Getting on a Varsity Team
By Kathy Keeley

My daughter decided she wanted to ride in college and on a varsity team. She wanted to make riding a part of her college experience and wanted to be considered an athlete. She quickly ruled out club teams and IHSA - these are not NCAA teams. Our first lesson in the process.

We began investigating rules and showing situations at the college level during my daughter's junior year in high school. We learned a few things along the way.

While there are hundreds of club teams, there are very few varsity teams - 20 plus teams at the varsity level. So, if you want to be on varsity team, be aware that there are fewer of those than club teams. It took us a while to figure out the difference between varsity and club teams, but then discovered that the difference came down to formats, costs, and recruitment efforts.

Varsity teams are only allowed 15 total scholarships according to NCAA rules. They work under a budget and do not have unlimited scholarships. This makes it very competitive for a freshman to get a full scholarship. Keep this in mind - expectations of a full ride as a freshman are unlikely.

Teams are usually very large - some have over a hundred girls on a team and only three to six girls get to ride at a show. This leaves many girls on the sidelines - another adjustment for girls who have done the circuit. Many girls end up being warm-up riders and rarely get in the show ring. Large teams sometimes have try outs for show weekends which adds another level of competition on a varsity team.

College riding is different at the varsity level. Girls ride the team's horses and use the team's tack. Riders go to a competition, draw horses to ride for each class and ride in the horse's tack. You will ride a different horse for each class. So if you do a flat class and a jumping class, you would be on two different horses.

The horses are provided by the host school. They are usually donated and have special personalities. For someone riding competitive horses on the circuit, it takes some adjustment to a different quality of horses. Each rider is scored individually and these scores are combined into a team store for the school. There are high point riders but winning goes to the team with the highest score.

Horse shows are generally held two or three times a semester and vary by school. Some schools have no other varsity teams in their region so they end up doing IHSA (Intercollegiate Horse Show Association) shows and others have two teams - one varsity and one IHSA so more girls can participate. Check out their competition schedule to see what they do - it was a lot less than my daughter had been doing. The good news is it provides lots of time to focus on classes and studying. Check out the National Championships to see which of the 20 schools participated - only 12 competed in 2005 and 2006.

Most of the larger schools have a head coach, an assistant coach for English and an assistant coach for Western riding. Most of our communication was with the English coach. The typical pattern seems to be lessons two days a week, weight training three days a week, required study hall and other athletic requirements. Some schools require riders to clean a stall a week or be responsible for the care and grooming of a horse. Others seem to require little more than riding and schooling of the horses.

Teams do have tryouts for beginning riders and they often hold open slots for tryouts which are held once classes start. If you do not make a team through recruitment and signing, you can always show up at the tryouts to demonstrate your riding and see if you can get on the team.

Facilities at the schools will really vary - all coaches have offices in some athletic wing of a stadium. The riding facilities vary greatly. They can range from leased space at a local riding facility to an indoor facility built by the school. The rings or facilities took some adjusting on our part - most were smaller than our home situation. Many just keep the horses turned out in pasture or large paddocks. It is worth a visit and will be an eye opener for any rider with show experience.

There are great benefits that can vary by school but generally include tutoring, an athletic academic advisor, an athletic student association building, and other benefits. Due to title nine - girls provide gender balance and are entitled to all of same rules/benefits as other athletes. Medical care and trainers are provided to work on any bad backs, sore legs or ankles, or any riding related health issues. In addition some schools have athletic dorms or special rooming arrangements while others do not.

We learned that most coaches put their teams together in February or March so not much is decided before that. Coaches try to form a balanced team so there is not much they can tell you with certainty until they put a team together. This whole process took a lot of patience and made for a different experience than my daughters non riding friends' college application process.

Some tips for getting started:

• Register with NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) at www.ncaa.org as a prospective recruit. I believe it is called the NCAA clearinghouse. The varsity teams are bound by NCAA rules, much like a football or basketball recruiter. The student has to complete a registration form, provide their grades and information from their high school, and pay the appropriate fees. The specific page for parents is www2.ncaa.org/index_students_parents.php
• Check out www.varsityequestrian.com
  This site is geared specifically for equestrian athletes. It has great tips to help understand the rules, competition and recruitment process.
• The format for college showing is equitation. If you have only done hunters or jumpers, you might want to find some equitation classes to try. Remember this when you make your tapes.
• Make a tape of your riding on five to eight different horses. There should be a mixture of riding situations with green horses and show horses. Demonstrate that you can do lead changes, jump different horses and perform. Only include some show tape and make it recent - as in the last year. I have heard of some coaches seeing tapes from girls when they did ponies as young kids. Wear riding breeches and boots, a collared shirt - no tank tops, jeans or chaps. Recruiters want to clearly see your leg, hands, body position and riding ability.
• Create a bio sheet or resume on your show career and an explanation of the horses on the tape so they can understand your riding approach. Include these when you mail off your tapes.
• Check out the school's website. Find out the size, academic atmosphere, location, etc. Does it have the educational majors that you are interested in declaring? This may narrow your choices if you have a speciality major. Remember that most most will be agricultural and liberal arts schools.
• Visit the team web site. Read their coach bios and team rosters. Look at their press releases and schedules to see how much showing they do. Do they do the varsity or IHSA formats? How many girls are on the team? Most have a recruit section on their web site with a form to complete and return to express your interest. Do your homework on the team to find out if it's a good fit for you.
• Make arrangements to visit the campus and the team. Do a campus tour with admissions, find out admission dates and requirements. Most schools have a tour lead by students where you can see the dorms and visit advisors in your major areas. Schedule an appointment with the team coach after you have sent a tape. We started in October but did most of our visits in late January of my daughter's senior year. We were able to watch a lesson and tour the horse and other athletic facilities.
• Follow-up your visit with email to the coach. Try to stay in touch with the English coach and update her with any new ribbons or show experiences. We visited 6 schools and had very different follow-up from the coaches. NCAA rules dictate that coaches can contact you once a week, but you can phone them multiple times.
• Coaches do not always follow through. We found out that some schools receive over 200 videos from riders and only respond to a select few. At our visits, they said they were interested in my daughter but they did not always bear out. We had some great weekend visits but never heard from the coach again. Others we had to chase down. It quickly became apparent that four schools were very interested in my daughter. We looked a number of schools and did not limit ourselves to the home school. Staying open to several schools can give you a better chance of getting on a team.
• Signing for equestrian is not until May so if you are waiting for a scholarship it will not be final until you get a signing letter. This was very hard on my daughter as it put her in limbo for some time.
  
  Here are some great web sites that will help you understand the options:
  www.varsityequestrian.com
  www.ncaa.org
  www.usef.org
  
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