Allie Arrington, head coach of the MGA Knights equestrian team, prepared the Middle Georgia Equestrian Center's Youth Development Equestrian Association (YEDA) team for their first-ever Nationals Competitions held on May 31 in Nashville, TN. The YEDA group is the first team from Georgia to attend the National Competitions.
YEDA allows young riders in grades four through 12 to compete as a team in separate events in order to gain instructional and experiential opportunities to prepare them for collegiate competition.
Arrington spoke with 41NBC about the program.
“'When you go to college, say you are a really good rider and you aspire to ride in college,' said Arrington. 'You have to immediately learn how to ride as a team player and how to function as a team, being your whole life shown individually with yourself and your parents or your trainer. So, this youth version of the collegiate prepares that rider to go in and compete at a collegiate level too. I noticed a lot of YEDA riders go in and compete really well immediately at collegiate level because they know how to ride as a team.'”
