What should students pack for the 2019 USEA Intercollegiate Eventing Championships? School spirit, support, and sportsmanship! These intangible qualities can come in various forms, from a miniature pony mascot to matching saddle pads. In just over two weeks, on May 18-19, students will travel to Fairburn, Georgia for the 2019 USEA Intercollegiate Eventing Championships at the Chattahoochee Hills Horse Trials.
Last year, the University of Kentucky (UK) won the coveted Spirit Award that rewards each team member with a refund on their entry fee. For the University of Kentucky, the team spirit went further than the decorations hung on their stalls. Behind the school memorabilia was a team who supported one another, had fun, and remained positive throughout the weekend.
“[In 2017] we saw how underprepared we were,” said Mia Fox, a student at the University of Kentucky. Coming back with a vengeance, the University of Kentucky stepped up their school pride and Fox explained the team’s preparation for the 2018 Intercollegiate Championships. “We set up meetings and planned out every last detail down to the socks.” Fellow UK student Jackie LeMastus added, “We wanted to show that we’re a team with a lot of spirit and have a lot of fun.”
School spirit items include:
*Please keep in mind that everything on this list is optional and based on what other teams have brought to championships in previous years.
As the 2019 Intercollegiate Championships has changed location, so has the spirit award criteria. A series of judged competitions will occur during the show weekend. Points for each competition will be awarded as follows: 1st place: 5 points, 2nd place: 3 points, 3rd place: 2 points, participating team: 1 point. All contests will be judged by the Chattahoochee Hills Organizing Committee. Points will be awarded per school and official scores will be displayed on the show scoreboard.
The team that accumulated the most amount of points over the weekend wins.
The USEA Intercollegiate Eventing Program was established in 2014 to provide a framework within which eventing teams and individual competitors could flourish at universities and colleges across the country. The USEA offers a discount of $25 on annual USEA memberships for current students of universities and colleges registered as Affiliates with the USEA. Many events across the country now offer Intercollegiate Team Challenges where collegiate eventers can compete individually as well as on teams with their fellow students. In Intercollegiate Team Challenges, each rider’s score is multiplied by a coefficient appropriate for their level to account for differences in level difficulty and then the individual scores are added together to determine the team score. Click here to learn more about the Intercollegiate Eventing Program.
The USEA would like to thank FITS, RideSafe, World Equestrian Brands, FLAIR and US Equestrian for sponsoring the Intercollegiate Eventing Program.
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