NEWS

I have been with the USPA for nine years. A big part of my job is communicating with and supporting clubs with middle school, high school and collegiate programs. Some of my favorite committees I work with are our young alumni group and the Funding and Awards Committees.

During the season, if I’m not working on school paperwork and eligibility, you can usually find me at one of the I/I tournaments as a manager. I love getting to meet all of the players we talk to all year round and their parents. I often work with players on their next steps, be that an internship, summer job or what they are thinking about college. It’s a lot of fun getting to support them as they figure out their pathway in polo.

The oldest of three children, I grew up in Culver, a small town in rural Indiana. My parents are both teachers at Culver Academies, a boarding school there. Since there wasn’t much to do, we played just about every sport offered up through high school, including soccer, track, volleyball and basketball.

When I was 7, my parents bought property that had a small four-horse barn on it. At the time, Ed Little, who was head of Culver Academies’ well- known horsemanship program, was keeping his horses at our barn. When I asked my parents for riding lessons, they said I would have to go out and ask him myself. They didn’t think it would happen as I was extremely shy at the time. I surprised all of us when I marched out and asked if he would be open to giving me lessons. After that, I started English lessons, and went on to showing in equitation and jumpers.

In high school, I attended Culver Academies, which had a polo team, and caught the polo bug there. I did not come from a polo family, but my dad was a hockey coach growing up so he loved it, and always said it was much more fun to watch than my horse shows. After playing interscholastic there for three years I went on to play at the University of Kentucky.

When I wasn’t in school or playing polo, I worked as a riding instructor at the Culver Summer Schools, which I loved, and led me to double major in equine science and management and agricultural economics in college.

I started working at the USPA after I graduated. It’s been a few years since I played, but I really enjoy being involved in getting others up on their first polo pony.

I am an avid reader. I travel a lot for names when I get them, so I’ve never actually named any of them. Growing up, my first horse was Judy and my second was Bob. My cat Betsey and dog Tillie also came with their names, so I’m curious to see what other pet names I’m going to end up with.

Something that I would like to do some day is take a road trip across the U.S. and Canada. I’d also love to attend an Olympic Games, not for any particular sport but, it would be a unique and cool thing to be able to witness.