Promote, improve and expand youth polo in all FIP member countries

One of FIP’s goals is to promote, improve and expand youth polo in all FIP member countries. Youth polo programs develop many talented athletes who are essential to the future of polo.

Every year FIP with the National Polo Federations of the member countries, organized events for children under 14 years old with the principles of developing the sports spirit, fair play and friendships between countries.

The first Children’s Tournament was sponsored by the Polo Training Federation of the USA, the Federation of International Polo, and El Dorado member Fred Mannix. The local players invite the rivals to live intheir homes and mount the visiting teams with their horses.

The event attracted 28 players between the ages of 7 and 14. The tournament was formatted as a week-long series of matches, instructional clinics, and intense match play. Players came from Argentina, Canada, England and Mexico as well as the United States. Although many of the juniors were the progeny of polo-playing families, a significant number of new names were on the roster.

The young players were divided in two brackets by age 7 -10 and 11-14 . All of the players were mixed and matched according to ability and no emphasis was placed on victory for particular team. This resulted in a feeling of camaraderie that pervaded the entire event with junior often coaching and encouraging each other. All participants received silver trophies that were brought to the tournament from Argentina by International Polo Federation President Marcos Uranga.