Two California teams took to the arena to battle for the 2007 USPA Arena Championship at the California Polo Club in Los Angeles, California, on November 3. The final pitted the California Creative Solutions team against the California Polo Club team, both of which were led by players who had been honored as Interscholastic Player of the Year: 6-goal Shane Rice played for California Creative Solutions, and 3-goal Nicolai Galindo played for California Polo Club

Four tough teams, at the 12- to 14-goal level, faced off over two days for the championship. The teams were all motivated by the chance to win round-trip airline tickets to Argentina for each member on the winning team, courtesy of Lan Chile Airlines and Urban Dog Playcare. In the end, it was California Creative Solutions players who were packing their bags for the trip to Argentina as they sent California Polo Club packing 17-8 in the final.

The former Interscholastic stars, Rice and Galindo, had plenty of support as 17 intercollegiate and interscholastic players were there to not only cheer on these great players but also to pitch in by goal judging and helping with other duties associated with the event. Since so many students were there, the Polo Training Foundation and tournament umpire Steve Lane had an umpire clinic for the students on Saturday morning prior to the final. At the clinic Lane reviewed and discussed many of the plays and fouls from the semifinal matches.

Meanwhile the club was busy preparing for the final. The VIP section was adorned with bright tablecloths, fresh flowers, bottled water and wine. Additionally, a delicious buffet was provided. Thanks to the club’s thoughtful marketing campaign, both the VIP and reserved seating sections were packed with about 450 fans hungry for some polo action. It was a great way to ease the worries from the wildfires roaring around the immediate area. The club kept an eye on the news reports as two fires burned roughly 10 miles from the club. Members of the California Creative Solutions team were unsure they were going to be able to participate after having been evacuated when fires broke out in San Diego. Cary Burch, patron of the team, and his family were displaced because of the fires. A member of the J.V. Ranch team had a similar situation. Fortunately, despite the difficulties, the players managed to make it, and the air quality was reasonably good on game day.

The action got started on Friday with California Polo Club’s 6-goal Carlos Galindo and 3-goalers Nicolai Galindo and Ramiro Gonzalez facing off against Club Polo Los Cabos’ 3-goal Ardeshir Radpour, 6-goal Mark Cruse and 3-goal Alejandro Nordheimer. California Polo had the upper hand throughout much of the match. During the fourth and final period, Radpour and his horse got tangled up with Gonzalez. Radpour’s horse fell, catapulting him face first onto the arena floor and knocking him unconscious. Both he and his horse laid motionless for what seemed like an eternity. The horse was fine, but Radpour wasn’t as lucky. He was taken to the hospital with a concussion. He was replaced by 3-goal Ernie Darquea, who was himself taken to the hospital with what turned out to be severe bruising after his horse tripped three minutes after the game restarted. With time running out, still another match to be played and no replacement available, the team elected to finish out the chukker with just two players. California Polo went on to win the match 19-12 to advance to the final. The next match pitted J.V. Ranch’s 2- goal Danny Brown, 4-goal Claudio Manfrin and 6-goal Domingo Questel against California Creative Solutions’ 2-goal Cary Burch and 6-goalers Shane Rice and his uncle Billy Sheldon.

The match proved to be one of the most exciting of the tournament. It was action packed as the teams traded goals back and forth. At the half, the teams were tied. Sheldon says they had made an error in their game strategy by putting most of the efforts into shutting down a strong Questel during the first half. This left Manfrin free to score, and he took the opportunity and literally ran with it. The California Creative Solutions players decided to change their strategy, and apparently it worked. In the third period Solutions came out like gangbusters, scoring eight unanswered goals. The tone had been set, and J.V. was unable to erase the deficit. Rice contributed 10 goals for his team’s 18-10 win to advance to the final against California Polo.

The consolation and final were scheduled for the following day. The consolation match was played first. J.V. Ranch took on Club Polo Los Cabos. Los Cabos, with 3-goal Sheik Shamin taking Radpour’s place, started out strong, scoring the first five goals before J.V. found the goal. J.V. bounced back in the second chukker, scoring six goals while holding Los Cabos to three. The teams traded goals in the third, with Los Cabos holding onto a two-goal lead going into the final chukker. A determined J.V. team came out strong in the fourth as Manfrin scored three in a row. Teammate Questel added a goal to take a two-goal lead. Los Cabos tied the score again, but Brown broke the tie moments later. Nordheimer tied the score once again, but with time running out Questel scored to give J.V. Ranch the 16-15 victory. Manfrin was the high-scorer with 10 goals for J.V. Ranch. Members of the J.V. Ranch team went home with a set of polo boots from Arena Player.

