Chapter Four (my final blog post) - Championships
Flyball Championships
Both U-FLI and NAFA have official championship racing that clubs and teams may choose to participate in. Each organizations' program can be found in its Rulebook and on their respective websites. Each program is quite different from the other.
U-FLI has an annual Championship Series, which includes several qualifying tournaments leading up to their national event. The 'series' is similar to other professional sports whereby a team enters several tournaments in a 12-month period and at least one qualifying event where the team must place in the top three positions in any of the time divisions.
Each year, the qualifer tournaments are held in several locations across the country with the culmination and final Tournament of Champions held in the later half of the year at a central location within the USA. Last year, it was held in November, in St. Louis, Missouri. In 2012 it will be held in August in Kearney, Nebraska.
In combination with the final championship event, there are also competitions for Singles, Pairs and Dream Team racing which can be entered just like any other tournament and no qualification is required.
NAFA's program has Regional Championships which are an annual, cumulative achievement. Within the organization, each area of the country is separated into a 'region' (e.g., Region 1 is for Michigan and Ohio flyball clubs/teams; there are currently 22 separate regions throughout the USA). A regional champ is determined in each region based on how many tournaments a club/team chooses to enter and then based on points earned if a team places in the top three at each tournament. At the end of the racing year, the points earned are added up and a winner determined.
The racing year in NAFA flyball ends September 30. Each region's two champions are declared and recognized at an annual meeting held the following January. Not all regions are able to declare a Regional Champion because their region may not have been able to host enough tournaments nor a team able to attend the required minimum number of tournaments. In addition to champions per region, there are two overall NAFA Champions determined each year. They are based on fastest time throughout the yearly tournaments and are also declared and recognized the following January.
[Information for winners of U-FLI Tournament of Champions can be found on their website. Currently 2007-2011 is available.
Regional and NAFA Champions can be found on their website. Past champions back to 2000 can be found. 2011 information was published this month.]
The above paragraphs revised 8/9/12.
NAFA does not hold a national-type championship event. There is, however, a separate regular tournament called the Can Am which has been held for the past few years in October in Indianapolis, Indiana. This event has evolved over the years from a Cynosports-sponsored event previously held in the southern part of the country. While information about Can Am is not in NAFA's rulebook, it can be researched and found on the internet via BoD meeting minutes, leadership and candidate chats, as well as on it's website.
I hope you have enjoyed this blog and that it has helped you in some fashion. Thank you for taking an interest and for taking time out of your day to share flyball with me.
Sincerely,
I Like Flyball!
(This is my final blog post because, thankfully, the I-Flyball Blog is coming back according to it's Facebook page...yeah!)
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Flyball Surgeons General Warning: Attack dogs and owners who do not pick up after their dogs beware of the underground electric fence. No visible training flags.
Flyball Can Be Fun! blog powered by K.I.S.S. (keep it simple sweetie)
Chapter Three - Competition, Recognition and Speed
Competition
Both flyball organizations offer team competition. In addition, U-FLI allows Singles and Pairs racing. Increased consistency and dog speed are a few of the goals in Singles racing. Pairs racing combines consistency, speed and passing. For some new flyballers, this is a great way to get their feet wet and enjoy the first stages of competition.
Most seasoned flyballers say racing on a team is the most fun. I agree! If you are a good team player you will thoroughly enjoy being part of a 4-dog & handler team and competing in tournaments. Two of my favorite team positions are start dog and anchor dog. These two spots are great for someone with a fun and competitive spirit.
Recognition of Success
There are two types of recognition in flyball. One type is given by the host club during a tournament. Typically these are dog toys or other dog related goodies. Some tournaments give their awards to the top placed teams, while other tournaments give them to all participants.
The other type is organizational recognition and these awards are given directly from either U-FLI or NAFA.
Both U-FLI and NAFA have official recognition programs described in their rules. There are flyball titles, patches, pins and plaques you and your dog can earn by entering tournaments and successfully competing. Of all the titles and awards for recognition, the most memorable for me was my dogs' very first title. I've heard most flyballers think the same and many fellow participants hang onto the specific tennis ball from their dog's first successful run!
Most of the organizational recognition awards are given for an individual dog and plaques typically have both the handler and dog name included which supports the special value of dog & handler teamwork.
Both organizations also recognize team achievements through their respective 'championship' style racing. Chapter Four hopes to explain this in better detail.
