A Cause We Can All Get Behind

I want to give a shout-out to a relatively new organization whose presence on the sporting landscape can’t be viewed as anything but a good thing: the Youth Field Trial Alliance. The brainchild of Chris Mathan, the human dynamo behind Strideaway, the website devoted to the history, tradition and romance of pointing dog field trials, the YFTA’s mission is to promote youth field trials and encourage young people to participate in the sport. And, more broadly, to expose them to nature and thereby kindle a lifelong interest in the outdoors.

What’s a “youth” field trial, exactly? Well, while there’s no official definition—meaning that the sponsoring clubs can establish their own guidelines—as a general rule they’re events in which the handlers have to be 17 years of age or younger and the dogs are judged on what’s called a “gun dog standard,” meaning that while they’re expected to point staunchly, they’re not required to remain steady to wing and shot. In the argot of the sport, “Judgement ceases at flush.”

Youth trials can be conducted either as walking stakes or horseback stakes, and while placements aren’t officially recognized, that’s unlikely to be of much concern to a 10-year-old, chest swelling with pride, who’s just won a ribbon blowing the whistle over Sport or Rex or Sally. To quote from the YFTA website, “Much leeway must be given to the clubs as to how they see fit to conduct their trials, to ensure the handlers enjoy and learn from the experience, whether they place their dog or not.”

Mathan notes that youth trials first took root in Alabama in the 1970s, and that clubs in Georgia and Illinois have also been very active in the youth trial “movement.” Part of the YFTA’s mandate is to encourage clubs in other parts of the country to follow suit, and to provide the guidance and the resources they need to make that happen. Eventually Mathan hopes to have regional “ambassadors” available to provide hands-on assistance to clubs that request it.

“It’s all about the kids,” she says. “They get so much support—the galleries at some of these trials are huge!—and they get good. It’s so gratifying to see them blossom, over the course of a year or two, into really accomplished handlers. They just brim with confidence.

“If the sport of field trials is going to survive,” she adds, “it’s obviously important that we get young people involved. So yes, there’s an element of self-preservation at work here. But the larger goal is simply to get kids away from their screens and devices and into the outdoors. Not just to teach them about dogs, gamebirds and animal husbandry, although that’s certainly part of it, but to teach them larger lessons about nature and wildlife conservation. And study after study has shown that the more time kids spend outdoors, the healthier and happier they’re likely to be.”

This is a cause that all of us should be able to get behind. Mathan reports that the YFTA is now a registered non-profit corporation in the state of Georgia and that its application to the IRS for tax-exempt status is pending. To learn more, get involved, or make a donation (which can be deducted retroactively once tax-exempt status is granted), visit youthfieldtrialalliance.org.