As the Third Annual EN Blogger Contest wraps up, we’re giving YOU, dear readers, one last chance to weigh in. Who’s your favorite finalist? Whose future posts are you most excited to read? Whose name, at the top of a post, inspires within you an urgent desire to READ and LAUGH and LEARN and LIKE and SHARE?

In case you need a refresher:

Erin Critz: Round 1, Round 2, Round 3

Ella Rak: Round 1, Round 2, Round 3

Sally Spickard: Round 1, Round 2, Round 3

Rick Wallace: Round 1, Round 2, Round 3

We’ll take popular opinion into account as we make our final decision. Vote now for your favorite. Go Bloggers.

We hear all the time about horses at the top of the sport, but what about the next generation of equine talent? EN’s Got Talent introduces the future superstars of the sport, interviewing riders about how they’re tackling training with these youngsters. Have you spotted a spectacular young horse at an event you think should be highlighted in this column? Tip me at [email protected].

Tamie and Cinco at Galway Downs. Photo by Tass Jones.

Last week we met Tamra Smith and Fleeceworks Cinco, a 6-year-old Holsteiner gelding owned by Judy McSwain of Fleeceworks fame. While Cinco had stellar 4- and 5-year-old seasons — winning the West Cost Young Event Horse Championships both years and setting a record for the highest score ever earned in a YEH competition — he’s been out of work for the last few months due to a whacky growth spurt that left him uncomfortable in his own skin. After Cinco didn’t feel like himself during a preliminary run at Twin Rivers this spring, Tamie decided time off was the best plan of action for Cinco. “I had my vet look at him, and we decided he was going through a weird growth spurt where he’s awkwardly built all of a sudden,” Tamie said. “We decided to give him some time to get through the growth spurt and not keep pushing him.”

While in the past this series has looked at horses currently competing, I wanted to highlight Cinco here because I think Tamie and Judy’s decision not to push the horse shows a display of horsemanship that should be applauded and mirrored when similar problems arise with young horses. “This can happen, especially when you’re dealing with warmbloods,” Tamie said. “They mature much later than Thoroughbreds. He’s actually a hot horse and a little too full of himself on cross country, and he wasn’t that day at Twin Rivers. That day, he went around like a hunter. That isn’t my Cinco that I know. So that’s where we are now. We decided to just take our time.” Judy ended up bringing Cinco to her farm for six weeks, where the horse could enjoy time off in green pastures — a rarity in Southern California.

Tamie and Cinco at the Del Mar Fall Festival. Photo by Captured Moment Photography.

“The good thing about it and why it’s unique for me is I’m really lucky because I have a lot of nice young horses right now,” Tamie said. “That helps because you take out the selfish part of yourself competing and you really focus on what’s best for the horse.” Having Cinco since he was 3 has helped Tamie develop a special bond with the horse, and she believes her close relationship with him ultimately helped her realize something wasn’t quite right with the horse. “You have to really listen to your horse,” Tamie said. “He’s such an extravagant mover, and one of the vets I consulted with said Cinco is like a stone moving in circles on the end of a string. The velocity and force is so big, and if your horse isn’t mature and finished growing, you’re going to end up with injury.”

Thanks to Tamie’s vigilance, she took Cinco out of work before any injury could occur. “You just have to stop and say, ‘I can’t mess this up,'” Tamie said. “All horses can break, but you don’t want them to break because you made a bad decision. That’s why I slammed on the brakes.” After some time off to mature and settle into his new body, Tamie is happy to report that Cinco seems back to his old self. “I’m happy that we slowed down and took a little time. A few months is better than a year.” Cinco will come back to Tamie’s farm after Rebecca Farm to prepare for the fall season, and Tamie is hoping to aim him at the Galway Downs CCI*. Kudos to Tamie and Judy for making the right decision for a very special horse. Go Cinco.

Next week on EN’s Got Talent: We’ll meet Leah Lang-Gluscic and AP Prime, an 8-year-old off-the-track Thoroughbred gelding she picked up for $750 on a snowy night in Martinsville, Ill., after spotting the horse on the CANTER Illinois website. We all know stalking the CANTER listings is a dangerous game, but it worked out beautifully for Leah. AP Prime (Aptitude X Czarina Kate, by The Prime Minister) raced 31 times and has only been eventing for two years, but he’s already moved up to the CIC2* level and placed 13th in the Red Hills CIC2* earlier this year. I’m a sucker for a good OTTB story, and AP’s is a great one.

