READY?!! It’s one of the best sounds on Earth, as the teams watch the lights for racing to begin…I’ve been playing flyball for eighteen years, and STILL find the sights and sounds thrilling.
In 2001, I told my friend that we were getting a miniature poodle puppy, and she said–Oh, you should do flyball with him!–we need height dogs. We went out to a practice and I’d never seen anything like it. It was fascinating to see dogs put the sequence of moves together. I couldn’t wait to see if Jonah could learn it. After about a year, we were in the lanes and Jonah was absolutely loving it…he would actually glance over at the dog in the other lane and try to beat it back.
Since then my family of people and dogs has grown significantly: Gord and I now have four kids and five dogs, most of whom participate in various ways in flyball. We are members of SpringLoaded, which is based in Niagara region, Ontario. Our club hosts multiple tournaments a year, where we have themes and encourage people to unleash their weirdness and dress-up–and maybe even dance a bit to our awesome tunes. I’ve been a Tournament Director and/or Secretary for most of our events. Hosting can be exhausting for a club, but it’s also SO much fun, especially when your teammates like to be creative and put their own special spin on the events.
We all know flyball is the best dog sport: it’s the only team sport and this means you get a whole new group of people to care about—your team, and beyond that, your ‘flyball family’ from all over North America. Over the years I’ve done work maintaining the NAFA database and it gave me some insight into the NAFA board work and committees. I’ve volunteered time on Election, Rules and Technology Committees to give back to the flyball community that’s brought me so much. I finally got up the nerve to run for the board in 2018.
I’m now the NAFA Vice Chairman, and chair of the Rules Committee and NAFAblog Committee. In my first term, one of my favourite accomplishments has been working with volunteers, Dede Crough and
Jayne McQuillen, to get the NAFAblog started as a way to engage the flyball community, and feature clubs looking for new members. My current main focus is as co-chair of the Special Measuring Committee (SMC), with Cindy Henderson. We are a nine-member team tasked with providing the board with a fully realized plan, by December 31st, 2020, for implementing a new measuring system that accomplishes three goals:
- Making measuring easier for competitors, Judges and RDs.
- Making sure measuring is consistent across regions.
- Ensuring for checks and balances in the overall process.
As the SMC works on the rest of the full plan, we’re keeping the feedback we’ve received from competitors, RDs, and judges front and centre. We know that competitors want to move on from the measuring issues of the past, and we’re determined to get it done.
Thanks for taking the time to read this to get to know me better. I hope you’ll consider supporting me in a second term as a board member. Wishing you all the best and look forward to seeing you in the lanes once flyball resumes. Stay safe!
