The Sport Of Polo Runs Deep In Wellington’s Coppola Family

By Y.A. Teitelbaum

Life revolves around the sport polo for Tony Coppola and his son, Matt Coppola.

Tony is widely recognized in polo circles as the “Voice of Polo” and owner of The Tackeria, a full-service equestrian supply store that has been serving Wellington for more than 45 years. His résumé is long and varied, having been a player, a club manager and an umpire before turning full time to the business side.

In addition to his full-time job running a very successful store, Tony is also deeply involved in numerous charitable groups focused around polo. He is in his first term as president of the United States Polo Association, while also serving as president of the Polo Training Foundation. He is a board member of the Museum of Polo and Hall of Fame, and he co-founded the Polo Players Support Group in 2000 with Dave Offen and Tim Gannon, and remains on that board, too.

In 2006, Tony was awarded the Philip Iglehart Award for lifetime contributions to the sport by the U.S. Polo Museum. But it’s his announcing that has given him the highest profile.

Becoming an announcer early on was a conscious choice for Tony, who grew up on Long Island in New York, interested in polo and horses. His father passed away while Tony was serving in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. Upon returning home, he took over the family’s pool construction business but also resumed an interest in polo throughout the northeast. He sold the family business and started building his polo tack business, in addition to other jobs in the sport.

“I was being paid for being an umpire, but as I started growing my business, I figured being an announcer offended less people than being an umpire,” Tony said, smiling.

And a legend was born.

Almost every Sunday afternoon during winter polo season, the 75-year-old is behind the microphone calling the fast-paced action on the International Polo Club Palm Beach stadium field in Wellington. He has also been the announcer for 42 U.S. Opens, having seen the best of the best on the field for generations.

While his father is behind the mic, being one of the sport’s better players is his son’s goal.

Matt currently carries a 5-goal handicap (10 is the highest) and has had a taste of high-goal polo, the elite tier where many of the best players in the world compete.

He has primarily played high-goal polo at IPC for the last three seasons and previously was a substitute in four games in the 2011 U.S. Open.

“My goal in life, I want to win the U.S. Open,” said the 27-year-old, who came close twice — in 2021 when his team Park Place finished as the runner-up, and in 2019 when his team Las Monjitas was a finalist. “I’m working hard. I have a good staff behind me. It’s a team effort.”

A big part of that team are his parents, who although divorced, remain close. His mother, Jesse, works at The Tackeria, as does Matt, and she is always on the sidelines at his matches. But it was his father who taught him how to swing the mallet and ride.

“He helped me a lot in the beginning of my career to get me mounted with quality horses,” said Matt, who will have 26 horses for the 2022 winter season while playing in the 16-goal league with Tonkawa and the 12-goal tournaments with Meyer Ranch. “Now we buy horses together and have a breeding operation together.”

His mother has also been an integral part of the team. Early on, she used to ride the horses to help get them in game shape, but she has stepped back from that role. She also owns some of the green horses with Tony and Matt.

“We [Matt and I] are both so incredibly competitive,” Jesse said. “I think I always just tell him to play his game. No matter where he is in the world, I send him a text. It’s the same one every time. It’s simply, ‘Play well, be safe, I love you.’”

The Coppolas have a farm in Wellington and recently purchased a place in Aiken, South Carolina, with Matt naming it Sundele, after two of his top horses, Sundance and Adele.

“I’m putting a lot of work and investments into improving my horses,” said Matt, who was born and raised in Wellington. “I’ve really learned how to manage the horses, and I’m investing the right way.”

Tony said the best advice he gave to Matt was simple.

“The first is to keep yourself well-mounted. Second, establish good relationships with sponsors and other players,” Tony recalled. “He has gotten a reputation for being well-mounted, and he is becoming a good horseman and rider.”

Matt is also constantly thinking about his long-term future in the sport.

“Everybody wants to be 10 goals,” he said. “I’m working to be 8 goals and known for good horses. I want to be successful, to be known as a top American player. I’m putting in a lot of work and investments into improving my horses.”

