Unionville, PA — A team of three dressage riders will represent the USA at the 2022 World Maccabiah Games in Tel Aviv, Israel, July 12-26. The US equestrian contingent will also include a four-member jumping team. Riders in both dressage and jumping will compete on borrowed horses.
This will be team member, coach, and chef d’équipe Rebecca Cord’s third trip to the World Maccabiah Games. Cord, 40, of West Grove, Pennsylvania, and Clarksboro, New Jersey, is an FEI-level dressage competitor who owns and operates a training and sales business in Clarksboro, New Jersey. She is a US Dressage Federation (USDF) bronze and silver medalist, a USDF L graduate, and a USDF- and ARIA (American Riding Instructors Association)-certified instructor.
Aviva Nebesky, 63, of Bowie, Maryland, is a former social worker who now is a full-time equestrian professional. She specializes in teaching dressage to adult amateurs and to riders who struggle with fear and confidence issues. She has competed through Fourth Level and is a USDF bronze medalist and a USDF L graduate with distinction. She is also a co-host of the Dressage Today podcast.
A fashion designer by trade, notable for her maternity line, Lauren Sara, 59, of Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, is an adult-amateur competitor who has been riding since childhood. Her primary equestrian discipline is eventing, and she has competed up to Third Level in dressage and has earned her USDF bronze medal. Following the World Maccabiah Games, she plans to return her focus to eventing.
“When I was notified that I had made the team I felt an indescribable pride that I would be representing my country at the Games,” she said. “I look forward to competing with my teammates in Israel and meeting other riders from around the world.”
International eventing and dressage rider and longtime US para-dressage coach and chef Missy Ransehousen will travel with the team as an advisor. She is based out of her family’s Blue Hill Farm in Unionville, Pennsylvania.
About the Maccabiah Games:
The 2022 edition of the World Maccabiah Games will be the third time in its 85-year history that equestrian sports will be included. Drawing more than 10,000 athletes representing 80 countries and participating in 43 sports, the Games are the third-largest sporting event in the world. The quadrennial competition, sometimes called “the Jewish Olympics” and patterned after the Olympic Games, is produced by the global Jewish sports organization the Maccabi World Union for Jewish and Israeli athletes. More than 1,000 athletes will represent the USA at this year’s Games. Learn more at MaccabiUSA.com or Maccabiah.com.
Attached Photo of the 2022 Maccabiah Games Dressage Team copyright Adrienne Morella and is for use only in conjunction with this press release. Pictured from left to right: Rebecca Cord, Lauren Sara, Aviva Nebesky, Missy Ransehausen.