About Our Club
The History of our Club
The Greater Niagara Polo Club is based out of the Plain Bay Polo Center in Wainfleet, Ontario. The club is owned and operated by the Van der Burgt family who came to the Niagara Region in 2018 to start building their club. Phil and Tammy Van der Burgt previously owned the Cedar Valley Polo Club, that was located north of Toronto, but they saw the potential of a polo club in Niagara so they and their two kids, Hailey and Hunter, moved down to Wainfleet. After transforming a corn field into a world class polo facility, by 2019 we were fully open and operating, hosting lessons, club polo, and tournaments.
Meet the family behind it all.
Phil and Tammy Van der Burgt
Tammy began her career in polo when she was 23 at the Governor General Horse Guards polo club. In the early years of their relationship Phil would go to the club to watch Tammy play. Eventually he was convinced to give the sport a try and he fell in love. The two then traveled around the world playing polo professionally as well as began training world class polo ponies. 16 years ago they started their own club north of Toronto called the Cedar Valley Polo Club. Here they raised their two children Hailey and Hunter along with building a large and loving polo family. In 2016 Phil and Tammy set their sights on the Niagara Region and began planning to move their family and club South. They began building their polo facility from the ground up in 2018 to then open for business in 2019. Now Phil and Tammy run the Plain Bay Polo Centre in Wainfleet, ON with their kids and continue to train horses as well as bring the sport of polo to the people of Niagara.
Hailey Van der Burgt
Hailey began her riding career before she could walk. She spent her early years riding in the hunter jumper arena before she began playing polo consistently. When she was 12 she started to take polo more seriously and spent a lot more time playing club polo with the other adults. When she was 14 she began playing polo professionally and playing as the captain on the clubs Girls High School polo team. She played in the Interscholastic Division for 8 years, winning five All-Star awards during her high school polo career. After high school she had the opportunity to become the captain of Team Canada and traveled to India representing Canada in women’s polo. Hailey continues to play professionally, as well as has a hand in the family horse training business. She is also the primary instructor for students under the age of 16, and assists in coaching the Intercollegiate teams. In 2019 Hailey also founded the Canadian Women’s Polo Series, in an effort to improve and grow the sport for women in the country.
Hunter Van der Burgt
Hunter, like his sister, began sitting on horses before he was walking himself. He grew up a very competitive little athlete and started playing polo as soon as he could hold the mallet up when he was 10. Hunter played on the Open High School team and became the captain of his own team when he was 15. He got the opportunity to play for the Cornell High School polo team for his final high school year, winning himself 5 All-Star awards over the years. Hunter enjoys playing professionally, primarily out on the polo field. He continues to help teach new club members the game of polo, with his specialty being coaching people to master their polo swing. He also is the assistant coach for the Interscholastic team.