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Club News & Information

In May 2009 the Habaneros traveled to the beautiful Hill Country of Hunt, TX to compete in one of the larger tournaments of the year. The hospitality at Camp Waldemar is off the hook. Thanks Liz. We fielded 2 teams. Sam, Zach and Jim took on some fierce competition and won all their games by only 1 or 2 points, 2 of them in sudden death overtime. They took 1st place.  Lia and Mae Lee helped another team take 1st place in their division. Mae Lee took Lia’s spot after she bounced a little hard in the 3rd game.

4th of July’s Abajo Tournament took place on the new Abajo Grounds about 11 miles East of Walmart on Hwy 6 in Los Lunas. It was a tremendous event with players coming down from as far North as Fruta, Colorado. The Habaneros traveled southward for two-days of friendly competition and a great time was had by all. Thank you Abajos.

 

 

Our Play Day Aug. 2nd and 3rd 2008, featured 20 or so youth from the Adventures Unlimited Camp in Buena Vista, CO. They have been learning about horses and polocrosse, many for the first time, and they enjoyed their first-ever tournament here in Albuquerque! New Mexico's other polocrosse team, the Los Lunas Abajos, came up for a fun-filled friendly day of competitive play. Look for more fun and competition this year Aug 1st & 2nd 2009

 

 

The habañero chile (Capsicum Chinese Jacquin) (Spanish, from Havana) is the most intensely spicy chile pepper of the Capsicum genus. Unripe habañeros are green, but the color at maturity varies. Common colors are orange and red, but white, brown, and pink are also seen. Typically a ripe habañero is 2–6 cm (1–2½ in) long.

 

Information came from:  Wikipedia®, the free encyclopedia
A drawing of several Habañero chili peppers

Member in good standing

 

Habañero Polocrosse Club

We are hot, Hot, HOT!!!

During Memorial Day Weekend 2008, both New Mexico teams carried their friendly rivalry northward to Hesperus, Colorado. This tournament was the Rocky Mountain Regional's at the Lovelace Family home where father and daughter make a formidable team. The other Durango team is comprised of a mother and her two daughters and the entire event exuded FAMILY! The Habanero A Team was victorious and captured 1st place in the Mountain Division. Congratulations Jim, Sam and Willy.

July 18 & 19  2009  We traveled to beautiful Buena Vista CO. Linda and Lach hosted the first (hopefully annual) Tournament with Adventures Unlimited Camp. The venue was great and we sure enjoyed leaving 100 degree weather back in ABQ. Our C-Team “Anna Salas, Andrew Salas and Mae Lee Van Sumeren” were on fire and took 1st place leaving no prisoners.  Anna was awarded Best Payer In C-grade. Her hard work with her horses really did show. Our B-team “Chris Salas, David Fermin and Uli Salas” Also took 1st place in their division. They really did gel together as a team. I didn’t think Chris’s horse “slug” could move like that. Our A-team “Sam Burrows, Willy Van Sumeren, Jim Byrd” fought hard and missed 1st place by 1 point in their division, happy with 2nd. Sam was awarded best player in the A division. Willy had the highest statistical rating and MaeLee placed 4th overall in stats which includes all divisions combined. Way to go MaeLee. Welcome Leslie Roots as an official Habanero after eating a Habanero at the tournament. This was her first tournament and boy did she have a smile (after the burning quit). We also had 4 more honorary Habaneros from Adventures Unlimited that ate a Habanero. Johnny even ate 2. We will post names in the near future as we are comprising the LIST.

What a blast we had at our tournament Aug 1st & 2nd. 48 players, including Amanda Daniels’s first tournament ever. She also made it official and ate her habanero along with new Honorary Habaneros Lache Clarke and Hugh Veit. There are also many Honorary Habaneros among The Adventures Unlimited group I am working on getting every name. I think this was the best shot at eating a habenaro, cause I think they were really week. We won’t let that happen again. Where are my taste testers? “The level of play was well above expected in all  grades”. Danny Byrd even came out of a 7 year retirement to play with Bill & Janelle Weir.