Matt almost chose a different path, because there was a time when he didn’t want anything to do with the sport.

“I enjoyed it, and then I had a little bit of a fall when I was 10 or 11, and I quit for three years,” remembered Matt, who took up baseball and tennis instead. “I was deathly afraid of horses. I was playing bike polo one day and [legendary Hall of Famer] Memo [Gracida] was watching, and he told me I have to start riding again.”

So Gracida had Matt come to his farm, where he put the then teenager on a horse, but not just any horse.

“The horse was an unbroken horse, and he put me on with no saddle, no nothing, and it threw me three or four times in a little corral, and ever since then, I was never scared again,” Matt said. “I overcame the fear and started playing again.”

He has been recognized off the field and is sponsored by Ona gloves and is a global brand ambassador for U.S. Polo Assn., the official apparel brand for the United States Polo Association. He is also a graduating member of Team USPA, a program developed and managed by the national organization to improve young American polo players.

Seven-goaler Jeff Hall, one the few current elite U.S. players, believes Coppola can continue his rise up the ranks. “He is a talented player who just needs more time in the high-goal,” Hall said.

Whether it’s on the polo field or in the announcer’s booth, it’s home to Tony and Matt Coppola.

 

Honoring The Best In The Sport Of Kings Museum Of Polo And Hall Of Fame Announces 2022 Inductees To Be Honored On Feb. 18

The 2022 inductees for the Polo Hall of Fame, Iglehart Award and Horses to Remember were recently announced by the Museum of Polo. The 33rd year of inductions will honor Tommy Biddle Jr. and the late Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney with election to receive Hall of Fame honors. The Iglehart Award inductees for outstanding lifetime contributions to the sport are Danny Scheraga and the late Dr. Horace Laffaye. Horses to Remember honorees are Charles Smith’s great mare Cynthia Lola, and Jacobs, a notable pony of yesteryear.

The induction ceremony is scheduled to take place on Friday, Feb. 18, if conditions at that time allow for gatherings, and will honor not only the 2022 inductees, but also the 2021 honorees. The inductees selected for 2021 — Julio Arellano and John F. “Jack” Ivory for the Hall of Fame; Dr. Paul Wollenman and Bert B. Beveridge for the Iglehart Award; and horses Little Mary and Silverada — were initially recognized through the press, video segments and various types of social media.

Inductees are nominated by the public and selected annually by a committee of knowledgeable individuals from across the sport of polo, who voted to select this year’s winners from a group of worthy candidates.

Tommy Biddle — Born into a polo family, Biddle grew up in Aiken, S.C. At the age of 12, he played his first polo game and became a professional player at 18. At 6-foot-3, with the build of an imposing football player, his presence on the polo field looms large, literally and figuratively. Once called the “quickest big man” to ever play the sport, Biddle is a rare player who has been able to achieve almost equal greatness in both outdoor and arena polo. He became the fourth player in arena history to achieve a 10-goal handicap, while also reaching and maintaining an 8-goal outdoor rating. His list of accolades reflects the best of outdoor and the arena, both in the U.S. and internationally, and includes the 2002 U.S. Open, four Monty Waterbury Cups, four Townsend Cups and a U.S. Open arena championship. Adding to his accomplishments, Biddle has become a highly rated and well-respected umpire.

Cornelius Vanderbilt “Sonny” Whitney (1899-1992) — Whitney left a lasting mark not only in polo, but in most areas of life. Although thoroughly immersed in a business career and philanthropic ventures, he rose to a 6-goal handicap during his playing career that started around 1917 and lasted until the 1940s, a time that spanned the “golden era” of polo. Whitney was a formidable factor in all the major tournaments of those eras, winning the U.S. Open three times and the Monty Waterbury Cup once. Whitney carried on the polo legacy of his father, Hall of Famer Harry Payne Whitney. Even with his playing days at an end, Whitney was well-known for raising outstanding racehorses, having 15 horses compete in the Kentucky Derby. The C.V. Whitney Cup was established in his name in 1979, originally played as the handicap side of the U.S. Open Championship and is still played today as part of the USPA’s Gauntlet of Polo series in Wellington.