The final round Blogger Contest entries are in, and we’re offering you the opportunity to weigh in on each article before we declare a victor. We posted two of the entries yesterday, and the final two entries go up today; a poll will go up on Thursday so you can vote for your favorite blogger.

Their Final Round Assignment: Much in the spirit of EN’s annual April Fool’s posts (see 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013), your final round assignment is to brainstorm an original idea for a fake news story and then write it up as a post for EN, complete with some sort of visual imagery you create (photo, video, diagram, drawing, etc.). We stress that access to expensive camera equipment is unnecessary; see Wylie’s FEI pictograms for proof that imagination, at least in the context of this assignment, will be your most invaluable asset. Words and visuals will be judged 50/50 on the same basis as previous entries (Interesting, Funny, Informative, Creative).

Here’s Ella Rak’s final installment (for Ella’s previous entries, see Round 1, Round 2). Thanks for reading, Eventing Nation. Click here to read Rick Wallace’s final installment, here to read Erin Critz’s final installment, and here to read Sally Spickard’s final installment. Please leave feedback in the comments section.

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Bio: Ella Rak, 16, is a High School student, Aspiring Lower Level Eventer, C2 Pony Clubber and Equestrian-procrastinator extraordinare. Defining Characteristics: Strong willed, Easily distracted by horses (I should be studying for final exams right now, but instead cleaned tack and wrote this article), and slightly OCD (that record book WILL be perfect).

Entry:

Giddy Up Round Up

 Equine News You Really Have No Use For

Lip Tattoos Not Only for Horses Anymore

Many animal owners tend to look like their horses, and eventers are known to be the grittiest of the bunch, but OTTB event owners have taken it a step further by adding their own personal twist to OTTB pride. You can dye your hair, match your clothes, even try to learn his language, but what better way to show your precious OTTB that you love him then to painfully inject your inner lip with the same tattoo he has?

Designer Horse Shoes Sweeping the Nation

Need an extra ‘hand’? New designer horse shoes are overtaking the event community, giving vertically challenged event ponies a leg up on the competition. Coming in many vibrant colors and half and whole hand increments, these shoes have taken eventing fashion to a whole new level, finally doing George Morris in. The only one who won’t love your horses’ new kicks is your vet!

Mass Stampede of Horses from Sweden

Horses all over Sweden are stampeding across the border after news of the IKEA meatball incident reached local barns. Visiting their NEIGH-bors all over Europe has created a major problem for the Swedish event team, and many of their top competitors have found themselves horseless, searching the EU for their mounts. Please help this community in dismay by donating to the Distressed InterNational Network for Equines Reunited fund at www.DINNERfund.com.

Horse Power takes on whole New Meaning

As eventers all over the country know, getting to competitions requires a rig, a rig requires gas, and gas requires money.

Nope, not ‘horse’- powered.

Poop-Power

Ford has taken this problem head on with its new prototype of a horse manure powered F-250. Powered solely from your horses poop, the “Crap-mobile” gets 100 miles a muck tub, though you may want to keep the windows up. With all the bells and whistles of the King Ranch PLUS manure disposal, what’s not to love?

The final round Blogger Contest entries are in, and we’re offering you the opportunity to weigh in on each article before we declare a victor. We posted two of the entries yesterday, and the final two entries go up today; a poll will go up on Thursday so you can vote for your favorite blogger.

Their Final Round Assignment: Much in the spirit of EN’s annual April Fool’s posts (see 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013), your final round assignment is to brainstorm an original idea for a fake news story and then write it up as a post for EN, complete with some sort of visual imagery you create (photo, video, diagram, drawing, etc.). We stress that access to expensive camera equipment is unnecessary; see Wylie’s FEI pictograms for proof that imagination, at least in the context of this assignment, will be your most invaluable asset. Words and visuals will be judged 50/50 on the same basis as previous entries (Interesting, Funny, Informative, Creative).

Here’s Sally Spickard’s final installment (for Sally’s previous entries, see Round 1, Round 2). Thanks for reading, Eventing Nation. Click here to read Rick Wallace’s final installment and here to read Erin Critz’s final installment. Stay tuned for Ella Rak’s entry. Please leave feedback in the comments section.

