Via EN: Draft Your Own Fantasy WEG Team, Win a $100 SmartPak Gift Card!

As if you weren’t excited enough about WEG, we’re introducing Fantasy Eventing . Form your leagues and draft teams by this Thursday!

From Jenni Autry:

A $100 SmartPak gift card is up for grabs for the player whose fantasy team finishes with the lowest total score — not to mention barn bragging rights and eternal glory. So what are you waiting for? Read on! And a huge thanks goes out to avid EN reader and Horse Nation contributor Lorraine Jackson for developing the draft sheet and score card.

What the heck is Fantasy Eventing?

Based off of similar fan sports like Fantasy Football or Fantasy Basketball, Fantasy Eventing allows eventing friends near and far to make their own fantasy squads and compete against friends for bragging rights that will last years. Some may choose to wager on the outcome, or you may choose just to play for fun. It’s easy to get going and makes watching the event unfold that much more awesome! (Yes, it can get more awesome. I know.)

What do I need to start my own League?

1. Friends/family/barnmates to be Chef d’Equipes of their own fantasy nation; at least 2 players to make a league, and we suggest no more than 10. Each player should name their nation something awesome, obviously.
2. An “FEI President,” known in other fantasy sports as a commissioner; this person runs the league, hands out draft cards, oversees the draft or squad creation, tries to hold power for as long as possible, and then updates scores at the end of each competition day once WEG begin. The commissioner is also a Chef d’Equipe, so choose wisely!
3. Eventing Nation’s free handy dandy draft cards and score cards. The draft cards should be emailed or printed out and given to each Chef d’Equipe ASAP so that they can begin strategizing/ranking.

I have those three things! Now what?

You’ve got a few quick decisions to make about your league before you draft. If you are a czar-like FEI President, you will set these rules ahead. If you are a kind-hearted democratic FEI President, you’ll let the people choose.

If everyone in your league is close enough to get together, you can live draft for your squads. Everyone draws a number that determines the draft order. That is the order you will choose your riders in for the first round, and then you reverse the order for the second round, alternating back and forth until every Chef d’Equipe has their full squad.

If players can’t gather together for the draft, they should rank their choices in the order of preference and draft numbers should be randomly assigned. Then the commissioner collects the draft cards and assigns the teams according to how the players ranked their riders in the order of the draft numbers.

For a traditional game, you would have each Chef d’Equipe draft their squad for team medals first, then two additional riders for individual medals. As with the FEI rules, a squad member is also eligible to win individual medals. Also like FEI rules, this means that every league should have both a team winner and an individual winner.

Your league may decide to play Squad Only, and therefore have only one winner and draft only your four squad riders. (If you have a lot of Chef d’Equipes, this may be the better way to go.)

Keep in mind, you will want to have the drafting complete with enough time to give your FEI President time to get all the names and riders in place on the score card before the competition starts on Aug. 28.

Competition prep

To keep all your players in the loop, we recommend either making a Facebook group or a shared Google document where Chef d’Equipes can see the scorecard, follow the progress and do a little smack talking, of course!

Now that all your Chef d’Equipes have their teams, the FEI President will fill out the provided scorecard and record the incoming scores as competition progresses. Everything should be pretty self-explanatory — just add the scores exactly as they appear on the live results, which we’ll post on EN once the link goes live. (Make certain that if you’re live scoring, you double check for any differences between provisional scores and official scores.)

Rules for withdrawals

If a drafted rider pulls out of the competition for any reason between when your league drafts and the start of dressage, every effort should be made by the commissioner to inform the Chef d’Equipe who drafted the rider and determine an alternate. The alternate may be drafted by the Chef d’Equipe from the remaining undrafted riders.

If time is of the essence and the Chef d’Equipe is not available to choose an alternate, the FEI President may automatically draft the next best-ranked rider according to FEI World Rankings on the score card behalf of the Chef d’Equipe. Withdrawals made after the start of dressage will not be eligible for alternates, and that Nation’s squad must simply play short a rider.

Determining a winner

Team Competition: As with FEI rules, the winning team is determined by the cumulative best three scores on a squad. The worst of the four squad scores is thrown out, and the nation with the fewest penalties at that point is the winner.

Individual Competition: Also like FEI rules, the individual winner is the rider with the least penalties.

You could win a $100 SmartPak gift card!

Of course, you’re welcome to develop your own prize system in your Fantasy Eventing league, and we’re also giving away a $100 SmartPak gift card to the player whose fantasy team has the lowest total score at the completion of WEG. To be eligible, your league must have 10 teams to put everyone on an equal playing field. Just send in your completed score card to [email protected] for a chance to win!

Any questions?

Post your questions in the comments below, and download the draft sheet and score card by clicking here. Now go play Fantasy Eventing!

Fantasy Eventing Links: [EN’s Competitor Guide] [Draft Sheet/Score Card]