2014 was shaped with a bunch of competitions with both of my dogs – Ayla and Cute. In total I had something like 30 competition days over the last year. 15 out of them have been abroad. I’m sure this year it will be more. And this fact led me to write this blog post: “Competing abroad… a punishment?”.
First of all, I have to say I like to compete in Switzerland. There’s almost every weekend a wide choice of competitions to select from. I know what conditions I can expect where and the equipment is state of the art. This applies also for the majority of the halls with their surfaces and facilities. The level of sport varies from competition to competition heavily. Due to the many competitions, competing teams get spread all over the nation. This results in a small or smaller number of competitors per competition.
During my competitions abroad this and the years before that, I learned there’s so much more out there. Started with my first competition abroad in 2007 in Austria, I got bitten by the outland fever. It’s so excited to meet new people, new teams, new handling approaches, new technics, new course styles and new cultures. Every country comes up with something new, with something different.
OK, fair enough… Why I wrote that all?
From my point of view, there’s one thing that annoys me. Competing abroad doesn’t count for a promotion or descent in my home country. We are forced to collect them all (it varies from class to class, for more info have a look at the box) on Swiss competitions.
What’s the reason? Anyone, please?
Years ago, Swiss competitors were allowed to compete abroad and collect runs to promote to a higher grade. Out of fear, people could select hillbilly competitions with a low level or less competitors, the Swiss meeting of delegates decided to constrain it to only Swiss competitions. But you know… time goes by, and things are supposed to change. Nowadays I have to ask; is this rule still suitable? In my opinion, it’s NOT! Not at all! Two main causes lead me to that.
First, our handling level in Switzerland isn’t as superior as some believe. Or do you see year by year a Swiss Agility handler as a World Champ?! Nor are our judges superior than the ones from abroad. No! I didn’t say they’re bad! Don’t get me wrong. And in any case our competitions aren’t better. They are just different. That’s it. But Agility remains Agility, independent of the country.
Second, no, it’s not easier to get a clear-run abroad! Although, I get that told again and again. Yes, I agree that people could look for smaller competitions or competitions with less opposition. But this argument behaves not in my opinion. It’s possible to compete at small competitions or competition with less opposition in Switzerland as abroad too. If someone looks for such a competition, then please let them go. They’ll find them anyway, somewhere. 🙂
So, are they any other reasons I overlooked? Maybe the ARL, respectively the AChR-Lists? Or the fear of more administrative effort? Hmm… I’ll come back to that later when I come to my recommendations.
Most I get told I’m crazy. Crazy to drive so far just to compete while there are so many competitions much closer to where I live. This makes me laugh. To be honest, is it really compelling to compete weekend over weekend at the same location, against the same competitors? I don’t think so. I like the diversity. I like to pit myself with others from domestic as also from abroad. This gives me a perfect overview of where I stay internationally with my skills and with my dog’s skills.
And if we think about that just for a second or two, I guess not many would drive more than 300km to a less appealing competition to get this last win for a promotion or confirmation.
Let’s be honest, the appealing competitions from abroad are the big ones, like B.A.C.K., GULDagility or KC IAF to name a few. These are the ones with the huge starting lists, with a tough competition. These are the ones to pitch one self. That is a matter that need to be taken into account, also in Switzerland.
My suggestion
In my opinion competitions from abroad should count like our domestic competitions. No more, no less. Now let’s come back to the ARL/AChR-Lists and the administrative effort.
For the first of these two “issues”, since the calculation isn’t easy to understand I would leave this up to the TKAMO if it’s possible to include those competitions or not. It would be a nice and welcome addition if yes, but no dealbreaker.
For the later “issue” I come up with following solution or suggestion. A Swiss Agility handler who wants to get his result from a competition from abroad count, needs to send this in. He’s doing that be simply sign the ranking list from the judge. Then he has to send it in by post or e-mail within the next 30 days by the date of the competition. The TKAMO receives a proper signed and verified result. This is a well know solution from other countries. And it seems it works for them.
What’s your opinion on this topic? Do you regularly compete abroad? Would you like to compete more abroad if the results would count? Please let me know and sound off in the comments below or on Facebook. I appreciate 🙂