15th April 2009Five Regional Foundation Squads aiming to produce a pool of up and coming talented riders are being launched across England.
The squads, which have been set up through funding from Sport England and are being co-ordinated by the British Equestrian Federation (BEF), will include the four Olympic disciplines and one Paralympic discipline of dressage, eventing, show jumping and para-equestrian dressage. The aim is that the squads will identify talented riders who are not currently on the BEFs World Class Programme.
Eight riders from each of the disciplines, aged between 16 and 24 years old, will be selected for each of the five regions; North, East Midlands, West Midlands, South East - including London, and South West.
The programme, which is being developed in partnership with British Dressage, British Eventing and the British Show Jumping Association, will provide selected riders with the opportunity to have access to top equestrian specialists including; coaches, physiotherapists, psychologists, vets and nutritionists via a series of clinics.
"The financial support received from Sport England is allowing this stepping stone to be put in place at regional level," comments BEF head of regional development, Maggie Still. "We hope that this extra support will make selection onto the World Class programmes more achievable for talented performers.
"The idea is to develop a pool of regional talent to help support the strength of our equestrian Olympic and Paralympic squads in years to come. We are looking for exceptionally talented riders - so strong judging criteria applies."
Amanda Bond, chief executive of British Dressage sums up the support of the individual sports for the programme: "We are really excited by the new Foundation Squads as it will allow many more riders to benefit from training and support. To have a programme that encompasses both able-bodied and para sport will really help us further develop the talented riders we are seeing coming through the regions. It is a real boost to our existing regional activity."
Riders can now apply to the first Regional Foundation Squad for the North (16 April - 29 May); the subsequent regional squads will be open from August. Application forms and the selection policy document can be downloaded below:
