development Tara Lordi has done an excellent job with our web site for Put it on your favorites list and think of a few friends you might forward the link to. We would like to develop a few new members this season, so give some thought to who you might know that we might be able to interest in polo. The characteristics one should look for is a larger than normal ego, somewhat dysfunctional, having some difficulty in their reasoning ability, and displaying a tendency towards addictive behavior. Oh, yeah, if they already ride, that works too. 1

2 POLO-Weekend #2-To sum it up, too much grass!!! (You won't hear that very often around a polo club.) We had a wonderful weekend of weather and polo. Two 4 goal games on Saturday on the Mashomack Field and our Opening Day round-robin on the Clubhouse Field. You know the field that will have a beautiful open decked clubhouse in just a couple of years. Until then, the field is the closest to the pool. Woody Keesee showed the club that he can carry the ball the length of the field in very thick turf. Hmmm. I wonder if he has had a lot of practice playing the roughs like me. Adam Klopp showed us that he may be taking all their open goal penalties for the summer with a beautiful conversion. Duke found the goalposts on opening weekend in his silent protest to Juan that he doesn't want to stay back all of the time. We would like to welcome a new 4 goal pro from South Africa, Stewart Campbell, who will be paying with Don and Alex Langlois this summer. Stewart packs the deadly combination of both a huge smile and a big arm which is traditional of South Africa. My teammate for years, was Joe henderson, a fellow countryman of Stewarts. The Colley brothers were out showing their experience, and Felix is still singing. Adam Klopp was all over the ball, but he has a slight advantage. As Adam is now working at the club, his divot stomping has allowed him close observation of the pitch and lay of the turf, which translates into better club selection as he goes to all of his shots. Matt & Kathy Grayson were both playing on the weekend, Matt, who has the longest commute since Columbus, traded his mallet for a few long necks on Sunday as he cheered on Kathy in the round-robin from the third man post that he shared with David Merena. Abe Stein & Amir Furma won the award for most vocal cheering section on Sunday. Abe has hired Diego Fereira and will be playing with us in the eight goal this month. Amir is playing in the 4 goal CRASH & BURN Congratulations Henri, the first reported crash and burn of the summer. Henri has a nice looking dark horse that mysteriously arrived back at the stalls before Henri during chukkers. The horse was returned to henri, only to return to the barn once again, well ahead of Henri. Henri, not wanting to be all alone on the list, added on Don Langlois on Sunday. Don now knows first hand, or rather elbow, that Henri uses rather whippy mallets. A neck shot by Henri followed through to Don's elbow causing him to make a trip for some stitches immediately following Sunday's match. 2

3 CLUB ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING Most of us(ahem), met Saturday morning at the office, to discuss both organizational aspects as well as umpiring decisions for the summer. I will post minutes to the umpire meeting for those of you unable to attend as our effort is to get us all on the same page in the way we are making the calls. The discussion items were club liability waivers, required USPA membership for all players including those just stick and balling, stick and ball area, scheduling, emt & ambulatory coverage, new telephone number. The umpire topics were shadowing the right of way, the one-tap rule, appealing, turning over backshots and throw-ins. It was a good meeting and thanks to all that made the effort to attend on an early saturday. Congratulations to : Hannah & Duke Buchan for their beautiful new baby Catherine Swift Buchan "Cate". Hmmm, will she be an eventer or a polo player?? And double congrats for the building of your new home while you were having your first born!! (what were you thinking????) Karen & John and Laurence & Michael for surviving their respective High School Graduation parties at their Farms last week. Very few have braved the waters of entertaining multiple dozens of young adults without the assistance of this country's military. Congratulations to both of their sons for their accomplishment and we wish them both the best as them move into their college years. Congrats to Slyvia & Don for their beautiful new farm complete with indoor arena. While your noses are pressed up against the windows on a rainy day, Slyvia, Alex, and Don will be riding!! Tara Lordi for her awesome job on the web site!! Henri du Toit and Santiago for the incredible job they have been doing in getting the fields to where they are. They look fantastic. Mother nature got a leg up on Henri, but Henri is closing the gap quickly. Not many could appreciate the challenge of trying to keep up with mowing when you have to continually keep mowing long just to stay up before you can even think about setting the mowers lower. So both gang mowers have been going non-stop. The great news is that we have thick turf. We can all look forward to a fabulous season of play. We wish Michael Levin and Paul Ouirk the best of luck in their Blue Sky 8 goal, as well as Mathias Guerrand-Hermes in his Greenwhich Twenty Goal. 3

4 Welcome New Players!!!!! Nick Bienstock. Introduced by Amir, Nick took his first polo lesson with Henri this past weekend. Now Nick played for Harvard some years ago and spent a winter in Argentina perfecting the graceful art of falling. Nick looked at home on the horse and should be out on the fields with us very soon as he has natural talent. Nick has a very beautiful wife who is already busy with their fourth child. The three children on the ground were all dressed in riding gear and looking for a horse. Nick not only already has his own polo team, he has two substitutes!!! We're talking a polo dynasty here. Once the kids and wife are all playing, Nick will probably be forced to give up the good horses and work nights. NEW HOTLINE TELEPHONE (518) CALENDAR & COMING ATTRACTIONS JUNE & 4-8 GOAL LEAGUES JUNE 26 MASHOMACK INTERNATIONAL POLO CHALLENGE JULY 3-6 GOAL & 8-12 GOAL AUGUST in addition to our club play, Mike Levin will organize a goal at his fields. Dale Schwetz, the Manager of White Birch has indicated interest in teaming up with us to put on the 12 goal Eddie Moore Tournament in late July. It appears there is some interest in their players and that Peter Brant may offer the use of his fields in addition to ours to playoff some of the matches. PARKING OR DRIVING ON THE FIELDS. WE WILL TRY TO ALWAYS PLACE SCOREBOARD ON THE SIDE OF THE FIELD THAT WE WILL ALLOW FIELD-SIDE PARKING. PLEASE DO NOT DRIVE ACROSS THE FIELDS AS IT WILL COMPACT THE SOIL AND MAKE IT TOUGHER ON OUR FOUR LEGGED FRIENDS, TAKE THE EXTRA SECONDS AND DRIVE AROUND THE PERIMETER OF THE FIELDS UNTIL YOU GET TO THE DESIGNATED PARKING AREA. AS MANAGER, I DO NEED TO DRIVE ON THE FIELDS FROM TIME TO TIME, BUT I WILL ALWAYS TRY TO AVOID DOING SO AS WELL. NAY-NAY-NICKER-NICKER (THAT IS THANK YOU VERY MUCH, IN HORSE LANGUAGE.) LOCATION OF SUGGESTION BOX WE ARE LOOKING FOR SUGGESTIONS AS TO WHERE TO LOCATE THIS BOX. WE PLAN TO MAKE A DECISION WITHIN THE NEXT SIX MONTHS. 4

5 Comments on this Newsletter. 1) Compliments on this newsletter may be directed to the manager. 2) Criticism should be placed in an envelope and addressed to: Complaints Department International Polo Operations Dontreallycare Ave Camelston, Afghanistan THOMAS F. GOODSPEED (619) cell 3525 Del Mar Heights #172 SD, CA