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Bio:Sally Spickard is 27 years old from St. Louis MO. She currently spends her free time stalking Eventing Nation for the latest Cooley Cross Border news (have you SEEN that horse yet?) and writing for We Are Cardinal Nation, a St. Louis Cardinals sports blog.

Concept photo released by the USEA of a reimagined Head of the Lake jump at Rolex Kentucky.

Entry:

USEA and FEI Partner to Design Fully Inflatable Cross Country Courses

The United States Eventing Association (USEA) and the Fédération Équestre Internationale (FEI) have announced a partnership to improve the safety of cross country courses at the *** and **** level. These two organizations have designed a new line of rubber inflatable jumps to replace existing jumps made from solid materials such as wood and brush. The first **** course to be redone will be the 2014 Rolex Kentucky course and future events will be designed according to the results in Kentucky. An official course designer has not yet been announced.

Only one concept picture of one of these new rubber jumps has been released (shown above), depicting a new twist on the duck jump as part of the famous Head of the Lake complex at Kentucky Horse Park. In an effort to maintain the same level of difficulty, several new factors will accompany these new jumps. Jumps that are part of a water complex will not be anchored; instead they will float freely, requiring riders to have an exceptional sense of trajectory judgment so that they can most accurately get to the middle of a moving target. The jumps will also have the ability to emit a rather loud squeak (much like a normal rubber duck or squeaky toy) if hit so that a rider knows that they have made contact with the jump. FEI officials have remarked that they hope that this noise keeps horses alert and on their toes as well. The USEA is already hard at work on some training videos focusing on desensitizing your horse to the new jumps and the sights and sounds associated with them.

Upper level riders are showing mixed reactions to this news. Frequent Rolex competitor Lainey Ashker expressed some concerns about the new jumps, saying that there were a few questions that arose: “I worry about the “bounce” which these types of jumps create; that is, if your horse stops and runs into the fence, will they be catapulted backwards like a rubber band? That could definitely cause some problems.” She also expressed concern for her current 4 star partner, Anthony Patch, saying that he is “an already spooky horse at the four star level, so will the shiny nature of the jump further deter [him] from going anywhere near it?”

Other riders seem to be fully on board with the concept, as exemplified by North Carolina based Kelsey Briggs, whose upper level campaigner, The Gentleman Pirate, is currently recuperating from a pasture incident. She expressed her support firmly: “the hell I’ll jump him over anything that doesn’t deflate!”

While this new concept is being met with mixed reviews from spectators and competitors, the USEA still expects attendance at the 2014 Rolex Kentucky to increase in anticipation of the new course. Go Eventing and Go Inflatables.

The final round Blogger Contest entries are in, and we’re offering you the opportunity to weigh in on each article before we declare a victor. We’ll post two of the entries today and the final two entries tomorrow, and a poll will go up on Thursday so you can vote for your favorite blogger.

Their Final Round Assignment: Much in the spirit of EN’s annual April Fool’s posts (see 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013), your final round assignment is to brainstorm an original idea for a fake news story and then write it up as a post for EN, complete with some sort of visual imagery you create (photo, video, diagram, drawing, etc.). We stress that access to expensive camera equipment is unnecessary; see Wylie’s FEI pictograms for proof that imagination, at least in the context of this assignment, will be your most invaluable asset. Words and visuals will be judged 50/50 on the same basis as previous entries (Interesting, Funny, Informative, Creative).

Here’s Erin Critz’s final installment (for Erin’s previous entries, see Round 1, Round 2). Thanks for reading, Eventing Nation. Click here to read Rick Wallace’s previously posted final installment. Stay tuned for entries from Sally Spickard and Ella Rak. Please leave feedback in the comments section.

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Bio: Erin Critz is a former radio DJ, current IT professional and recovering Hunter/Jumper rider. Erin and her Morgan mare Akira Beijing compete in the Beginner Novice division on the West Coast. She aspires to tackle the N3D at Rebecca Farms in 2014 and finds writing 50 word bios challenging.

Entry:

Breaking News: USEA Announces Major Changes To Format

The Eventing community is buzzing today after the announcement of significant changes to Eventing in the United States. In an exclusive sit-down interview, Brian Sabo spoke about these changes and the future of our sport.