Danny Scheraga — A guiding figure for the youth of polo, Scheraga is recognized for having spent a good part of his career nurturing polo players and dedicated to improving the quality of the sport. Scheraga began playing at Cornell and went on to be named head coach there in 1975. He established important programs for intercollegiate women, getting them to the finals nine years in a row and winning championships three times. He then went to work for the USPA, focused on instructing clinics. Scheraga spent the next 30 years with the Polo Training Foundation, serving 25 years as its first executive director. He gave birth to a number of ideas that went into developing programs and improving polo infrastructure by creating clinics, running a polo center at Brushy Creek and pushing for more opportunities for intercollegiate players.

Dr. Horace Albert Laffaye (1935-2021) — Laffaye left an impact on the sport of polo that is hard to match. He grew up in Argentina, playing polo there for a number of years before stopping to become a surgeon. He became prominent and respected in this field, saving many lives with his surgical skills. A reawakening to the world of polo led Laffaye to pick up the mallet once again and play for another two decades at clubs throughout the northeast. When his playing days ended, he took his knowledge and passion for the sport and focused it on the avenue that made him such an important part of the sport as its most eminent polo historian. Dedicated and concise, he painstakingly researched, wrote and published what are generally considered to be the most important treatises on polo. In all, he authored and edited nine books and innumerable articles in both Spanish and English. Laffaye contributed his knowledge and talent to serve on the board of directors and nominating committee for the Museum of Polo.

Cynthia Lola — Foaled in 1960 in Missouri, the dark bay, Thoroughbred mare was sold to Cecil Smith five years later. Both Cecil and his son Charles Smith knew she was destined for an outstanding future. She hit her stride when Charles took the reins, playing with distinction in all the major American tournaments ranging from the 1968 Silver Cup to the 1975 U.S. Open, the year in which she earned the Best Playing Pony of the Silver Cup. Over the course of eight years of outstanding performance, she continued to rack up several more Best Playing Pony awards. “I put Lola in polo, and not everyone could play her. But Charles was a goal better on that mare than any other he ever had,” Cecil said. Cynthia Lola would end her legendary career in 1978.

Jacobs — Bred in Texas, Jacobs’ career spanned 10 years playing in all the top tournaments of his era, including the famed international matches of 1913 and 1914. A venerable pony who broke polo tradition in its time, Jacobs is one of the first bigger ponies that defined the approaching modern era of polo. Breaking the archaic height rule of 14 hands, 2 inches, Jacobs was a bay gelding who, standing at the unheard-of height of 15 hands, 3 inches, was big, yet incredibly speedy and powerful. Bringing fame and notoriety to the Texas cowpony, Jacobs was raised by J.C. Jacobs of San Antonio before being sold to Whitney, who made a habit of loaning his finest ponies to his friend Dev Milburn to play. It was noted that Milburn’s best runs were on this mount. Along with a few other top horses, Jacobs was gifted to Milburn as a wedding present in 1913, a fitting gesture to honor the extraordinary relationship of a man and horse.

Polo Star Nic Roldan Back On Ipc Fields The Top American Polo Star Is At Home In Wellington As He Grows His Unique Brand

By Donna Washington

It has been 24 years since top American polo player Nic Roldan became the youngest person ever to win the U.S. Open Polo Championship when he did so at age 15 in 1998. More than two decades later, the star’s trajectory only continues to evolve and grow — and he’ll be back at the U.S. Open this season on the fields of the International Polo Club Palm Beach.

Wellington is known as the “Winter Equestrian Capital,” and in many ways, Roldan stands out as one of its truest ambassadors. He’s no transient visitor, but someone who calls Wellington home, since his early years attending New Horizons Elementary School, and later Cardinal Newman High School.

