Schedule Announced for Youth Fly Fishing Team

With clinics and competitions at home and abroad, the US Youth Fly Fishing Team is gearing up for another busy year. And recently they announced the schedule and explained event details for the upcoming season, to begin April 19th near Cherokee, NC.

Read more in the press release below.

Announcing the 2013 season Schedule for the US Youth Fly Fishing Team

TEAM USA Youth Schedule for the 2013 season has been released on Facebook and the website. Please note that these dates and times may be subject to change, but hopefully this will help with your planning:

• Clinic – April 19-21, 2013, North Carolina
• Clinic – May 17-20, 2013, Pennsylvania
• Clinic – TBD if feasible in August in the West
• Nationals – June 21-22, 2013, Vail, Colorado
• World – July 21-26, 2013, Ireland
• America Cup – September 10-15, 2013, Colorado

Please contact team Manager, Rich Reedinger, for additional details and follow Team news on the Team Facebook page and Team website.
–Deb Ridgeway, Secretary, USYFFT

News from the Team Manager

This year, 2013, appears to be a very busy one for the US Youth Fly Fishing Team. We will be repeating most of our popular events and clinics, but also adding some new venues to expand our vision of a truly “National” team. Paul Bourcq and his team of assistants will push the envelope a bit with our current team members and try to implement an entry level program for some newer applicants trying out the competition scene for the first time.

Our first event will be the North Carolina clinic held on April 19-21 near Cherokee, NC. The Nantahala River and other bodies of water will host our third annual fly fishing clinic at this venue. Coach Bourcq has also planned some additional work for team members to prepare them for lake fishing venues in upcoming competitions. Applications and instructions are available on the Team website in February and through email by contacting the Team secretary, Deb Ridgeway or Team Manager, Rich Reedinger.

One month later, we will conduct our Pennsylvania Fly Fishing clinic on May 17-19 at Lamar, PA. We will be holding classes at the Seig Center of Lock Haven University on Fishing Creek. This creek is very famous for its wild trout fishing and challenging conditions. Hopefully, we will have great weather as well as the great hatches of insects this creek is noted for producing. We have been back to the Seig Center for the past 5 or 6 years and applicants always have a great time and receive some of the best world class instruction from the top instructors in the US.

We will be planning on conducting a new competitor workshop as well as the advanced methods for more experienced fly fishers. Some of the invited instructors are Dan Shields, Pat Weiss, George Daniel and Dejon Hamann among others. Again, applications will be available on the team website in February.

June is a great month for fly fishing and Team USA hopes to offer a new venue for the third annual US Youth National Fly Fishing Championship. Scheduled for June 21-22, we hope to be holding the competition in Vail, Colorado, site of the famous America Cup competition. We are hoping to attract some new competitors from our western states as well as offering new and exciting locations for some of our eastern and southeastern anglers. We will be selecting our new team members from among the top finishers to represent the US in the following year. Details are being worked out at this time but should be finalized in the next couple of weeks. Look for announcements on Facebook and the Team website.

July brings the end of the school year for the kids, but also holds the most exciting event for our team of the year, the World Youth Fly Fishing Championships. This year they are being held in Ireland. Six of our top team members will be selected to represent the US against the best fly fishers in the world. We are one of the top two or three teams in the world having medaled the past two years. We anticipate this year’s team to be our strongest yet and hope for another appearance on the medal stand. Details of this event will be on the website.

We are hoping to keep things moving in the late summer months with possible clinics in Montana and an all women fly fishers clinic in Pennsylvania. They are both in the discussion stage and information will be passed on as things develop. Stay tuned!

The US Youth Fly Fishing Team is an all volunteer organization and is also a 501 (c)(3) certified nonprofit, allowing tax exempt status as appropriate. We are always on the lookout for new volunteers to help with the many jobs we perform, and are always grateful for your tax deductible donations to help our Team.

We hope to inspire corporate sponsorships from companies who would like to associate their brand with a world class organization in promoting the youth of America to be the best they can be.

–Rich Reedinger, Team Manager, USYFFT