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We arrived on Monday the 7th and it was straight off to Disneyland for a bit of fun. By 1pm it was already 27 C so we spent most of the day on the water rides. Disneyland was so big - it was it's own town with restaurants and shops everywhere. The park opens at 8am and the last rides close at 11pm. We all decided to try to stay up as long as possible on the first day so we carried on at the park till 10pm. The next day we went to Universal Studios where the rule was that if someone wanted to go on a ride then everyone had to go on it. We enjoyed the Jurassic Park Ride, Simpson's Roller Coaster and driving down Wisteria Lane. Wednesday we went back to Disneyland for the day before leaving the following day to start our polo tour.
On Thursday we left Anaheim and drove down to San Diego where we were to spend the next seven days. Nothing prepared us for the traffic. Within two blocks of leaving our hotel Mrs Ellis-Martin was driving us on an eight-lane freeway on the right hand side of the road. It took just over two hours to get down to San Diego Polo Club where we had our first match. The club had five grass fields, and arena field and over 500 horses were kept on site. It was 27 C when we arrived and our match was at 2.05pm. Poway Polo Club supplied our horses and grooms for the game. After a quick meeting before the match we decided to put an Argentinean Pro in the San Diego team to strengthen it. The first chukka was slow with no score but then we came together and worked as the tight team that we were. Jimmy scored two goals and Ben and Marcus both took one each. The final score was 4-1 to College. By the time we finished at San Diego and loaded up the horses, got to Poway where we meet our host families it was 10pm.
Over the next few days at Poway we went shopping, and played a lot of arena polo. This was new for us and we had mixed feelings about the game, which is very popular in schools and universities across America. It's played in a much smaller field that has wooden sides around it and you use a leather inflated ball, which you can't hit as far as a grass ball. As the days were so hot we tended to play most of our games either in the evening or morning. Playing from 6pm on often not finishing until 10pm or from 8am finishing at 1pm.
Friday was a busy day starting with our host families taking us to the beautiful seaside resort town of La Jolla. We headed down to the beach to play a bit of touch rugby with a grid-iron ball. We had to leave at 2pm as we had a practice at Lakeside, which was about 45 minutes from Poway. The field at lakeside was about half the size of a normal grass field and the used yet another type of ball on it. We all decided that this was the preferred game over arena polo. We played in a round robin tournament in mixed teams getting used to new horses and a new style of polo. That night as it was Marcus's birthday and the Poway Club threw a party for him. The club was so welcoming towards us and made sure we all had a great time.
The Saturday morning was another early start as it was back to Lakeside for a match. At 10am it was already 36 C. Again we played a mix of students and adults. It was a busy morning as it was played in a round robin with many teams playing. College showed their adaptability to the new polo and won their match 4-2. The day finished with a bbq hosted by the Lakeside Club.
On Sunday we were invited to the 10-goal match at San Diego Polo club. Everyone dressed up for the day, which was very different compared to Polo in New Zealand. It was great to see a high goal match with top international players. We were seated in the main marquee and treated to a silver service lunch.
Monday of our second week was our first day off from Polo and we all decided to go to Sea World. Highlights from Sea World would have to be sitting in the soak zone watching the Shamu (Killer Whale) show, riding the Atlantis ride down the 10m-drop and watching some very talented seals in the seal show. That evening we were invited to the Bancroft's house for dinner. We played Colton Bancroft in our first game in San Diego.
Tuesday we had our last game of arena polo at San Diego. We in a round robin match with both students and adults competing. There were nine teams playing that night and we won both of our games. It was another late night as it was 11pm by the time we got back and put the horses away.
The following morning we left Poway and travelled up the 101 towards Santa Barbara. Our accommodation was about an hour south of Santa Barbara. The rest of the day was set aside for relaxing and catching up on some sleep.
Thursday morning we continued our drive through to Santa Barbara where we were to play on Pat Nesbitt's private polo field. We arrived at 1pm and it was straight onto some horses for a stick and ball practice. Pat's property was the most amazing property we had ever seen. The field was like a putting green. The horse stables were beautifully designed and his house was stunning. The Boys were hosted by the Uretz family and stayed in Malibu.
We played the Santa Barbara team on the Friday. The Field was smooth and flat, horses fit and agile. After the first chukka Santa Barbara led 2-0.
After a good talk we played together with the commitment and skill that had got us here and quickly equalled the score. By the end of the game we had pushed the score out to 10-3, another good victory for the college team.
We spent the next three days in the Santa Barbara area with our host family where we enjoyed going out with them and attending a 20-goal Polo match at the Santa Barbara Club. We also played two more arena matches one against Santa Barbara and we won 6-4 and the other an adult team from Central Coast which our one and only defeat losing 5-2.
On the Monday morning of our final week we left the Santa Barbara region and headed north to Cerro Pampa Polo club which was about 45 minutes from San Francisco. On the Tuesday we got to stick and ball the horses in preparation for our game the next day. The Cerro Pampa Polo club was a smaller club much like what we have here in New Zealand. Our match was set for Wednesday night against a team of adults which we thought might be a difficult game to win. It was a tough match with one of their players loosing his front tooth in the first chukka but we played a tight controlled game and won 4-3. The following day we left Cerro Pampa Polo Club but before we could leave we had to drive over the world famous San Francisco Bridge. It seemed so much bigger in real life. We then drove through down town San Francisco for a look on our way out of the city.
We decided to split our 7-hour drive back to LA into two days so we stayed four hours south of San Francisco at Harris Ranch Resort in the desert. It was 39 C at the resort so we spent most of the time there in the pool. The following day we packed up the car for the last time and drove to Los Angeles International Airport. It was a quiet flight back as we all thought the trip had gone so fast and we were all feeling rather tired. We departed L.A. at 9pm on Friday and arrived back in Christchurch at 10:00am on Sunday.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank Russ Sheldon and the players and families from Poway club, Heather and the team at San Diego Polo Club, Kip Hearing and Lakeside Polo Club, The wonderful Urtez Family and the Santa Barbara Polo Club. A very special thanks to Pat Nesbitt, John Wessley, Megan Judge and Andy Smith. Kind Thanks to Mathew Winter and Cerro Pampa Polo.
Thank you for all your support
Monique Ellis-Martin of behalf of the Christ's College Polo team