January 2016
The youth of our sport are a main focus in efforts today. The National Beagle Performance Pack Association (NBPPA) has been devoting a lot of time and effort to creating a program for the youth to become engaged in. With the youth becoming more involved in the regular trials, as well as the new NBPPA Youth Events, we hope to create a strong foundation for our sport to continue successfully.
Beginning on January 1st, 2016, the inaugural NBPPA Youth Series will kick off. The series consists of handling at UKC Performance Pack trials and NBPPA Youth Events during the year and followed by an invitation only runoff in the following spring. In order to participate in this series, the youth must not have graduated high school. During the regular trials, kids will earn points by handling dogs during the casts. The placement of the dogs does not affect the points earned. The goal is to simply get the youth in the woods and learning more about the sport. There is a 6 point maximum that can be earned at these trials. The child does not have to handle the same dog in order to receive points. The Youth Events, however, will be run under a different point system. There will only be two Youth Events per state. They will receive points as follows for placements: 1st Place – 10, 2nd Place – 8, 3rd Place – 6, 4th Place – 4 and 5th Place – 2. They will be able to receive 2 points for handling a dog as well per cast with a maximum of 4 points. These points are in addition to the placements. A child may only enter two dogs in these events. Working directly with UKC, it has been determined that the dogs will be able to receive UKC championship points at these events as well as state race points. The dogs will also be able to receive NBPPA Points. As for the Youth Series points race, they will be competing with youth in their state, similar to the UKC State Race. Whichever state the child is from is where they will receive their points. The goal of this program, again, is to promote participation. Therefore, no states will be combined regardless of how many kids are in each state.
The youth points will be kept and to run for a chance to compete in the annual NBPPA Youth Series Runoff. This will be a special event where the top ten kids in each state will receive an invitation to take part in. It will give them a small idea of what it’s like to run for points and give them a goal for the points. Also, the top points earner per state will receive a custom hooded sweatshirt including their name and respective state. At the runoff, there will not be UKC championship or state race points. All dogs will be run together, regardless of category. It will be a great event for those that have worked hard throughout the year to earn the ability to be there.
In addition with the hunt portion of the Youth Series, there will be a separate race for the bench shows. The child will be able to earn 2 points per dog they handle in the show with a maximum of 4 points per show. They will, again, earn their points per state and compete for the top spot. The top five from each state will be invited to participate in a special show at the NBPPA Youth Series Runoff. It will be separate from the regular show at this event.
The idea of creating a program for the youth sportsman first came about from the success that was seen at the annual NBPPA Youth Championship. This will still be held during Labor Day weekend. For those that do not know about this event, a child is allowed to enter three dogs at this event. The dogs are run the three separate categories. If the child does not have one for each category, they may move a dog up in classes to be able to run them. The dogs are not able to go down in category, though. In the event that the kid is not able to bring a dog, people bring a lot of extras to cover for this. There are six scholarships awarded at this hunt, first place in each category will receive $250 and second place in each category will receive $100. A full set of plaques are presented for the top ten in each category as well. Various games and activities are going throughout the day to give the kids extra things to do between casts. Lastly, at this event, there is a LARGE raffle of various prizes that range from bicycles to guns to hunting equipment and so on. In the last two years, each child has been able to go through over three times.
On top of the new series that will be offered, the NBPPA would like to restate two of the established scholarship programs. One opportunity is through the Youth Apprentice of the Year Scholarship. This is available to a youth trialer that is in high school and has apprenticed the most during the NBPPA year. When a youth participant apprentices with a field judge, that judge can fill out an apprenticeship form (obtained from UKC). These forms can be mailed to the recording secretary. They do not go into the UKC office like other judge’s apprenticeship forms. This scholarship was put into place to encourage the youth of our sport to be active in the trials, creating a new group of judges for years to come.
Along with the Youth Apprentice scholarship, they have an additional scholarship open to anyone wanting to continue their education. This involves filling out an application that is found on the NBPPA website. It is based on that person’s involvement with the NBPPA, the UKC, and beagle field trialing, as a whole. This is a $500 scholarship that is awarded annually. The deadline for this scholarship is August 1st, 2016. We encourage anyone that is planning on continuing their education and active in beagle field trials.
In conclusion, the NBPPA is making an effort to shift the main focus to promoting youth participation in field trials and bench shows. In order for the sport to remain active for years to come, it is important to get them involved and seeing how much enjoyment they can get out of being out in the woods with the dogs and their friends. There are already a handful of kids that are seen at these events who will be the leaders and showing the others how much fun and how rewarding it can be. We look forward to seeing all the new faces at the trials this year and are excited for the future of our sport.
