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Last weekend, Casa de Campo celebrated the annual Hogar del Niño fundraising weekend with sporting tournaments, a visit to the Hogar del Niño and a magnificent dinner-dance party at the La Romana Country Club. The finals of the Polo Tournament after being rained off and then back on in the end took place on Friday afternoon and on Saturday afternoon. On Friday morning the 18th of February, the players of the Hogar del Niño Polo Tournament awoke with excitement and anticipation for their finals, to be played that afternoon, but after a bout of rain and then several more downpours, as well as multiple emails changing the time and day of the matches, the final for the 10-14 goal league was played at 5pm and the final for the 2-6 goal league was postponed and played on the Saturday afternoon. And so at 5pm on Friday afternoon the Pitirrii/Guero team met the Casa de Campo team and despite the slightly muddy, wet conditions the 2 teams passionately battled it out to be crowned the champions. In the end the Pitirrii/Guero team were victorious over the Casa de Campo team winning with 10 goals to 5 – much to the chagrin of Calixto Garcia-Velez, Casa de Campo’s Polo Director who had been part of the Casa de Campo’s team, until in one of the previous matches he broke a finger and so was unable to lead his team to victory in the final! Anton Tejeda “The most interesting man in the world,” a member of the winning team was also awarded a prize for being the MVP (Most Valuable Player). Following the match, all the players and spectators made their way over to the ‘party tent’ where a celebratory cocktail and prize giving was held with free-flowing cocktails, beers and picaderas and a surprising about of dancing given that it took place so early in the evening! [See below for all my ‘party’ photos!] At the event was Xiomarita Matos, president of the Patronato Benefico Oriental (the umbrella charity for the Hogar del Niño), Sandra Alvarado and Erika Villain who all helped give out the trophies (adorable bronze statues in the shape of the Hogar del Niño logo) and Hogar del Niño goody bags with the cutest polo shirts imaginable! Here you can see a few more photos of the prize-giving ceremony, led by Calixto Garcia-Velez:
The following day, Saturday the 19th of February, the 2-6 goal league final took place at 3pm, when the Central Romana and La Carbuccia teams fought for the winning title in a flurry of hooves and flying balls. At the end of a  rather vicious and action-packed match the Central Romana team were victorious over the La Carbuccia team with 10 goals to 5. In this game, our favourite Austrian Herbert Schoderbock was awarded a prize for being the MVP (Most Valuable Player). Well done Herbert!

The Central Romana Team receive their trophies as the Hogar del Niño Tournament Champions!!

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This article was written by Rebecca Hughes, editor of Casa de Campo Living and Casa de Campo’s entertainment specialist! Rebecca Hughes, Editorial and Events Marketing rhughes@casadecampoliving.com TEL: 809-523-2045   CEL: 809-949-8906 (evenings and weekends) BBM: 230DA5D1 Altos de Chavón, Casa de Campo This article was produced exclusively for www.casadecampoliving.com