The Burger King Juniors polo match is the climax of the Annual Burger King Juniors Polo Camp run by six-goaler Jorge Donovan and held at the Lalor’s stables at Kingston Polo Club.

Despite some inconvenient rain, the 14 campers — Joshua Newman, Emma Gunning, Christoff Scott-Brown, Luke Clarke, Jason Willetts, Dylan Wong, Laura Fung, Amy Morris, Adam Abrams, Zachary and Fabiana Byles, Jonah Subaran and Daniel and Alejandro Crowther — were immersed in polo for the week of July 4 to 8, as Donovan and former campers Mikie Turner and Hamish Wates walked their charges, whose ages varied from seven to 18, through all aspects of the game and the keep and care of the horses.

This year it was decided to combine the juniors match and the International Horse Show held at the St Ann Polo Club at Drax Hall. The Horse Show wrapped up at about 1:00 pm, but most of the riders returned to the club at 3:00 pm to support the polo players, and a few of them even took part in both. Suitable horses were generously donated from all over the island, from the Lalors and Wates in Kingston, the Mastertons, Melvilles and Troy Brennan in St Ann and the Chins from Montego Bay.

The horses that had already done the camp understood what was required of them and fortunately the others worked it out fairly quickly, although they were a bit confused to start with. They all took care of their charges, and except for one harmless spill at the beginning of the match, there were no disastrous incidents.

This did not mean that there were not many hilariously entertaining ones as the partnerships were worked out. There were a couple that looked like novice drivers in sports car as they moved forward and stopped too quickly for the rider on top, others that took a quick nap when the play came to a standstill, as the kids fought for the ball and others that were not so enthusiastic about going forward quickly when they knew they were only going to have to stop again shortly.

The tension in the stands was as thick as it would have been for any of the high goal matches on the calendar as parents and supporters anxiously willed their charges to do their best. The local polo players on hand to watch the match were grilled about rules and strategy so that instructions could be issued between chukkas. Former campers Mikie Turner and Joe Adam were entrusted with the umpiring of the match and other former campers came out to support.

When the dust had settled and the onlookers heart beats had started to return to normal it was the Burger King White team of Joshua Newman and Emma Gunning (alternating), Christoff Scott-Brown, Luke Clarke and Jason Willetts that raised the Burger King trophy, beating the Burger King Black team of Frankie and Alex Chin, Dylan Wong, Laura Fung and Kyler Vernon by four goals to two.

The Burger King White team jumped out to an early start with Christoff and Jason scoring unanswered goals in the first chukka, while Kyler, who had not taken part in the camp as he was in Montego Bay, found his rhythm and the Chin twins changed gear from equestrian to polo. The second half of the game was very even as Jason scored with a smart back hand shot and Luke put one through form Burger King White, while Laura and Alex scored for Burger King Black.

Denise Dixon from Burger King then handed out plaques and whips to the winners, Burger King caps to the runners up and chocolates to the horse lenders. Jason Willetts and Luke Clarke received Burger King Certificates for Most Valuable Player and rider of the Best Player Pony Charlie, respectively.

Luke Clarke and Amy Morris then stepped forward to thank Heidi Lalor and Jorge Donovan for hosting the camp and match and presented them with gifts for their efforts.