More Athletes Welcomed on to BEF Young Professional Programme

More Athletes Welcomed on to BEF Young Professional Programme

The BEF have announced their welcome of a second cohort of athletes onto their prestigious Young Professional Programme, funded by Sport England.

The Sport England funded programme, which was launched in 2017, spans for a duration of 12 months. The programme aims to aid young riders in building a wider skill-set, supporting not only their personal development but the progression of their career. Additionally, the programme will facilitate the participants in earning a living within the equine industry, and encourage the jump out of the youth development pathway.

The Young Professional Programme is delivered in collaboration with British Dressage, British Eventing and British Showjumping. Through sport and business experts, it covers a range of topics delivered through a series of interactive workshops. The first workshop for the new cohort took place on the 29th October 2018, welcoming them to the programme.

Further explaining the programme, the BEF’s Head of Performance Pathways, David Hamer commented;

An overarching theme with young athletes starting up an equestrian business is their love of horses and horse sport. However, to be able to earn a living requires not only the knowledge of the financial and legal aspects of running a business, it also requires a personal skill set to deal with the many challenges they will encounter with their business day-to-day. This series of workshops are designed to help them to run a business and also gain skills that will also help their overall personal and professional development”.

Young Professional’s chosen for the programme have been selected from each Olympic discipline. Riders include; eventer Flora Young, who most recently finished in the top 20 of the CIC3* at Blair Castle and CCI2* at Osberton International Championship, on Doctors Orders; Under 25’s National Champion dressage rider, Laura Woodcock; and showjumper, Ellen McPherson, previously enrolled on British Showjumping’s ‘Step Up To Gold’ Programme.

Over the next year, the candidates will be attending 7 more sessions to aid the enhancement of their knowledge of the industry, and the security of their futures.

[avatar user=”AbbyDickinson” size=”medium” align=”center” link=”file”]Everything Horse News Reporter, Abby Dickinson[/avatar]