July 18th, 2000

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Welcome to the Canada FYRST Club - with so many talented and enthusiastic Juniors and Young Riders emerging in every Region of the country, and with increasing numbers of you participating in the Albrecht Heidemann ongoing Clinic series, it seems like a really good idea for you to be able to talk with one another! The Canada FYRST Club offers you this opportunity - open 'membership' will enable all Jr./YR's to chat, share experiences, exchange ideas, express opinions!, and keep up with the news.

I am very excited with the response to the Heidemann Clinic series in all the Provinces, and to help everyone know what these are all about, here's a brief outline :

The National FEI Junior/Young Riders and Coaches Training Program is an initiative of the Athlete Development and Coaching Committees of the NDC(the NDC is a Committee of the CEF)

For clarification, FEI Junior Competition includes riders from age 14 yrs. to the end of the calendar year in which they turn 18 years. FEI Young Rider Competition includes riders from age 16 yrs. to the end of the calendar year in which they turn 21 yrs.

The long term goal of the Training Program is to build a base of Juniors and Young Riders with a solid understanding of and developing skills in riding classical DRESSAGE, so that these riders may progress correctly through the levels of training required to reach Grand Prix, with the ultimate goal of representing Canada in International Competition! The short term goal for our Juniors is to send winning Canadian Teams to the first ever NAJDC (North American Junior Dressage Championships)to be held at Paxton Farms in Ohio in June, 2001. For Young Riders, this National Training Program is offered as an additional opportunity for high level coaching to support all the efforts being made Provincially to get winning Teams to the annual NAYRC (North American Young Riders Championships). As the name of the Program states, coaches are also included in the clinics - this includes coaches of the Jr./YRs riding in the clinic, as well as coaches who are working with aspiring Jr's and YR's but whose skills are not yet up to participating in the clinic.

~Roz Farber, rozf@idirect.com