New Page 1


	.
Action Players Ponies History Grooms Special Events Where & When Awards Club Fun New Links USPA Parting Shot	August 19 Honolulu Polo Club Women's USPA Tournament Team Wahine u'i vs. Team Divas What an exciting day for all involved! All the girls who played wish to extend a sincere and heartfelt mahalo to our wonderful sponsors, Alice Lombardo of Beachcomber Realty & DJ & Nikki of Prosperity Corner to Allen Hoe, club president, for his incredible efforts to pull it all off and to the HPC players that generously took a "day off" to let the girls play and ride their much-loved ponies. .
Home
	Congratulations to Team Divas winning by 1 point 4-3 in a close match breaking a tie in the last chukker. .
	Players line up for the national anthem and introductions.		Beautiful Hawaiian sun shone upon our wahines to start off the pony parade. HPC's announcer extraordinaire Hogan, introduced the players. The match started off with a toss in by Prosperity Corner's Nikki Taittinger.
	Coach Kimo Huddleston 6-goaler pro from Maui .	Big thanks to our great coaches & to Dori for bringing along Kimo!	Coach Beau Broughton for Team Wahine u'i
	Referee Brian Fuller throws in on a line-up. Brian gladly accepted his role as ref this day! We love you Brian! .

	Tiare, Becca, Heidi, Dori and Alice turn to gain control of a back shot .
After the match Prosperity Corner showered the girls with beautiful Hawaiian haku leis, champagne glasses and gift bags. Just like her college polo daughter's post-match tradition, Ms. Giannasio made sure each player also had a cigar for the celebration. .
Winners Team Divas Alice Lombardo, Big Island's Heidi Kapioleilanionalanielua Thomas, Jovanna Giannasio, Alexi MacKenzie		Team Wahine u'i Michelle Brosseau, Becca Dailey Maui's Dori Weymouth, Tiare Paty
Allen presented awards. We knew Allen was working hard to make this a special day for the girls, but we know Sue was in on it too. .
..	USPA's HPC best groom Tiare Paty .	USPA Women's Wahine Challenge Most Valuable Player Jovanna Giannasio. She received a gorgeous koa bowl keepsake from the sponsors.
	USPA Women's Wahine Challenge Best Pony Bob Miller's Gracie . .
	USPA HPC most improved player - Michelle Brosseau
	Let the party begin! DJ and Alice put together lots of delicious food, desserts, flowers. Everyone had fun dancing to the rhythms of Hawaii's own Cool Change too!
Polo social at it's finest! Good food, good wine, good friends..		.
................................ Alice and DJ in high style and havin' fun! .
	.
	Volunteer grooms who helped out the Hoe / Miller camp! Good job girls!! Haven, Ashley, Megan, Tijana, Krystina. "Grooms" Mike Ebinger, Bob Miller and Beau treated their girls - Tiare, Dori and Michelle like queens for the game. We weren't allowed to tack, cold water available after every chukker, they made us sit down and cool off at 1/2 time. Thanks guys!! Ummm...when's the next wahine tournament? ..
	Sisters DJ and Nikki .		Lovely wahine Lexi MacKenzie
			Mahalo nui loa to Allen for making it the very best Wahine Cup Challenge!

Posted on: Friday, September 28, 2001
http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com

Recreation
Polo for women produces big hit

By Michael Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

The crowd beneath the canopy fell silent. A ringing cell phone was left unanswered. Even the champagne flutes were lowered as Lexy Mackenzie lined up for a foul shot with two minutes remaining in the first annual Wahine Cup polo tournament in Waimanalo.

"It was my first game ever," Mackenzie said later. "I hadn't even ridden a horse in three years."

With the score tied 3-3, Mackenzie knocked the ball into play from 60 yards out, initiating a mad scramble in front of the goal. Somewhere in the ensuing mess of horses, mallets and flying turf, Heidi Kapioleilanionalanielua Thomas managed to connect with the ball to give Team Divas a historic 4-3 win over the Wahine.

And then the champagne started flowing again.

By all accounts, the Honolulu Polo Club's first all-female polo match in 15 years was worthy of a few good toasts. Attendance for the match was about twice the norm, with roughly 100 well-heeled well-wishers filling the stands and picnicking along the sidelines. And the eight players who competed were sent home with more than just dirty boots. Each received a plaque, a silver cup, a champagne flute (filled) and other goodies courtesy of the club.

"We had a lot of fun," said Alice Lombardo, who had been pushing the idea for four years. "We all laughed and had a good time out there so I know we can entice everyone to come back.

"We're trying to get more female participation," she said. "It's been a man's game for some time."

With less than one week to organize the match, Lombardo and D.J. Colbert (whose respective companies, Beachcomber Realty and Prosperity Corner, sponsored the event) did, however, get a much welcomed helping hand from the men of the game — Honolulu Polo Club members who gave up their Saturday game and loaned their mounts to horseless riders.

Players were recruited from around the state, although a few, like Mackenzie, had never played a competitive match.

To a woman, the players said the experience was both unique and rewarding.

"It was kind of surreal because I've watched it all my life but I've never been on the inside," said Mackenzie, daughter of renown player Stuart Mackenzie. "It was interesting to finally see what it was like. I really enjoyed it."

Mackenzie said she especially enjoyed the chance to play with other women.

"I liked playing with women because the men can get really aggressive," she said. "Women are right in there, but they play differently."

Or, as Tiare Paty, a groom who manages more than 20 horses for the club, said: "You don't get yelled at as much."

The day's MVP honors went to Jovanna Giannasio, who graduated from Punahou and is now a senior at Skidmore College in New York. Giannasio, who took up indoor soccer as a freshman in college, scored three of the Divas' four goals.

"I've only played (polo) with women," she said. "It's such an incredibly normal thing that I almost took (it) for granted."

Like Paty, Giannasio said there are clear advantages to women competing with other women.

"It's such a positive environment," she said. "With women, it's like, 'Please pass me the ball. Thank you. Nice play.'

"A lot of women feel that when they play with the men, they can't really be as aggressive," she said. "With women's polo, it's hands open, very positive. Not that playing with men isn't fabulous, but playing with girls is just so much fun."