Here is the Awards: D Grade 3rd place (Habaneros) Leslie Roots, Amanda Daniels. 2nd place (Nighthawk) Brooke Baldwin, Emily Scheu & Kathy Skalbeck. 1st place (Adventures Unlimited) Clarke O’Leary, Dana Hoffenberg & Sterling Mastenbrook. Best Player: Clarke O’Leary. Best Horse: Sugar.(Dana Hoffenberg)  C Grade 3rd place (Abajos) Hunter Veit, Hilton Veit & Grace Vickers. 2nd place (Abajos) Kendra Veit, Amy Ahlgrem & Chris Sweeney. 1st place (Habaneros) Anna Salas, Andrew Salas & Mae Lee van Sumeren. Best Player: Austin Ahlgrem. Best Horse; Lena (MaeLee VanSumeren)   B Grade 3rd place (Kokopelli) Tony Svaldi, Missy Svaldi & Gary Gaylor. 2nd place (Adventures Unlimited) Linda Clarke, Lache Clarke & Caitlin Moss. 1st place (Abajos) Hugh Veit, Greg Veit & Scott Ahlgrem Best Player; Missy Svaldi. Best Horse: ? (Bill Wier)     A Grade 3rd place (Habaneros) Sam Burrows, Zach Levy & Jim Byrd.  2nd place (Nighthawk) Robbie Noiles, Paul Repenning & Lache Clarke.  1st place: (Candystripes) Bill Wier, Danny Byrd & Janelle Wier.  Best Player: Danny Byrd.  Best Horse: Bull (Jim Byrd)

 

Highlight of the Tournament:  C Grade game Sunday morning Abajos (Hunter, Hilton and Grace) vs Habaneros (Anna, Andrew and MaeLee). Every player did so well and it came down to the last 20 seconds no-one gave up, everyone played as a TEAM.

 

 

1/4/2010

 

Happy New Year Polocrosse Friends and Family, Guests and Interested Persons!   We held our first practice of the year and were pleased to have a couple of employees from Dan's Boots and Saddles come out and join us! Linnae brought her wonderful horse Jack and they were picking up balls from the lope by the end of the day! Margaret tried out a couple of the made polocrosse horses and had a blast pushing her way through the field. Last summer, Leslie introduced her son and husband to polocrosse and guess who showed up with three horses today! Yup, yet another captivated family- that's how it starts, folks. This is the only sport I can think of where an entire family can actually play on the same team.   Congratulations to Sam on his engagement to Amanda. Sam represented the US in Australia in 2007 demonstrating the far reaches this sport has across the globe. And we are so proud of Matt who left the team early last year to join the military. Duty before pleasure- we honor you, Matt, a UNM Senior in Environmental Science. We have nominated Mae Lee VanSumeren, age 13, as our Youth in Development member and we will raise funds to send her to various polocrosse events outside of NM. We will keep you posted as to her progress and FUNd raising events! Check back next week as we wait to see whether James will be sporting new Jods at practice.   In other news, the Habanero Board was elected as follows: President, Maelee VanSumeren; Vice-President, Lia Levy; Treasurer, Jim Byrd (who also serves as Vice President of the National Polocrosse Association); Secretary, Leslie Roots and Sergeant at Arms, Willy VanSumeren.   We look forward to viewing the photos shot by Jessika Trusova of IronFreeHorse - she also plays polocrosse but weilded her camera instead of her racket today. Here is a photo of the team introducing two new horses to the sport. They worked with these two horses to get them accustomed to some of the close contact before taking them out on the field. Leslie and her new little mare and awesome Linnae on the awesome Jack. Shane served as umpire today after only riding and playing for fewer than three months!   Well, that's our news for this week.     Members, check out our wesbite regularly for news and updates at http://habanero-polocrosse.tripod.com/  Thank you, players, for coming out this weekend and we look forward to seeing you out on the field at 2247 Kelly SW (near Coors and Arenal) every Sunday at Noon for Potluck and Practice.   Riders, come check us out- we have many mounts suitable for all levels.. You do not need to bring your horse- we will supply the horse and equipment to introduce you to the sport. $2.50 Field Fee per person. Call Willy VanSumeren at 235-6457 if you are interested in coming out and Players, you may call Willy to confirm practice if you think the weather is inclement- otherwise, see you on the field, Habaneros and Keep Your Heels Down and Rackets Up!