To the National officers—the committee has approved these changes, please review these changes and advise of your approval or disapproval, as soon as possible.  This information needs to be forwarded to the Board of Directors as soon as possible.  

 

Eligibility:  Any dog that has 3 Open points or less, of which none can be first place points, is classified as an Amateur dog and is eligible for the Amateur division.  An Open dog is one that has four (4) or more Open points or a dog that has earned first place points.  Entrants are responsible for the proper classification of their dogs (Amateur or Open).  An Amateur dog can run in either the Amateur or Open Division at the owner’s discretion (including moving back and forth between the two, except as noted in the last sentence) until such time as the dog earns Amateur Championship (18 points-9 of which are first place Amateur points), or earns more than 3 points in Open.  Once either the Amateur Championship status is achieved or the dog earns more than 3 Open points, the dog can no longer compete in the Amateur Division.  The only exception would be if a dog is drawn for the second day of a weekend trial and on the prior day, it achieved through points earned the prior day, either the Amateur Championship status or it received placement(s) enough for it to have more then 3 Open Division points; in such case, the dog would be allowed to continue in Amateur Division in the second day trial, if originally drawn for that trial.  A dog cannot compete in the Open portion and the Amateur portion of an Amateur/Open trial on the same day.

 Trial Format:  Amateur Trials are to be conducted following the last brace of the Open division of the trial. There will be five birds released first brace of the Amateur Trial, and five birds released for each brace thereafter.  Example:  24 Open dogs drawn to run the first 12 braces then 8 Amateur dogs drawn to run the next 4 braces.  The Amateur portion of the trial shall consist of a maximum of four braces (8 dogs), and a minimum of two braces (4 dogs).  The combined total of Amateur and Open braces shall not exceed 16 nor can it be less than 8.  Under the rules of a recognized field trial, the minimum is 12 dogs (6 braces) for an Open trial.  Also 4 dogs (2 braces) is the minimum for an Amateur Trial under this Open/Amateur format.  The trial shall be advertised in the schedule portion of the NSTRA magazine and website if it is an Amateur/Open trial or Open.  If advertised as an Open trial all rules pertaining to NSTRA Open trials apply.  The entry fee shall be the same for both the Amateur and the Open portion of the Amateur/Open trial.

 Entries in the Amateur/Open trial:  Entries in the Open division of the trial shall be limited to Five (5) dogs per owner and/or handler per trial.  Two shall be specified with the additional dogs to be added to the field seven (7) days prior to the trial only if the trial is not full per rules of a recognized field trial.  Under the Open/Amateur format 24 Open dogs and 8 Amateur dogs (16 braces) is considered a full trial.  Preference shall be given to filling the Amateur division first.

 Entries in the Amateur division shall be limited to two (2) dogs per owner and/or handler per trial.  One shall be specified with the additional dog to be added to the field seven (7) days prior to the trial only if the trial is not full (8) dogs on that date.  Preference shall be given to filling the Amateur division first.

 Regional Eligibility:  An Amateur dog is eligible to compete in the Region Elimination Trial once it has reached Amateur champion 18 points – 9 of which are first place Amateur points.

 Drawing the Trial:  Drawing procedures should utilize the Double/Double format utilizing Endurance drawing logic.  Handlers/Owners may be drawn to run back-to-back braces in the Amateur division if necessary.  This should be avoided if possible but in the event that 2 handlers have 2 dogs each entered, back-to-back draws may be necessary.  Handlers/Owners may be drawn back-to-back in the last two braces of the Open portion of the trial.

 Established NSTRA Sanction Fees shall apply.  The Amateur/Open shall be sanctioned under one fee for both divisions.

 Points Earned:  Points earned as an Amateur will only count toward an Amateur Championship (which is defined as a total of 18 points, 9 of which must be First Place Amateur Points).  Amateur points will not count for any other titles, invitations to National trials, High Points Awards, Performance Awards, or other awards in the Open Division.  These points are Amateur Points only.

 A Three Point Trial:  12 braces (24 dogs) are required for a three point Open Division trial.

 Applicability:  All rules of NSTRA regarding judging standards in effect for the Open Division shall apply to the Amateur Division. *** Note:  If total braces of Amateur dogs and Open dog are less than 16, adjustments can be made to the Open Division in order to fill the void.  Example:  If 24 Open dogs are entered and only 6 Amateur dogs entered 7 days prior to the trial, an additional open brace can be added if entries are available.  Braces may not be added after the draw.

 All Scheduled Amateur/Open Field Trials will be officially sanctioned trials by NSTRA.

 Points:  All Amateur/Open Trials shall be run under National Shoot-to-Retrieve Field Trial Association all age rules.  Points shall be awarded as follows:

 Amateur portion of a trial:

            4 entries:  One point for first place

            6-5 entries:  Two points for first place

                               One point for second place

            8-7 entries:  Three points for first place

                               Two points for second place

                                One point for third place

             Open portion of a trial:

            Championship points shall be awarded as follows:

            12-17 entries:    One point for first place

            18-23 entries:    Two points for first place

                                    One point for second place

            24-plus entries:  Three points for first place

                                     Two points for second place

                                     One point for third place

 BYE dogs:  Should an uneven number of Amateur entries be received , a BYE dog may be used to round out the field provided the BYE dog meets all the eligibility criteria for Amateur competition (less than 3 Open NSTRA points none of which can be first place points).  If no suitable BYE dog is available, the last Amateur entry received will be returned with a full refund.  In the event of an uneven number of entries in the Open Class, a standby dog may be used.  An Amateur entry may compete in the Open Class if he so chooses, but may not compete in both classes on the same day.  There are no changes to the rules governing BYE dogs in the Open Trial.