
DATE: Saturday, October 4, 1997             TAG: 9710040344

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY BILL REED, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   58 lines

POLO MATCH AT BEACH TODAY WILL RAISE FUNDS FOR CHARITABLE CAUSES

Polo and philanthropy are not necessarily conflicting terms.

Not today anyway. That's when two teams - one local - square off at Alpha Omega Farm on West Landing Road, deep in the rural end of Princess Anne Borough, to raise money for humanitarian causes.

Beginning at 3 p.m., the Virginia Beach Polo Club, headed by farm owner and apartment developer Bart Frye, will square off against the University of Virginia Alumni Polo Team for the 11th consecutive year.

This year the aim of the game and festivities is to raise funds for The Sugar Plum Bakery, a nonprofit retail outlet on Laskin Road that employs handicapped workers; the 4-H Clubs of Virginia Beach; and the Shriners Hospital for Crippled and Burned Children.

Last year's polo match raised $25,000 for Equi-Kids, United Cerebral Palsy, as well as the 4-H Clubs of Virginia Beach and the Shriners Hospital.

Frye says he has 25 corporate sponsors to underwrite the cost of staging the competition and social activities.

The match will be followed by a patron's party and buffet dinner, complete with a live band and open bar.

Admission to the game is $15. Those who want to attend both game and party must pay $25. Admission for children ages 7 to 15 is $5. Children 6 or younger get in free. Gates open at 1 p.m.

Advanced ticket sales indicate 1,500 to 2,000 people will attend, Frye said.

A first for patrons this year will be a halftime karate demonstration. Normally polo spectators are asked to put down their gin and tonics during the 15-minute halftime interlude to help tamp down divots kicked up on the playing field by polo ponies.

The two teams each feature one professional player. The Virginia Beach club will be led by Hugo Nunez from Argentina. The University of Virginia alumni have Craig Ellis from South Africa.

The teams will face off in a game once played by Assyrian and Persian princes more than 4,000 years ago.

Polo is said to have originated in ancient Persia, an area where cavalry became a major part of conducting wars with neighbors, such as the Assyrians, Babylonians, Macedonians and others. The sport spread through North Africa to Asia and was adopted by the British Army for off-duty recreation while serving overseas in the mid-1800s and early 1900s.

Polo was introduced to the United States in 1876 and it became the recreational activity among the rich and super rich. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

WANT TO GO?

Where: Alpha Omega Farm on West Landing Road in Virginia Beach.

When: Gates open at 1 p.m. today.

Cost: Admission to the game is $15. Those who want to attend

both game and party must pay $25. Admission for children ages 7 to

15 is $5. Children 6 or younger get in free.

Goal: To raise funds for The Sugar Plum Bakery; the 4-H Clubs of

Virginia Beach; and the Shriners Hospital for Crippled and Burned

Children.