Flyball

BFA Committee Nominations

Who are you going to vote for? Are you even going to vote?

This post isn’t going to address any of the candidates directly as I don’t think that’s fair, I’m just going to make a wishlist of what I hope to see, as my voting slip came through the post today. It hasn’t been opened yet, and I haven’t read the candidates “vote for me” bits on the BFA website (or FB or wherever else!). But here’s what I’m hoping will be in there:

  • Someone who talks about flyball; what they do now, where they want the sport to go, why they think their idea is a good idea. I don’t care what you do in your non-flyball life unless it’s relevant. I can give or take judging experience.
  • I would love to hear someone say that they either do other dog sports, are involved in training non-flyball dogs, or are something to do with canine health and welfare. I think I’m probably holding out too much hope that one, but I think a broader dog (sport) knowledge can often be the catalyst for new ideas and can get rid of some of the out-dated or “traditional” bits of flyball.
  • Someone who runs with a fast (sub-20s) team. I’m sorry to all the over 20s teams out there, but I want to see someone who is up-to-date with the best training methods around at the moment, and if your top team isn’t running under 20s then you aren’t doing it right. I can’t think of an excuse for that one. Likewise, I don’t care how long you’ve been flyballing for, because for many people that doesn’t mean anything. I know people who’ve been flyballing for 10 years (who started out with me) who know bugger all. I know people who’ve been flyballing for 2-3 years who I will happily say are better trainers than I am. (Europeans experience is an added bonus).

I really don’t expect anyone to meet all those criteria! The final (and admittedly the most elusive and subjective) thing is that if I’ve met any of these candidates, they’d better have been nice. I’m not going to vote for someone who has been a sore loser or an obnoxious winner, or who has been rude or acted childishly to either myself or someone on my team. Those people are very rare in flyball, thankfully, so I’m not expecting any of them to be up for election!