LAKEWOOD RANCH – Women’s Polo teams from across the Sunshine State took to the field in the final rounds of the Sarasota Women’s Challenge.
The three day tournament took place at the Sarasota Polo Club in Lakewood Ranch. Three teams participated in the tournament to gain momentum heading into the U.S. Open Women’s Polo Championships in Wellington, Florida on Saturday March 21st.
Dawn Jones, wife of actor Tommy Lee Jones, helped establish the Women’s International Polo Network two years ago.
“What we’ve seen as I said is more player profiles being built by individual players from around the world, and it’s a way for us to get to know each other and contact one another so we can play in tournaments like this here in Florida or in Argentina or England,” said Jones.
Jones says before the Women’s International Polo Network was established, women polo players didn’t have a source where all players can come together and compete in various tournaments across the world.
“Combined we’ve been able to as I said increase our player profiles, we’ve been able to increase our women’s calendar to make it more consistent, so women know they can count on those tournaments taking place every year,” said Jones. “And we’re really counting on Sarasota to continue playing this tournament each year so it’s a standard tournament, you can count on it.”
Jones says she has seen a rise in women taking up the sport of kings in recent years making it a sport for queens as well.