Excitement was mounting for the final match. Though the home team was certainly a strong team, the two extra goals California Creative Solutions came to the field with were going to be tough to overcome. Burch and Sheldon have played together for almost a decade. As for Rice, Sheldon has played with him since he started riding and coached him through the interscholastic program. Sheldon said: “We have a bond onthe field that sometimes is hard to explain. We know where each other is, where we are going and it usually results in great things.” Still Sheldon and team were cautious. “You can never enter a game thinking you have it won before you step on the field, ever. I have lost games I definitely should have won in the past and also been on the winning side playing for a 12-goal team against 18-goal competitors that on paper should have beaten us handily.”

Solutions’ strategy, according to Sheldon, was pretty straightforward—play aggressive, attacking polo. Sheldon said: “We thought if we dumped long balls downfield and used long runs to lock up and control the position of our opponents, good things would happen. Our advantage was years of arena polo, playing a strong rotation game and backing up our teammates.” Their strategy apparently worked from the first throw-in.In the first few minutes, Sheldon had scoredthree times before Nicolai Galindo got on the board for California Polo. Burch scored, followed by a goal from Rice to put Solutions ahead 5-1 after the first period.

In the second, Carlos Galindo knocked in the first goal for the home team, but Solutions answered by hammering in another four—three from Rice and one from Sheldon—to end the half ahead 9-2. Sheldon said, “Our opponents are gifted polo players, but I do not think they were able to adjust to the quick transitions of defense to offense we presented them.” Still, Solutions wasn’t going to take any chances. A comeback was still a possibility for the home team. Sheldon explained: “When you get a big lead, it is easy to sometimes let up, and next thing you know, the other team is back in the game. We did not want to have a let down ... until it was definitely out of their reach.”

Both teams kept their focus at the half. For Solutions, the weakness was horses. According to Sheldon, Rice was extremely well-mounted, but Burch and Sheldon were a bit horse poor. Their horses were not at the best because of the fires and not having played enough leading up to the event. On top of that, both had a horse injured in the semifinal match so they were each down a horse for the final. They planned to continue pushing hard so they wouldn’t be pressed when they doubled their horses back in the final period. Sheldon said, “I tried to keep pumping long balls downfield to Shane, keeping the pressure on our offensive end, with Cary and I working hard to follow him up.”

Meanwhile, the spectators enjoyed a halftime performance by Chilean Gauchos, decked out in their finest traditional attire, with beautiful Andalusian horses.

Carlos Galindo started the scoring off again in the third, but that would be the last goal for California Polo that chukker. Meanwhile, Solutions, went on a scoring rampage. Their plan was working. Rice scored, then Sheldon, then Burch. California Polo players found themselves chasing opponents rather than creating plays. Sheldon explained: “When you have confidence going in, it is much easier to get off on the right foot. Once we got rolling, that confidence grew, and we were on our way.”

Rice bounced in a pair of back-to-back goals to end the chukker ahead 15-3. California Polo’s chances were all but extinguished, but they had to try to get back in the game. Carlos Galindo opened the scoring for the third time. His son, Nicolai, followed with a goal, then Ramiro Gonzalez scored. Nicolai added another, which seemed to engage the other team to add some more pressure. Sheldon and Rice each scored to keep the game out of reach. With time running out, Nicolai scored once again. With the home team still trailing by nine goals, the final horn sounded, giving California Creative Solutions the 17-8 victory.

The team was ecstatic. Sheldon said: “Besides polo, [Cary] is one of my best friends, which makes the win even sweeter. He and his family have been displaced since the fires in Southern California a couple weeks back, and he really wanted this win and needed it badly. ... I can’t say enough how proud I am of [Shane]. In years past, I have been the focus of play and it all revolvedaround me, but the torch has been passed— Shane is the real deal. It is one thing to make a great pass to your teammate, but it is another thing to make that pass and sit back and watch Shane go. He is a special player, was extremely well-mounted and is the best teammate I have ever played with. I think the three of us work so well together because egos are not involved. Winning is the only thing we focus on, and we each respect the other’s talents and abilities.”

Others were impressed with Rice’s skills. He was named most valuable player, and his chestnut mare Charter was honored as best playing pony, for which he received a Jackson Hole Horse Emporium BPP blanket. While the winners went home with airline tickets, the runners-up each received a polo saddle from Arena Player.

Russ Sheldon, USPA Arena Committee chairman and governor at large, commended the California Polo Club for being gracious hosts, doing a wonderful job of marketing the event to fill the seats and procuring outstanding awards for the event. Billy Sheldon said: “California Polo Club has always been an excellent host and ... everything went off without a hitch. They deserve kudos for all the hard work they put into making this event special.”

Club co-founder Ralph Rosato said: “This tournament is truly one of the most prestigious [arena tournament] not only in the nation but in the world. It’s exciting to be welcoming polo of this caliber back to our city. ... By hosting [this event] we hope to spread awareness of polo. The game hasn’t been played at such an elite level in Los Angeles for some time, but the sport still exists here at the California Polo Club. It is absolutely an option for locals.”