We recently caught up with him early one morning outside of Starbucks, a favorite morning haunt. It’s a great spot for people watching, Roldan explained. He loves his hometown, and despite being fortunate enough to have played all over the world, nothing makes Roldan happier than being back home in Wellington.

He’s often asked in interviews where his favorite place to go for dinner is. Perhaps writers expect him to rattle off a list of the latest, coolest restaurants, not the iconic Wellington eatery Park Avenue BBQ Grill. His repertoire of dining faves in Wellington also includes breakfast at Cilantro’s, Gabriel’s Café or First Watch; brunch at Oli’s; lunch at Field of Greens, Bolay or his parents’ favorite Lemongrass Asian Bistro; dinner at Sushi Moto, the Clubhouse at Palm Beach Polo or Kaluz. For a quick meal, a visit to PDQ hits the spot.

Roldan appeared on the cover of the March 2009 issue of Wellington The Magazine wearing a Pony Express team shirt. He explained how the now late Pony Express patron Bob Daniels was such a key person in his career, to his own family’s life and how today he actually has his horses in the same barn featured back then.

Roldan is palpably excited for the upcoming 2022 high-goal polo season in Wellington.

He’s a stalwart of Marc and Melissa Ganzi’s Grand Champions organization with its 2022 World Polo League season set to be bigger than ever. Additionally, after a three-year absence, Roldan will be back playing in the U.S. Open at IPC.

He is a man comfortable in his skin and at peace with dancing to his own beat. Rather than working with big fashionable organizations, he prefers to work with local charities that he is genuinely passionate about, particularly helping kids. Locally, he works with the Kids Cancer Foundation and the Neil S. Hirsch Family Boys & Girls Club. Each year, he takes part in the Kids Cancer Foundation’s 5K run. In normal times, the foundation hosts monthly Parents Night Out evenings, and on occasion, Roldan has been known to visit in full black tie prior to going on to a glitzy social event, making sure to see the kids first. He’s also not scared of having little girls bedazzle his nails and still have it on two days later!

Roldan is fervently passionate about his sport. True to his millennial status, he has his finger on the pulse, wanting to promote the equestrian lifestyle. Not only to more brands, but to a wider audience. Roldan feels it’s key for all disciplines to work together for the collective greater good of equestrianism and the horses in it. Wellington is the perfect spot to make this a reality. “Horses clearly are the common factor here,” he explained. “Although in polo, we deal in much larger numbers of horses, but that does not mean they are looked after any less.”

In Roldan’s case, his horses are part of the family. Not being in the business of selling horses, he will have them as his companions for many years. “The bond between horses and humans is something very special, and it’s great to be able to share that with more people,” he said.

His philosophy of going local shines through in other aspects of his ever-growing brand. He has formed allegiances with a number of local brands, such as Provident Jewelry. He has long been friends with Geoff Fear, owner of the Wellington boutique, and since the start of 2020, Roldan has had a formal partnership with them. Fear is an enthusiastic polo fan, and Roldan may be partial to a dapper timepiece or two. Add to that the fact that polo has a long heritage with watch brands, and it’s a no brainer.

Roldan also explained how fitness is such a vital part of his sport, and that he and his peers spend at least three mornings a week doing extreme workouts. As a man on a mission, he been made an ambassador for Technogym, gym equipment supplier to the latest Olympic games, which is developing an equestrian-specific curriculum. It makes total sense. If you can tone your muscles correctly, you can give better, more controlled signals to your horse, and thus perform better. Maintaining that intensity and longevity is a key for Roldan. He was also keen to add cryotherapy to his repertoire, and he is now working with Revive Wellington to spread the word. Roldan also works with Therabody, the leading percussive therapy device creator, and another key component to his daily routine.

Regarding other business ventures, Roldan enthuses about having formed R Polo Holdings a year ago. His company not only covers everything pertinent to his brand and polo, but a large section is real estate related. Not only has Roldan flipped six properties, but he has also built a high-end horse barn and is now endeavoring on his second elevated spec house, all right here in Wellington.