“We started collecting Event Evaluation forms a while ago. When we initially started the program we expected to get feedback about individual events – about footing, about course design. The plan was always to take that feedback to the individual events and to help them improve. We had secretly hoped we would get the occasional tidbit of scandalous gossip, like complaints about crabby office employees but what we found was much more compelling.

What we found in those Event Evaluation forms was a want to return to a more classic format. This wish to return to our roots came from riders of every level, nation wide. We thought long and hard about how to best honor our sport’s heritage and were thrilled by the opportunity to bring our sport more in line with the wishes of our membership. I am very pleased to announce that effective August 1^st, 2013, the Dressage phase at all USEA Events will be replaced by a new phase called Cavalry Maneuvers. This exciting change not only pays homage to our sport’s cavalry roots, but also addresses one of the other significant issues in our sport today – every other Event Evaluation form was someone complaining about how boring Dressage is.”

When asked to detail what riders could expect and should prepare for in this new phase, Sabo indicated that the full set of Cavalry Maneuver Tests would be available on USEventing.com by July 4. However, the story does not end there. EN has obtained what we believe to be a working draft of the Beginner Novice Cavalry Maneuvers Test.

click to view full size

UPDATE: Apparently digging in the trash is creepy and possibly illegal, even if it has journalistic purpose. When EN reporters returned to USEA Headquarters for further investigation, Sabo confronted our reporters. He promised not call the police as long as we promised to “never pull a stunt like this again” and to share this footage of riders from the Russian Eventing Federation. The Russian Eventing Federation is adopting the same changes and the video showcases some movements you can expect to see in the tests at Preliminary and compulsory movements for team competition.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knRpvurKuqU&NR

Go Team DF, Go Heritage, Go Eventing.

The final round Blogger Contest entries are in, and we’re offering you the opportunity to weigh in on each article before we declare a victor. We’ll post two of the entries today and the final two entries tomorrow, and a poll will go up on Thursday so you can vote for your favorite blogger.

Their Final Round Assignment: Much in the spirit of EN’s annual April Fool’s posts (see 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013), your final round assignment is to brainstorm an original idea for a fake news story and then write it up as a post for EN, complete with some sort of visual imagery you create (photo, video, diagram, drawing, etc.). We stress that access to expensive camera equipment is unnecessary; see Wylie’s FEI pictograms for proof that imagination, at least in the context of this assignment, will be your most invaluable asset. Words and visuals will be judged 50/50 on the same basis as previous entries (Interesting, Funny, Informative, Creative).

Here’s Rick Wallace’s final installment (for Rick’s previous entries, see Round 1, Round 2). Thanks for reading, Eventing Nation. Stay tuned for entries from Erin Critz, Sally Spickard and Ella Rak. Please leave feedback in the comments section.

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Bio: Rick Wallace is an upper level event rider  — AGAIN. After years in hibernation. Father of awesome upper level event rider Elisa Wallace and also known as Mustang Girl. Have string of super talented horses: Ultimate Victory – 3 Star horse, Ultimate Decision – Amazing new horse which is dominating in dressage and Ultimate Timing – my dressage horse now being converted to eventing.

Entry: 

Leap of Faith and Miracle Man

Vets Baffled over what is being called: The Miraculous Conception!!

Elisa Wallace had been trying for couple of years to breed her retired Advance mare, Leap of Faith. Elisa had purchased a stallion related to Rick Wallace’s 1990’s Advanced horse, Ultimate Trial, and she was excited about how the combination would work.

As time when by, it became apparent that the 17-year-old mare was going to be difficult to breed, and after several attempts by live coverage, Elisa had her ultra-sounded to discover no foal. It was October, and so she decided to have Leap of Faith, AKA Mia, flushed (scraping of the uterine wall) and treated so that she might attempt breeding in the following year.

As things go, Elisa was so busy the following spring she did not attempt to breed Mia. Elisa had taken her to a farm down the road and turned her out with other broodmares and would check on her periodically. Spring came and went, and Elisa missed spring breeding and decided to attempt breeding again in the late summer.

What happened next was shocking. Elisa went to the farm in August where Mia was turned out to check her before heading to an event. As she was walking up toward Mia, she saw what she thought was a baby deer. Mia was standing stoically by and as she got closer, Elisa almost fell to the ground. It was a foal! A beautiful bay colt with a huge white star was lying at the feet of Mia.

