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1,100 4th-Graders Help Make 2nd Annual Kids Day A Huge Success
at International Polo Club Palm Beach
By YA Teitelbaum
January 11, 2006

WELLINGTON, FL (January 11, 2006) – More than 1,000 fourth-graders from Wellington schools screamed and yelled for their favorites at an exhibition polo match featuring several of the sport’s top players at the second annual Kids Day Wednesday at International Polo Club Palm Beach. The first Kids Days was last April.

4th Graders Cheer at Kids Day
Photo By Alex Photography

Before the game, award-winning actor Tommy Lee Jones and Wellington Vice Mayor Lizbeth Benaquisto welcomed the youngsters and encouraged them to attend games at the club.

On the field, high-goal players Jeff Hall, Brandon Phillips, Jeff Blake and Todd Offen were joined by up-and-coming players Michael Armour, Matthew Coppola, Christina Firestone and Maggie Boyle. Armour scored the game-winning goal with one second remaining.

Prior to Kids Day, International Polo Club General Manager Michael C. Brown, along with Hall and Phillips, visited several area schools to pump up interest in the sport, sign autographs and hand out tickets to future games.

After the match, the youngsters gathered around the professional players for autographs on hats, pieces of paper and t-shirts. Instead of the traditional champagne divot stomp at halftime, there was a Kool-Aid divot stomp.

This event was the kickoff to the third season of world-class high-goal polo at International Polo Club Palm Beach in Wellington, which begins on Sunday and concludes with the prestigious Stanford U.S. Open Championship final on Sunday, April 23 at 3 p.m. The club will host five high-goal tournaments over 15 weeks, including three 26-goal events, the highest-rated tourneys in the United States. The 26-goal tournaments are the Hall of Fame Cup, the C.V. Whitney Cup and the Stanford U.S. Open Championship. Peter Brant’s White Birch won all three 26-goal events in 2005.

At least 20 high-goal teams are expected to participate in part of the 2006 season, according to International Polo Club polo manager Jimmy Newman, enhancing International Polo Club’s reputation as the most competitive high-goal club in the U.S.

Among the world’s top players expected to play during the 22-goal and 26-goal seasons are 10-goalers Mariano Aguerre, Javier Novillo Astrada, Miguel Novillo Astrada, Mike Azzaro, Adolfo Cambiaso, Carlos Gracida, Marcos Heguy, Agustin Merlos, Pite Merlos and Sebastian Merlos as well as 9-goalers Eduardo Novillo Astrada, Lucas Criado, Paco de Narvaez, Memo Gracida, Bautista Heguy, Eduardo Heguy, Lucas Monteverde, Gonzalito Pieres, Facundo Pieres and Adam Snow.

International Polo Club Palm Beach is the first new polo club to be built in decades, fulfilling a long-standing void for a facility dedicated solely to high-goal professional polo. Designed in a tropical, Caribbean-Colonial style, it combines old-world charm and new-world comfort.

International Polo Club Palm Beach is located at 3667 120th Avenue South, between Lake Worth Road and Pierson Road in Wellington. For ticket information or special events, please call the club at (561) 204-5687 or visit the website at www.internationalpoloclub.com.