Yale Bulletin and Calendar

April 5, 2002

Volume 30, Number 24

Yale polo team hosting first Atlantic Cup tournament

The Yale Collegiate Polo Team will host the first Atlantic Cup Friday-Sunday, April 5-7.

The competition is a British-American Tournament between the Cambridge, Oxford and Yale polo teams. It will take place in Yale's Polo and Equestrian Center on Central Avenue. The event is free and open to the public.

The tournament was organized by the president of the Yale team Sarah Crews '03, Oxford captain Russell Barker and Cambridge captain Alex Mitchell, who hope the competition will become an annual event.

In the polo tournament, three-player teams will compete in 7.5-minute rounds called "chukkas" (pronounced "chuckers"), explains Crews. In the collegiate version of the game, there are four chukkas to a game.

The approximately 30 members of Yale's team include both undergraduate and graduate/professional students. Most -- like Crews, who was an experienced equestrian but had never played polo before -- first learned the sport at the University and ride horses from Yale's stables.

Cambridge is sending two three-person teams to the tournament and Oxford is sending two four-person teams. Unlike Yale, which has men's and women's polo teams, the British universities have mixed-gender teams, says Crews, noting that the Yale players are still debating whether to adapt their line-up for the tournament.

It is standard in college polo competitions for the visiting team to use the host team's horses, and the teams switch mounts periodically so each horse plays for both teams, explains Crews.

Polo first began at the University in the 1920s, and over the years, "Yale has won more national championships than any other school," says Crews, noting with pride that women's polo was first established at Yale.

While it was once a varsity sport, polo is now a club sport at Yale, says Crews, adding, "We're hoping to regain varsity status." Toward that end, the team recently recruited a new coach and amplified its training and competition schedule. In addition, the team is working to broaden support for polo among alumni and the University.

The Atlantic Cup weekend will begin with a welcome dinner for the Yale, Cambridge and Oxford competitors at 6 p.m. on Friday at Mory's.

The tournament itself will kick off with an opening ceremony at 10 a.m. on Saturday. There will be round-robin chukkas 10:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. on Saturday and 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Sunday. The finals will take place at 2 p.m. on Sunday, followed by closing ceremonies at 2:30 p.m.

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