Youthstream, promoter of the prestigious FIM World Motocross Championship, announced a new initiative at last weekend’s Monster Energy FIM Motocross of Nations labeled the MXGP Rookie project.

The project will see a selection of five young riders – one from Belgium and Germany, three from The Netherlands – trained fulltime by sports specialists over a four month period at the High Performance Centre Papenda in Arnhem, The Netherlands, alongside 375 athletes from 12 alternative disciplines of sport.

The group will travel to Spain over the European winter with The Netherlands team manager Marcel Hartmen, where they will have the opportunity to ride a variety of tracks.

All MXGP Rookies will continue their schooling with tailor made programs, including personal coaching and online lessons will also be made available in association with their schools at home and Papenda staff.

Youthstream president Giuseppe Luongo stated the importance of the program in motocross, and mentioned that the goal is to prepare athletes from around the globe for the world championship without compromising their education.

“The MXGP Academy Rookie project is another extremely important step in helping young talent grow with the possibility of one day becoming a professional MXGP rider competing in the most prestigious motocross championship in the world,” Luongo explained.

“This project is the first of its kind in our sport and we would like to thank FIM-Europe, KNMV and the High Performance Center Papendal who together with Youthstream have driven and financed this activity. The goal is to build on this program and bring youth from all over the world to help them enter the world of professional motocross without denying any schooling.”

The following riders will be the first to join the MXGP Rookies trial: Marcel Conijn (NL), Raivo Dankers (NL), Raf Meuwissen (NL), Wannes Van De Voorde (BEL) and Marnique Appelt (GER).