Junior A Team Report 2002

The Junior A Team had a very successful year. This year's team consisted of Gina Mitchell on Snowflake, Amy Fergusson on Minnie, Robbie Fergusson on Harry, Chelsea Burns on Tiggy and Rachael Offer on Pepper.

The team was unbeaten in Scotland with wins at Lanark, Blair Athol, Area, Zone, Bishopbriggs, Larbert, Doune and Gleneagles and on two occasions this year excelled themselves by winning every heat and final. On four other occasions they only dropped one point including the 2 days at The Scottish H.O.Y.S. at Gleneagles where they won The Scottish Junior Games Championship.

In August they went to Sansaw Park to compete in The National Finals. None of the riders had ever competed there before, as the Competition was not held last year due to foot and mouth. A combination of nerves and bad luck contributed to a bad run in the first session where they only finished in sixth place but in the afternoon their fighting spirit shone through and they showed their normal speed and skill by winning the second session. This combined score moved them up to 3rd equal overall with 4th place after a run-off, still a very creditable result by a team containing two, eight-year-olds and from an initial competition entry of approx. 300 teams.

I thoroughly enjoyed training the team and my grateful thanks to Karen Burns for assisting me in turning out a team who were described by other junior trainers as well disciplined, accurate and even poetry in motion and those best sum up the dedication and commitment put in by those young riders to reach such a high standard. However, perhaps the most memorable moment this year was after the last race when I saw all the team with their arms round each other, not because they had won but because this would be the last time they would compete together. That moment for me is what made all the work worthwhile and showed what team games are all about i.c. children enjoying themselves and working together as a team while gaining an understanding of using each others strengths and weaknesses to their best advantage.

Well done kids!

Mary Mitchell, Trainer