Although women participated in the game of polo two thousand years ago, it took until 1973 before they were admitted to the USPA. After a slow start, the female sector of the membership skyrocketed to a point where it now conservatively represents 20% of the players today.
Women have played in every level of polo in the US right up to and including the US Open, but there doesn’t seem to be any urgency to accommodate them any further.
In spite of this meteoric rise in women players and a shot in the arm of the overall membership numbers, the USPA has yet to embrace the female players and accommodate them with their own tournaments.
The collegiate ranks are split into male/female ranks, each with its own national championship, but after that it’s pretty much left up to others to organize.
Sunny Hale’s WCT Polo (Women’s Championship Tournament) has been organized to fill the void left by the USPA, but one would think that with the growing number of women players, it might serve its membership better if a series of tournaments were organized by the USPA itself, or at the very least, lend it could lend its support to the WCT and other organized female tournaments.
We already have talented female players in Sunny Hale and her sister Stormy, Alina Carta, Gillian Johnston, Dawn Jones, Leslie Ann Masterton Fong-Yee, Jolie Liston, Kristy Waters Outhier, Tiffany Busch and so many others, but without an organized progression of tournament structures and recruiting efforts, this explosion is going to run headlong into a concrete wall.
It’s time the USPA spent as much effort and expense in women’s polo as it does in intercollegiate or youth polo. The return is more immediate and the future limitless.
What are your thoughts on this?
rd0000001023am08, 42008vUTC10bUTCThu, 23 Oct 2008 04:12:24 +0000 11, 2007...08:46p10
Polo, ladies?
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2 Comments
th0000001024am08, 52008vUTC10bUTCFri, 24 Oct 2008 04:04:21 +0000 11, 2007 at 08:46p10
Since the US Polo Assn. has frequently been called the Good Ol Boys Network it would seem obvious that the answer to your question is very simple. Check your bluebook and you will find no female officers, no females on the Executive Committee and only one female Governor. Not a lot of progress since 1973.
Three cheers to Sunny Hale for going it alone. It’s never too late to lend a hand, GUYS!
th0000001024pm08, 52008vUTC10bUTCFri, 24 Oct 2008 20:22:20 +0000 11, 2007 at 08:46p10
It’s interesting…at the collegiate level, I’ve found that the teams tend to have more women than men (at least in my experience) while in the “real” polo world it’s almost the opposite. As a female polo player who is “new” to the workings of the USPA (and the sport in general), I’d like to see more female leadership. After all, if the USPA is meant to represent polo players in the US it makes sense that its board should reflect the make-up of players.