A few days before the start of the Carl Von Weinberg Cup at the historic Frankfurter Polo Club in Germany, PrensaPolo had the opportunity to speak with Mauro Erriquez, the club’s president. Erriquez shared his insights on the upcoming tournament, the expectations, and the participating teams. He also discussed the current state and organization of the club, as well as the ongoing efforts he and his team are making to ensure that the Frankfurter Polo Club continues to grow and establish its position in the sport.
How was the preparation for this tournament compared to last year?
The preparation for this tournament compared to last year was just more fun, it was more efficient. It was really great to collaborate with other clubs, the team members, the club members and partners, being sponsors or companies which are going to present their products during our tournament.
I think what really succeeded this year is to establish a platform as the Frankfurter Polo Club to enable the players to enjoy the amazing games, the lifestyle, events and also to welcome people to watch the games. Furthermore, it is a great chance for our sponsors to use this platform, present themselves and market their brands, products or services.
How many teams are participating, and where are they from?
This year we will have six teams that are coming all across Germany. This year, we are going to have more teams from Germany. Typically, we have a very international team, which is going to be the case also in the future. And it’s nice because we do have both teams which we know very well and that are like lifetime players of our Frankfurter Polo Club tournaments. But also we have new teams. And it was great for us because we could finish the team composition very soon because there are far more requests from people to join our tournament that we could actually fulfill.
It seems that the investment and the effort in the last years into the field, the club and the organization are paying off. And the name of the Frankfurter Polo Club is being established and growing in the polo family across Europe.
We have great professional players, like Mili Sánchez, that are going to make sure that it’s going to be a fast and safe polo tournament. Despite being a low goal, last year I called it an upper low goal tournament because the games are fast and really interesting. The teams fight for passing through.
How is the situation of the club today?
The club has been going through an amazing period of regrowth. Three or four years ago the owner of the polo club unfortunately suddenly died. It was clearly a shock for the whole community and also for us. Therefore, it forced us to rethink the concept a lot. We got a new owner of the stable. In the last two years, this has been a story of growth where we have rethought the concept. We now have a concept which offers a polo school for beginners, but also professional players that can give the training, individual training to more advanced players.
How are the club’s fields?
We have invested a lot into the fields, which now belong to the best fields, definitely in Frankfurt and around. The field has been leveled through the usage of laser devices to make sure it’s absolutely flat, and has a full-size teamer field of 330 meters by 110 meters. So we have quite a few, by now, members, and the number of members is growing. We do have quite a lot of horses and stables. We are counting around 60 horses at the moment. The number is continuously growing. And what I like most is that people are just contacting us out of the blue because they hear about us and they want to join the Frankfurter Polo Club.
Do you have polo all year round?
We do have a polo around the year but that’s actually one of our targets for next year. We have rebuilt our external arena and we are now finalizing the work to build the fence around so that we can play. We do have games when the winter is finishing, but we don’t do that regularly because most of the players prefer to let the horse rest in more warm places of the world. But that’s going to change in the future.
Is it only for seniors or also for children?
We do have a very strong offer for children. We offer training starting from children with age of eleven. And we had with Gastón Farias, a great trainer, who has shown in the past his ability to actually attract, train, and really build passion of new polo players. There are many people that started with him and then really started enjoying this sport.