Beginning on January 1st, 2016, the inaugural NBPPA Youth Series will kick off. The series consists of handling at UKC Performance Pack trials and NBPPA Youth Events during the year and followed by an invitation only runoff in the following spring. In order to participate in this series, the youth must not have graduated high school. During the regular trials, kids will earn points by handling dogs during the casts. The placement of the dogs does not affect the points earned. The goal is to simply get the youth in the woods and learning more about the sport. There is a 6 point maximum that can be earned at these trials. The child does not have to handle the same dog in order to receive points. The Youth Events, however, will be run under a different point system. There will only be two Youth Events per state. They will receive points as follows for placements: 1st Place – 10, 2nd Place – 8, 3rd Place – 6, 4th Place – 4 and 5th Place – 2. They will be able to receive 2 points for handling a dog as well per cast with a maximum of 4 points. These points are in addition to the placements. A child may only enter two dogs in these events. Working directly with UKC, it has been determined that the dogs will be able to receive UKC championship points at these events as well as state race points. The dogs will also be able to receive NBPPA Points. As for the Youth Series points race, they will be competing with youth in their state, similar to the UKC State Race. Whichever state the child is from is where they will receive their points. The goal of this program, again, is to promote participation. Therefore, no states will be combined regardless of how many kids are in each state.
The youth points will be kept and to run for a chance to compete in the annual NBPPA Youth Series Runoff. This will be a special event where the top ten kids in each state will receive an invitation to take part in. It will give them a small idea of what it’s like to run for points and give them a goal for the points. Also, the top points earner per state will receive a custom hooded sweatshirt including their name and respective state. At the runoff, there will not be UKC championship or state race points. All dogs will be run together, regardless of category. It will be a great event for those that have worked hard throughout the year to earn the ability to be there.
In addition with the hunt portion of the Youth Series, there will be a separate race for the bench shows. The child will be able to earn 2 points per dog they handle in the show with a maximum of 4 points per show. They will, again, earn their points per state and compete for the top spot. The top five from each state will be invited to participate in a special show at the NBPPA Youth Series Runoff. It will be separate from the regular show at this event.
The idea of creating a program for the youth sportsman first came about from the success that was seen at the annual NBPPA Youth Championship. This will still be held during Labor Day weekend. For those that do not know about this event, a child is allowed to enter three dogs at this event. The dogs are run the three separate categories. If the child does not have one for each category, they may move a dog up in classes to be able to run them. The dogs are not able to go down in category, though. In the event that the kid is not able to bring a dog, people bring a lot of extras to cover for this. There are six scholarships awarded at this hunt, first place in each category will receive $250 and second place in each category will receive $100. A full set of plaques are presented for the top ten in each category as well. Various games and activities are going throughout the day to give the kids extra things to do between casts. Lastly, at this event, there is a LARGE raffle of various prizes that range from bicycles to guns to hunting equipment and so on. In the last two years, each child has been able to go through over three times.
On top of the new series that will be offered, the NBPPA would like to restate two of the established scholarship programs. One opportunity is through the Youth Apprentice of the Year Scholarship. This is available to a youth trialer that is in high school and has apprenticed the most during the NBPPA year. When a youth participant apprentices with a field judge, that judge can fill out an apprenticeship form (obtained from UKC). These forms can be mailed to the recording secretary. They do not go into the UKC office like other judge’s apprenticeship forms. This scholarship was put into place to encourage the youth of our sport to be active in the trials, creating a new group of judges for years to come.
Along with the Youth Apprentice scholarship, they have an additional scholarship open to anyone wanting to continue their education. This involves filling out an application that is found on the NBPPA website. It is based on that person’s involvement with the NBPPA, the UKC, and beagle field trialing, as a whole. This is a $500 scholarship that is awarded annually. The deadline for this scholarship is August 1st, 2016. We encourage anyone that is planning on continuing their education and active in beagle field trials.
In conclusion, the NBPPA is making an effort to shift the main focus to promoting youth participation in field trials and bench shows. In order for the sport to remain active for years to come, it is important to get them involved and seeing how much enjoyment they can get out of being out in the woods with the dogs and their friends. There are already a handful of kids that are seen at these events who will be the leaders and showing the others how much fun and how rewarding it can be. We look forward to seeing all the new faces at the trials this year and are excited for the future of our sport.