Six American teenagers arrived in Jamaica on Tuesday, July 2, 2018 to participate in Jamaica’s Annual Burger King Junior International Polo Tournament. This year’s group of Jamaicans included Cameron Singh-Wates, Conrad Chin, Fred Farquharson, Frank Hart, Zach Byles and Fabiana Byles – ages 11 to 18; while the Americans included USPA National Junior Board Members Ava Rose Hinkson, Patricio Fraga-Errecart & Catie Stueck, Junior Florida Committee Member Cipi Echezarreta, PTF Sportsman of the Year 2018 Jack Whitman and National Youth Tournament winner; Christopher Owens (ages 14 to 17) setting up the highest level of polo played in this Tournament to date.
On Saturday, the focus shifted to the youngsters that were split in to 3 evenly handicapped teams for the Round Robin match. Burger King, Cipi Echezarreta, Patricio Fraga-Errecart, Frankie Hart and Cameron Wates, drew Toby’s Resort, Chris Owens, Jack Whitman, Conrad Chin and Zac Byles for the first section, which ended in a thrilling 2 all draw draw. Cipi converted 2 Penalty 2s for Burger King and Zac scored both goals for Toby’s Resort. A coin toss decided that the Chukka team, Fred Farquharson, Fabi Byles, Catie Stueck and Ava Hinkson would play Burger King for the second section. The already warm Burger King team jumped out to an early lead with 2 goals by Patricio, Ava scored to bring Chukka back in to the game but the clock ran out before they could equalize. Pressure was then on Toby’s in the final section against Chukka as anything less than a win would hand the game to the Burger King team. Zac & Chris scored to take the lead, but Catie scored for Chukka leveling the Win/Draw/Loss record, goal differential and total goals scored by Burger King… Chris then pushed the ball through the posts at the very end to grab the win for Toby’s Resort. Lesley Fong-Yee presented 3rd place Chukka with their Cassablanca prizes, StAPC President, Johnny McFarlane, the 2nd place Burger King team theirs and JPA President, The Hon. Dennis Lalor the winners the Burger King Trophy and their Cassablanca prizes. Cipi Echezarreta was the MVP of the Round Robin, Zac Byles MVP of the winning team and Andrew Lewis’ “Popeye” played by Cipi was awarded the BPP ribbon and Nutramix halter. Greg and Ava Hinkson then thanked the Jamaicans and handed out beautifully carved cutting boards to the key individuals and families involved. Shane Chin, who coordinated the entire event, then received rousing 3 cheers, to inadequately express the intense gratitude from everyone present.
Teams:
Burger King: Cipi Echezarreta, Patricio Fraga-Errecart, Frankie Hart and Cameron Wates,
Tobys Resort: Chris Owens, Jack Whitman, Conrad Chin and Zac Byles
Chukka Adventure: Fred Farquharson, Fabi Byles, Catie Stueck and Ava Hinkson
- 1st Place: Tobys Resort followed by
- 2nd Place: Burger Ling and
- 3rd Place Chukka Adventures
- MVP for winning team: Zackery Byles
- MVP for tournament: Cipi Echezarreta
- BPP: Popey owned by TROY BRENNAN played by Cipi