"It's a great platform to promote polo"
Nic has won tournaments all around the world and has now added a new one: the 18th Bendura Bank Snow Polo World Cup Kitzbühel. He played for the World Polo League team, along with Marc Ganzi and Juan Bautista Peluso.
"Playing in Kitzhbühel was an amazing experience, it is a great tournament, with good organization and competitive teams. It is a pleasure to have played and even better to have won. We had fun with the team, and the final was good. I think it must have been entertaining to watch. It was a new experience for me, and it was nice to have shared it with Marc and Melissa Ganzi!
Nic's next tournament will also be on the snow: "I will be going to Saint Moritz, where I will play with Melissa, Alejandro Novillo Astrada, and Bauti. They won last year, so we will try to keep the streak going."
Roldan thinks that all varieties of polo will help the sport grow. "Tournaments such as Kitzhbühel, Saint Moritz, Aspen Snow Polo, Polo on the Beach, they all help promote polo. They are smaller events on small fields, but the people are more invested and can see it right up close. "Kitzhbühel was amazing, and the last Aspen snow tournament was also great. It was the best one yet, more competitive than ever before. I think it is a great platform to promote polo and help it grow."
Said by Nic Roldan, an all-terrain player.
"Polo is heading down the right path"
After playing on the snow, Nic will move on to the most important part of his year: "After Saint Moritz, we will be coming back to Palm Beach to play polo until April. It will be the second season of the World Polo League, and I think it will be a good year. There are more and better teams. It will be a great one. It is growing, if slowly. We will be in Palm Beach and Aspen, following the World Polo League in Grand Champions, with Marc and Melissa."
Nic thinks that American Polo is on the way up. "I think we are heading down the right path, polo is growing a lot. We have new patrons and more teams than ever before. There are lots of teams in the World Polo League and also the 22-goal tournament. The US is in a strong economic position, and that certainly helps. I am very happy with how polo is developing. As an ambassador, I am quite motivated because of it."
World Polo League won in the snow
World Polo League won the 18th Bendura Bank Snow Polo World Cup Kitzbuhel, one of the most important snow tournaments of the world. In the final, the Argentine Juan Bautista Peluso and Americans Marc Ganzi and Nic Roldan won 10-8 over GP Mobility, the all-Brazilian team, with Henrique Schalldach, Marcus Schalldach and Guilhermo Lins.
In the semis, World Polo League had defeated Intocast (Austrian Matthias Normann and Argentines Micky Duggan and Martin Juaregui) 7-5.5, and GP Mobility had won 9-6 over Corum (Germans Eckhardt Juls and Patrick Maleitzke and Argentine Juan Ruiz-Guiñazú).
A total of 8 teams participated in the tournament. The others were:
Bernd Gruber: Helmut Wieser (Austria), Pato Bolanterio (Argentina) and Santiago Marambio (Argentina).
Laurent-Perrier: Sebastian Schneeberger (Alemania), Phillip de Groot (Netherlands) and Valentin Novillo Astrada (Argentina).
Bendura Bank: Melissa Ganzi (USA), Alejandro Novillo Astrada (Argentina) and Tito Gaudenzi.
Engel & Volkers: Ana Escobedo (Mexico), Segundo Darritchon (Argentina) and Jonny Good (England).
Laurent-Perrier: Sebastian Schneeberger (Germany), Phillip de Groot (Netherland) and Valentin Novillo Astrada (Argentina).
Bernd Gruber: Helmut Wieser (Austria), Pato Bolanterio (Argentina) and Santiago Marambio (Argentina).