USPA WOMEN'S ARENA OPEN®
TOURNAMENT HISTORY
Women’s arena competition has a recent history in the sport beginning with the creation of the Women’s Intercollegiate Championship in the late 1970s, followed by the Girls’ Interscholastic Championship in the early 1990s. Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, hosted the first USPA-sanctioned Women’s Arena Open in 1991. After a three-year stint however, the tournament fell into abeyance. With the exponential growth of women’s polo in recent years, the Association recognized the need for a national tournament celebrating the best of women’s arena competition.
Championed by University of Virginia Coach Lou Lopez, the USPA Women’s Arena Open first took shape in 2016 at Virginia Polo, Inc. in Charlottesville, Virginia, as the Women’s Arena Challenge Cup. While the original aim had been to hold an open tournament, Association regulations limited an “open” arena tournament to a 12-goal handicap and above. The highest-rated woman at the time, the late Sunny Hale, was rated at 5-goals in the arena, followed by only two 4-goal women’s arena players, closing the door on the possibility of the tournament with regular arena handicaps. Luckily, a precedent had already been set with the creation of the U.S. Open Women’s Polo Championship, the outdoor grass version. The addition of women’s outdoor handicaps sparked the concept of women’s arena handicaps, which allowed multiple teams to meet the required handicap level for an open tournament. Ace Sportswear (2017, 2021) and OC Polo currently lead the competition earning two victories each, with OC Polo recently collecting back-to-back titles in 2022 and 2023.
As a national USPA arena event, the USPA Women’s Arena Open is a qualifying tournament for all amateur players -1 through 3 goals to earn points towards the National Arena Amateur Cup (NAAC). Points are based on the number of teams and team standing in each tournament. All points are awarded to each team member, not the team as a whole. The deadline to accumulate points in the 2024 championship is Sunday, September 29. Any qualifying tournaments occurring after the deadline will go towards earned points for 2025.
In 2023, defending champions OC Polo (Marissa Wells, Mila Slutzky, Isabelle “Izzy” Brockett) vied for the title against Luna Polo (Kasia Lindgren, Olivia Reynolds, Jennifer Alexy). In an impressive feat, OC Polo delivered a decisive 19-9 win, with 11 goals coming off the mallet of Wells—the exact number of goals the 9-goaler scored in the previous year's final. Read article here.
Proudly returning to Orange County Polo Club (OC Polo) in Silverado, California, for a third consecutive year, six talented teams will battle for the coveted title including Central Coast Polo Club, Emend Health Care, Jackson Hole Horse Emporium, OC Polo, Rancho Arroyo and Wild Dog Polo. Tickets for Sunday Brunch are available and can be purchased here.
Highlighted by one of the highest-rated American women's arena players, three-time USPA Women's Arena champion (2018, 2022, 2023) and 9-goaler Marissa Wells will attempt to lead OC Polo to the tournament's first three-peat victory reuniting alongside two-time (2022, 2023) titleholder Mila Slutzky.
Displaying the breadth of exceptional talent and deep roots throughout all levels of polo, the rosters feature many former National Youth Tournament Series Championship (NYTS) and Intercollegiate/Interscholastic (I/I) participants from across the country, including the 2023 recipient of the I/I Service Award, Megan Judge (Central Coast Polo). Representing Team USPA are alumnae Molly Agee (Jackson Hole Horse Emporium), Marissa Wells (OC Polo), Stephanie Colburn and Tiamo Hudspeth (Wild Dog Polo).
Orange County Polo Club will be taking advantage of the USPA's Tournament Support Program (TSP) for the USPA Women's Arena Open, which provides eligible USPA Member Clubs with waived tournament fees, trophies or trophy reimbursements, one professional umpire and $2,500 in prize money at no extra cost.
The USPA originally created the Tournament Stimulus Package (TSP) to help member clubs host USPA events when the United States was emerging from the first wave of the COVID-19 crisis. The USPA wanted to continue to support member clubs with TSP benefits in 2022. Therefore, it extended and expanded TSP under a new name - the Tournament Support Program. Each USPA Member Club can obtain TSP benefits for two USPA events, with the option of a third under specific circumstances.
Photo: 2023 USPA Women's Arena Open Champions: OC Polo - Mila Slutzky, Isabelle "Izzy" Brockett, Marissa Wells. ©Tequila Sunsets Photography