How did this happen? Mia had been checked and flushed in November of the earlier year. No pregnancy confirmation. Yet right in front of Elisa was a colt that no doubt was Mia’s. Elisa ran back to her farm, grabbed the truck and trailer and brought the pair home. What happened next was hair rising! In an attempt to make heads or tales of this baffling mystery, Elisa called her vet who came and checked the mare and foal out. Both were normal and healthy. Then they began piecing together “HOW”!

Calculations where done, and the last time the mare was bred was July the year before. She had been ultra-sounded, flushed and confirmed NOT Pregnant. The vet scratched his head and no amount of explanation could provide answers. Elisa decided to ship Mia and the colt to Auburn and once there, extensive testing was done.

DNA was pulled from the stallion and even another horse that was a cryptorchid. Even so, the calculations of time would not align with the August birth. What happened next in the testing phase was unexplainable. Elisa was called into the Auburn vet clinic office and had a large number of vets in her presence. They then announced the findings of the DNA test. They matched exactly to Mia. No deviation. No introduction of other DNA to that of the colt. He was an exact duplicate, a clone. But he was a colt. How and what was all Elisa could manage.

The vets called it the Miraculous Conception. Elisa called it the Immaculate Conception. Needless to say, the little colt, Miracle Man, is the talk of the town and Elisa can only believe he was sent for some divine reason.  We shall all witness the coming years, and I am sure Elisa will hold on to this little guy. The future will tell us why he is here, and perhaps that will be the real story. Learn more about Miracle Man at www.teamwallace.org. It is truly a story worth following.

EN isn’t just your leading source for eventing news, results and commentary; it’s a community where fans of this crazy sport come together to share their war stories. We love hearing from readers and, in turn, sharing your thoughts with the world. All reader submissions are eligible for the Omega Alpha Reader Submission of the Month in which they are published. All winners will receive an Omega Alpha supplement of their choosing. Have something to share with EN? Send it to us at [email protected]!

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Ashley Russell and Golly Tabatabaie

We’re pleased to announce that Ashley Russell and Golly Tabatabaie’s reader submission, BABS Eventing Goes to the Maryland Adult Eventing Camp, is the Omega Alpha Reader Submission of the Month for June. Ashley and Golly thoroughly enjoyed the learning experience and completed their first beginner novice event successfully thanks to the camp.

“All of the skills the BABS girls learned during camp translated beautifully to the show, and the team finished their first Beginner Novice event successfully. Many of the instructors were on hand for coaching and emotional support throughout the day. Ashley and Nic had a clear, confident stadium round, with no signs of Nic’s past anxieties, and Golly and Vinnie showed off their new found rhythm on the cross-country course. All of the campers had a great time cheering each other on throughout the competition, and the sense of camaraderie at the stable was obviously sky high.”

Ashley and Golly will receive a free supply of an Omega Alpha supplement of their choice for sharing their story. Want to win an Omega Alpha supplement? Send in your story, clinic report, video or other article to [email protected]. If it’s published this month, it will be eligible for July’s giveaway. *Month to be determined by date of publishing, not date of submission. Many thanks to Ashley and Golly for writing and to Omega Alpha for supporting Eventing Nation. Go eventing!

Here are some other reader submissions we loved from this month:

Best Event Report: GMHA Horse Trials with Photos from Flatlands Foto by Katie Murphy

Katie Murphy wrote an excellent event report on the GMHA Horse Trials to accompany the beautiful photos by Flatlands Foto we received from the event. “I have had to retrain myself as a competitor, shifting my objectives to show Garth to the best of his ability – not just in the present, but what he may be capable of years in the future. In the dressage, our gaits are bigger and bolder then those in the horse trials. We take chances in these tests, and it is great fun! Mistakes are easily discovered when you take chances, and as we push the envelope at every movement, the necessity of balance and rhythm is never overlooked.”

Best Clinic Report: Denya’s Clayton Fredericks Clinic Report by Denya Massey

We chose Denya’s Clayton Fredericks Clinic Report from 2012 as one of our favorite clinic reports from the entire year, and she sent in an equally good report last month: “My favourite bit? “Slow down time.” Clayton suggested that elite athletes (hey, I’m not quite that, but I still think I can use this) can slow down time to prepare, adjust, plan, to avoid rushing, which leads to costly mistakes. It was ably demonstrated by a rider who jumped a line, had to make a full U turn to another line, and made a hash of it. When the idea of slowing down time to imagine what should happen was introduced, the rider repeated the exercise with an excellent result.”