Each morning, Roldan scours the real estate listings and has an inbuilt radar, identifying each local property for sale and assessing its potential. The properties he has flipped were gutted and then transformed. With the spec house, his involvement is hands on and very visual, from the shape of the roof to the shade of the wooden floor, right through to the plates on the table. Roldan has a touch in all, and nothing has been left to chance.

In 2020, Roldan co-founded High Goal Luxury Gin, which is setting a new, ultra-premium standard for the market. High Goal is American gin reimagined, and Roldan sees it as a gin for everyone, including people who usually don’t drink gin. It’s based on Meyer lemon and mint, making it very smooth.

In October 2021, he launched “Roldan Lifestyle” with his first mini clothing collection. It blends timeless traditions with the modern age in the form of gorgeously soft hoodies and crew sweaters, t-shirts and kids clothing bearing iconic imagery. Again, Roldan’s details are evident throughout, from the design to the quality of the product.

Roldan encompasses all that’s best of Wellington and embraces Wellington at every opportunity he gets — clearly spreading a little Roldan magic wherever he goes and whoever he meets.

Visit www.nicroldan.com to learn more about Nic Roldan and his many ventures.

Top Polo Games Now Available On ESPN Networks
Global Polo Entertainment Signs Historic Deal With National Broadcaster To Carry Gauntlet Of Polo

Every January, the sport of polo returns to Wellington. While the traffic gets busier, the opportunities to enjoy a memorable Sunday polo game increase, too. It is said that the best seat in polo is in the saddle, but now there is a close second. For the first time in the history of the sport, ESPN will carry all of the top Gauntlet of Polo games on ESPN 2 and ESPN 3.

This landmark partnership between Global Polo Entertainment, a subsidiary of USPA Global Licensing, the official licensor for the global multi-billion-dollar apparel brand U.S. Polo Assn., offers fans the opportunity to view polo on mainstream platforms.

The partnership includes broadcasting all three of the coveted United States Polo Association tournaments live on ESPN 3, the top-rated U.S. Open Women’s Polo Championship and the National Intercollegiate Championships all accessible through a Disney+ subscription or the ESPN app, and the finals of the most prestigious polo tournament in the United States, the U.S. Open Polo Championship, on ESPN 2. Check your local listings for times.

“The goal of this symbiotic and historic deal with ESPN is to reach more sports fans in the U.S. and attract new audiences by delivering more polo sport and lifestyle content in new ways,” said J. Michael Prince, president and CEO of USPA Global Licensing. “We look forward to broadening access to the amazing sport of polo with some of the most exciting polo tournaments in the world now being broadcast by ESPN, the nation’s leader in sports content.”

The ESPN partnership allows Global Polo Entertainment to also deliver more polo, more often. Through its digital television network, Global Polo TV, the company will also script and produce made-for-television shows that will also air on-demand on ESPN and www.globalpolo.com. Each monthly show is created around the destination polo is traveling to and offers the viewers the ability to truly learn more about players, the horses and the unique stories in the game.

The full schedule of official USPA tournaments will be released through Global Polo TV and will include the top tournaments, women’s polo, college polo and international polo.

The governing body for the sport of polo is headquartered in Wellington and serves as the home for polo in the United States.

With more than 130 years of history, the association provides the rules and handicaps for the game. It has more than 5,000 playing and social members, many of whom call Wellington home. Playing members compete on a circuit around the world, and the Wellington season serves as the kickoff to the year.

In true fashion, Palm Beach County always has the best weather and the best activities for the families and players, and Global Polo Entertainment officials are excited to kick off the 2022 season on Sunday, Jan. 2 at the International Polo Club Palm Beach. The community is invited to join them in person, or watch on ESPN.

Check out Global Polo TV at www.globalpolo.com to learn more. Visit www.uspoloassnglobal.com to take home a piece of the sport.