Further Success for Pony Club Mentoring Scheme
Following the successful implementation in the discipline of Tetrathlon, The Pony Club is to roll out its mentoring scheme further to the disciplines of Dressage, Show Jumping and Eventing at The Pony Club Championships in August.
Headed up by Kate Allenby MBE, Modern Pentathlon Olympic Bronze medallist and former Pony Club Member, mentoring was first introduced at the Tetrathlon Championships in 2010 and is designed to help Pony Club competitors to perform at their best when it matters most.
Kindly sponsored by NFU Mutual, with clothing support from Ariat, the scheme will see mentors on hand to help competitors by delivering sessions around performance psychology, acting as a support to athletes with any pre-ride worries and to give grounding in making plans to build confidence going forwards. Each session completed will earn competitors a wristband, as well as aiding their development in performance skills via access to knowledge from high performing mentors, which in turn improves the pool of elite grassroots competitors moving up the equestrian performance pathway.
The mentoring is designed to run alongside the active competition, and Mentors will be on hand for competitors at The Pony Club Championships at Cholmondeley Castle, Cheshire for Show Jumping, Dressage and Eventing and also at The Pony Club Tetrathlon Championships at Bishop Burton. Kate Allenby has recruited a selection of discipline specific mentors who each bring a different skill set to the process; the 2013 mentors are:
Dressage: Maria Eilberg and Alex Hardwick
Show Jumping: Ros Bevan and Pat Crann
Eventing: Jeanette Brakewell and Spencer Sturmey
Tetrathlon: Kate Allenby, Louise Helyer, Ryan Smith, Natalya Coyle and Andy MacKenzie
“We have a tremendous line up of mentors across the four Championship disciplines, who between them have performed at every level possible in their chosen sports” comment Kate Allenby. “However, what makes them all really stand out as mentors is their belief in supporting the next generation and their ability to interact and listen when it really matters. I’m really looking forward to seeing the Championship riders teasing out the gems of information from the Mentors, to help them find that little extra in their performance, and I am especially grateful for the support of NFU Mutual and Ariat for making this programme possible.”
Further information about the Mentoring Scheme can be found HERE.
