IEA Names Coffelt-Wood Zone 11 Hunt Seat Administrator

The Interscholastic Equestrian Association (IEA) has recently named Pennsylvania resident and long-time equestrian coach, Chrystal Coffelt-Wood as the new IEA Zone 11 Hunt Seat Administrator. The Hunt Seat Zone 11 area includes Pennsylvania, West Virginia and New Jersey. Coffelt-Wood will replace outgoing Zone 11 Administrator, Emily David, who will continue to serve as the Zone Administrator for Dressage, a rapidly growing IEA discipline.

Armed with a Master’s Degree in Business Administration (MBA) with a concentration in Finance, Business Technology, and Education from Kutztown University, Coffelt-Wood also served as the captain of the nationally ranked Kutztown University Equestrian Team. Following her collegiate career, she continued to coach at her alma mater, as well as serving as the coach of the Penn State Berks Equestrian Team.

In 2013, Coffelt-Wood accepted the position of Riding Director at Grier School, a private girls school located in Tyrone, Pennsylvania, where her duties include scheduling lessons for 75+ students for five instructors, communicating with parents from all over the world, interviewing and hiring staff, managing 12+ employees, managing a half million dollar annual operating budget, recruiting, organizing and managing events related to IEA, IHSA, and USEF rated horse shows, fundraising, marketing, social media, and various other management operations.

For the past seven years, Coffelt-Wood has served as an IEA coach, as well as serving as an IEA Hunt Seat Regional President for the past five years. She has also served as a Dressage Regional President since the inception of the IEA Dressage Pilot Program in 2015.

“I am truly passionate about IEA and am excited about the opportunity to positively affect an organization that I am so passionate about,” says Coffelt-Wood.

“Chrystal is a terrific example of the dedication and professionalism we see in IEA,” says IEA Zone Captain Simon Towns. “She brings to the table a wealth of organizational knowledge and experience that will continue to benefit the fantastic work done by Emily in Zone 11. We are delighted to have her in this position.”

Coffelt-Wood will assume her new position in this month with the assistance of David for a smooth transition. Her duties will include overseeing the management of Zone 11 horse shows, member communications, and the promotion of IEA within her area.

ABOUT INTERSCHOLASTIC EQUESTRIAN ASSOCIATION (IEA)

Now in its 19th year, the IEA has nearly 14,000 members across the United States riding and coaching Hunt Seat, Western and Dressage disciplines. The non-profit (501(c)3) IEA was organized to promote and improve the quality of equestrian competition and instruction available to middle and secondary school students (grades 4-12) and is open to public and private schools and barn teams. There is no need for a rider to own a horse because the IEA supplies a mount and tack to each equestrian for competitions. Its purpose is to set minimum standards for competition, provide information concerning the creation and development of school associated equestrian sport programs, to generally promote the common interests of safe riding instruction and competition and education on matters related to equestrian competition at the middle and secondary school levels.

For more information, please visit www.rideiea.org.