The Central Coast Polo Club in Los Osos is ran by Megan Judge. She made the club in 2002 and since then, it has been the home of polo in the area where many have a found a home in the arena.
“My drive was to have a centralized location, bring the sport of polo to the Central Coast and be able to compete with the other teams on the East Coast that are powerhouses in collegiate polo,” Judge stated.
The Cal Poly team did just that on Sunday, April 2 when in their home arena, came from behind against the defending national champion UConn polo team to win the Women’s Division II Intercollegiate Championship, a first for Judge and her teams over the years.
“I’ve had a couple of really great moments," Judge admitted. "I've had amazing high school teams that have gone and made it to the finals in national tournaments but I will tell you what, in this one, as my first one, was pretty amazing.”
“When we won, it was really like we worked our hardest, we put our all out there and we really deserved it," Junior Camilla McFall said. "At that point, we were just really happy to be there.”
It's all even more impressive considering the obstacles the team overcame to reach the title game.
“This season was kind of tough," McFall said. "All the rain this year was definitely a very inhibiting factor.”
Another obstacle the team overcame was making their way through the postseason in order to get into a position where they'd need to come from behind against the defending national champions.
“Were actually down 5 to 0 after three minutes and then we made some adjustments and we went into halftime down 6 to 2," Judge explained. "We made some more adjustments and we came out swinging and we won 9-8 so it was great.”
The continued interest and dedication to the growth of the sport is all thanks to Judge who fell in love with it when she was just 13-years-old. McFall, who also began gaining interest in the sport at the same age, explained that the centerpiece of the club’s success and innovation is Judge whose mentorship, coaching and facilities single-handedly improved the sport for countless polo athletes.
“When you say Megan Judge, everybody knows who she is and our team is well-known because of her facilities and her teaching, and we've really grown as a club, but not only Cal Poly but for the Central Coast.”
For the sport of polo, Judge believes that the athletes that take it up, learn much more than just riding a horse and scoring goals.
“For students, learning hard work and discipline and responsibility, like with the horses, it's one of the greatest vehicles for teaching all those life lessons.”
