View this email in your browser

Newsletter October 2019

It seems like just yesterday we sent out the September newsletter, and here we are again!
This month we have exciting news about the National team selection, upcoming changes to coaching structures and regulations, exciting events planned for the rest of the year, and of course news about our epic War Dance collaboration with the SA Lipizzaners!

MOUNTED ARCHERY NATIONAL TEAM 2019

Meet the National Team for 2019!

In order to be eligible for selection, riders must have competed in a minimum of two qualifiers and Nationals, and have achieved an average of Horse Archer 3 (for seniors) and Horse Archer 2 (for juniors) for all three competitions, using scores from both the Korean and Hungarian disciplines.

This year we have five seniors and three juniors who made the grade. The National Team will only earn their Protea colours by competing in an international competition that meets SASCOC's strict criteria. We are currently investigating various options, and will announce details once they have been confirmed.

In the meantime - here is the new Mounted Archery National team!
CONGRATULATIONS!

NEWS

The voting process to elect a MAASA Gauteng Provincial Committee is underway. This will bring us one step closer to being compliant with SAEF structures, and will be overseen by Matthew Smith from SAEF, who will act as electoral officer at the SGM due to be held on 16th November 2019.

The following positions must be filled on the MAASA Gauteng Provincial committee:

President
Vice President
Treasurer
Secretary

We are urgently appealing to all our Gauteng members to consider making themselves available for election to one of the four positions. The more people who are prepared to become involved and help, the easier the workload on everyone.

Please note: the following people, due to their position on the National Committee, MAY NOT serve as President of the Gauteng Provincial committee, although they are eligible for nomination in any of the other three positions:

Deirdre JvRensburg
Jaco Jacobs
Diane Horn
Maretha Kruger
Amalie Raschke
Abdullah Safodien

Correspondence to this effect has been mailed to all Gauteng members. Please feel free to contact your club president for more information.

Nominations close 17th October 2019

EVENTS: SA Lipizzaner / MAASA Performance

After months of preparation, rehearsing with the SA Lipizzaners and making costumes and props, our amazing War Dance show held on Saturday 12th October was a resounding success! Our performance team did us proud, playing to a sold out audience, who joined us afterwards for a mounted archery demonstration and visited our MAASA tent to ask questions and gather information about the sport.
We received excellent feedback, both from members of the audience personally and via social media, regarding the show, and the SA Lipizzaners are already talking about further collaboration events with us next year!
A massive thank you to all who helped make this day the success that it was: Jacques and Yolande for manning the ground archery tent (it was very busy with everyone wanting to have a go), Petro and Stephan for handling the MAASA tent with all the enquiries, Abdullah for lending a helping hand everywhere and of course our team of archers and their horses, who despite the heat, took to the track to wow the crowds with more mounted archery after the performance.
To Deirdre, who did the lion's share of the work - the choreography, music, timing and amazing leatherwork for the riders and horses - THANK YOU! We appreciate all the months of effort you have put in to this project!
This project not only brought in much needed funds for the development of the sport, but more importantly it promoted the sport as an equestrian discipline, and caught the attention of a whole new audience!

SANESA NEWS

Our SANESA riders took part in the SANESA National Championships at Misty Meadows on 24th September. It was a challenging day for them, with some track and venue issues, but as always they rose to the occasion and put on a brilliant performance. We are so proud of each and every young archer who took part - well done on your sportsmanship, your horsemanship and generally just being the most awesome group of youngsters! You set such a good example to everyone in the sport.

A word of thanks too must go to the parents of the riders. Without your commitment and involvement, your children could not do this. Thank you for entering them, for fetching and carrying (kids and horses!) and for the hours you spend next to the track on competition days. Your children will look back later in life and appreciate you all the more for it.
.
The problems with the track and venue have officially been taken up with SANESA by our Sanesa representative (Diane Horn).

Enjoy some of the moments of the day....

EVENTS: "Circus Maximus"Training Show

EVENTS: Fun Shoot/Open Day North West

EVENTS: Grand Africa Tournament

COACHING NEWS

The equestrian coaching profession is gearing up for some major changes, and this will affect the way in which we develop and accredit our mounted archery coaches.

Through the setting out of the National Sport and Recreation Amendment Bill (which now forms part of legislation in SA) it is now a requirement of SASCOC and the Department of Sports and Recreation that all sports coaching be formalized and regulated, including equestrian sports. SAEF has in recent weeks sent out communication regarding a standardized coaching development plan, which they plan to implement as soon as it has been finalized. The aim of this plan is to regulate the equestrian coaching profession, and to provide assurance to athletes and parents of junior athletes, that their coach of choice is operating in accordance with the law, within SAEF rules and with recognized, formal qualifications. SAEF has the mandate from the Department of Sports and Recreation and SASCOC to develop coaching modules for equestrian sports. Once coaches from all equestrian disciplines have completed their basic coaching modules through SAEF, they will be able to study further to specialize in their chosen discipline i.e. dressage, showjumping – and in our case, mounted archery.

What does this mean for MAASA?

MAASA will need to ensure that everyone who gives instruction in our sport, complies with the new legislation laid down by SAEF and SASCOC, and becomes licensed to coach.
MAASA will need to develop discipline specific coaching modules to offer to our instructors on completion of their SAEF coaching modules
All mounted archery coaches in the future will be required to undergo the necessary SAEF coaching courses, be licensed to coach and to be affiliated to MAASA.

We currently have a small number of instructors in our sport, and we will be supporting these individuals in their journey to becoming officially recognized coaches for mounted archery!

Karen Bands, our committee member in charge of Judging and Coaching, will be assisting us in this process, and will keep us updated of developments as they unfold.

DATES TO REMEMBER

26th October 2019: Mounted Archery Training Show/Fun Day (Bekker Equestrian Academy, Pretoria)
2nd November 2019: Fun Shoot/Open Day (Potchefstroom Ruiterklub, NW)
22 - 24th November 2019: Grand Africa / MAASA OGM (TBA) and Year End Function

"We are what we repeatedly do; excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit". ~Aristotle

For further enquiries, contact Diane Horn at publicrelations@mountedarcheryassociation.co.za

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

This email was sent to <<Email Address>>
why did I get this? unsubscribe from this list update subscription preferences
Mounted Archery Association of South Africa · Postnet Suite 84,P/Bag X4, Wierdapark · Wierdapark · Centurion, Gauteng 0157 · South Africa