Being the Best and Breaking Records
There are many ways participants choose to excel in flyball. Some flyballers silently compete with themselves in an attempt to achieve their dog's best time or break their previous time in the lane. Clubs and teams also compete with themselves for their personal best team time. For start dogs, a triple-zero (.000) is something everyone yells 'whoo-hoo' at a tournament!
Improved speed for the individual dog and also the team have each become a measurement of success for some flyballers. For others, running clean, finishing the heats and completing each race is their success.
I think most flyballers enjoy when their team is working well together and they are winning races more often than losing. And, generally-speaking, most flyballers congratulate each other verbally and/or shake hands at the end of each race. Everyone shares in everyone else's success.
Truth be told, there are instances when winning at all costs or achieving the latest and fastest time no matter the consequences has taken over and success has gone (or will go) to some competitors heads. Thankfully, this does not happen to the majority of participants, teams or clubs and does not occur at all tournaments.
Flyball World Rankings
Both U-FLI and NAFA post record racing times on their websites. This is a wonderful way to see how speed in the sport has progressed.
A reference term sometimes found on websites, in print or an internet search is World Record. These two words used together have been and can be misleading. There are several different flyball organizations and a myriad of different countries that play flyball. One country's recently published record (i.e., Poland) bears the distinction of a 'national' record. Bravo for truth in print.
One really great website that tracks speed and record times in flyball racing is http://www.flyball.org.uk/wr/wrank.php. Countries such as USA, Canada, Australia, Belgium, UK, Poland, Czech Republic, Germany, South Africa, Japan, France, Austria, Italy, Netherlands and South Korea are represented in the chart.
As of 7/16/12 there are 55 recorded times under 16.0 seconds. Wow!
[Update as of 9/1/12, there are now 3 recorded times under 15.0 seconds...wow, again!]
The fastest flyball record is 14.69 set by Touch N Go (USA).
Chart number 1,243's race time is 40.67.
For the record, to me speed is not the 'be-all end-all', but it can definitely be fun.
Sincerely,
I Like Flyball!
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Flyball Surgeons General Warning: Attack dogs and owners who do not pick up
after their dogs beware of the underground electric fence. No visible training flags.
Flyball Can Be Fun! blog powered by K.I.S.S.
(keep it simple sweetie)
#Flyball World Record
If you're new to flyball there is a learning curve not only in training your dog but also in learning about the different flyball organizations. Hopefully you are lucky enough to have both U-FLI and NAFA tournaments available. That way you have the opportunity to meet each organizations' representatives and participants and gather your own information first-hand.
To supplement your first-hand information and experiences, I hope a few of my previous blog posts have helped. This post picks up where I left off.
Chapter Two - The Rules
Each organization has a 'Rulebook' that governs the competition and provides the do's and don'ts in flyball. Each rulebook is similar in how the game is played with a few exceptions such as Singles and Pairs racing in U-FLI, different jump heights and height dog measuring and different points structure for earning titles and awards.
U-FLI's Rulebook is 49 pages. Approximately 15 of them are forms for tournaments, entries and hostings.
NAFA's Rulebook is 123 pages and includes sections for Policies and Procedures and By-Laws. Approximately 25 pages are forms.
NAFA's Rulebook contains and provides for rule 'challenges' that may be used when a flyballer wants to file charges or a protest against another flyballer or flyball official for alleged or suspected cheating, bad behavior or breaking the rules. Such challenges include personal ethics, sportsmanship, breed of dog and height of dog.
NAFA rules appear at times to be written in a form of legal-ease. From experience and observation, some of their rules are convoluted and particularly unclear. Some flyballers think the rules change frequently and at times are not consistently, fairly or evenly applied across the country nor within specific tournaments. Some believe this is due in part to the political influences within the organization.
U-FLI Rulebook does not contain challenges, charges or protests. Rule changes appear to be minimal; the current version is 2.2. Changes include a
description of the reason for and intent of what is changing in an effort to aid participants' understanding.
Both NAFA and U-FLI rulebooks are available on their websites.
That's all for now; but, Chapter Three is just around the corner.
Sincerely,
I Like Flyball!
----------------------
Flyball Surgeons General Warning: Attack dogs and owners who do not pick up
after their dogs beware of the underground electric fence. No visible training flags.
Flyball Can Be Fun! blog powered by K.I.S.S.
(keep it simple sweetie)