Best Sneak Peak: Meeting the Area II Young Rider Grooms by Mikaela Kantorowski

Mikaela Kantorowski is back this summer to groom for the Area II NAJYRC team, and she sent in a great guest blog to introduce us to the test of the grooms. “All of the grooms have been chosen through the Area II program. All our riders and grooms will be attending camp and really bonding together as a team. These grooms also had to fundraise for their spot on the team, so good work guys! I’m privileged to be a part of this staff. You will see these girls running around behind the scenes making sure all those whites are sparkling and that the chestnuts gleam like shiny pennies!”

Eventers Rebecca Brown and Alexa Perkiel are in the final stretch of preparing to represent Team USA in the Maccabiah Games (think Jewish Olympics) in Israel later this month. Rebecca is competing in dressage while Alexa is competing in show jumping. Many thanks to Rebecca and Alexa for writing! Go Maccabiah Games!

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Rebecca Brown in preparation for the Maccabiah Games. Photo by Harley Cozewith.

From Rebecca: 

We are quickly nearing our July 10 departure date for the 2013 Maccabiah Games in Israel, and Alexa Perkiel and myself have been training hard to represent the USA to the best of our abilities! Final numbers have come in, and there will be 8,500 athletes representing 40 countries during these Games. The U.S. is sending one of the largest contingents with 1,130 representatives. We depart on July 10th, tour Israel for six days, and then opening ceremonies take place on July 18. Alexa and I will be blogging throughout the competition, so make sure to check back here on Eventing Nation or on my personal website, RBriding.com.

Last week we received the rules and schedule for our competitions. They are abundant, so here are the highlights:

•  Our training days are strictly regulated. For instance, no more than six obstacles may be jumped in any of Alexa’s practice sessions. Meaning by the time the competition has started, Alexa will have jumped a maximum of 24 jumps. Now, the rules state that a double or a triple count as one jumping effort. Also, three attempts at jumping an obstacle count as one obstacle.

•  Your trainer is allowed to ride the horse, but that deducts from your time during the practice sessions.

•  Israeli equestrians get to ride their personal horses but are also responsible for providing foreign athletes with borrowed horses.

•  If your horse is hurt, you are allowed to ride a reserve horse; however, only for the daily prize and not to compete for the Championship.

•  We are required to use the horse’s usual tack — saddles and bits.

•  Everything is run under FEI rules.

The timetable for our training days:

For my preparation for my dressage competition, it’s been life as usual at Buckbranch Farm in Wilmer, Texas, riding many horses a day. To prepare for the numerous possibilities of what my borrowed horse could be like, I’m riding everything from 13.3-hand ponies to 15.3-hand CCI*** winners to 17-hand OTTB green beans. Seems like that should cover the realm of possibilities! I’m polishing up my dressage tests and making sure I don’t have too much bling.

*******

At High Acre Farm in The Plains, Va. Photo by Alexa Perkiel.

From Alexa:

I arrived a few weeks ago to The Plains, Va., to resume my training at Karen and David O’Connor’s barn at Ms. Mars’ beautiful High Acre Farm. There are a few horses here that I have been riding and caring for since David is busy with Team USA and Karen has been busy teaching and traveling to support Team USA.

I love being in the hard working and competitive atmosphere of an upper level event barn, which encompasses this entire farm. I feel lucky to have had some rides with David and also my good friend and Under 25 rider Lauren Kieffer.

One horse I must mention is Joan Goswell’s Mandiba. He has been a joy to ride and learn on. It is so generous of Joan to allow me to ride such a “been there, done that” type of horse. Mandiba has been a great horse to help me sharpen my skills for our competitions in Israel. Riding different types of horses is always a bit of a challenge, but so helpful in the long run.

It was nice to have the opportunity to watch some lessons of Aachen U.S. team member Will Faudree while he was here prepping for his competition overseas. This farm has raised and assisted a lot of great riders that our country has, and I am grateful to be a part of it. I hope to use what I have learned in my short time here before the Maccabiah Games to help our team perform to the best of our ability in Israel next month. It is going to be an amazing journey. Rebecca and I, and the rest of Team USA, are ready to embark on this adventure! Go USA at the Maccabiah Games!