The Olympics are not the only equestrian activity struggling to receive recognition. Equestrian teams are rapidly starting to form in middle schools, high schools, and colleges across the country. Larger colleges such as the University of Georgia, Auburn University, the University of South Carolina, and Texas A&M all have NCAA Division 1 ranked teams. The NCAA website calls Women’s Equestrian “one of the most popular emerging sports.” While the formation of these teams is becoming increasingly popular, the sport is overshadowed by the even more popular football teams.
Our school Berry College, which is recently ranked NCAA Division 3, has its own equestrian team of which I am a member. When I first came to Berry, I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of recognition our team gets compared to the soccer, baseball, and basketball teams. Though it is highly recognized, many people still don’t even know that we have an equestrian team which is even more surprising.
These people think that we go up to the barn and ride horses around in circles for hours on end. Our team and its athletes follow a designed workout program and have up to four weekly practices. We also travel to competitions against other schools just like the other teams. With fliers, publications, and meet and greets, other students and non-equestrians are slowly beginning to recognize our team as an actual sport and not just a past-time activity.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
A very good and informative article indeed. It helps me a lot to enhance my knowledge, I really like the way the writer presented his views.
ReplyDeleteCollegiate Equestrian Programs
The Clearing Farm