Clean Run - February 2016 - 10

Don't believe the myth of competition, that making a world team, participating in venue A over venue B,
or accumulating the most points in a given qualifying period increases one competitor's worth over
another. Yes, sports crown champions. That is part of what makes competing so thrilling: sports allow us
to measure the best on a given day. But as competitors, we have a responsibility to one another to honor
each brave, exhilarating trip into the ring, and each daring dream, no matter how big or small
that dream appears on the outside, and no matter how little we might relate to it.

awry, are both healthy and o en helpful mechanisms. But check your story,
doing your best to make sure you are
not inadvertently (or deliberately) taking away another's well-earned win. If it
wasn't yours that day, the bottom line is,
it wasn't yours that day.
If your loss, or another's gain, was the
result of a rule, judge's call, or equipment malfunction that you perceived as
unfair, there are both appropriate and
inappropriate steps that can be taken to
address the issue. Speaking with o cials
on the day of competition, or contacting o cials following the competition to
address potential rule changes are both
valid and constructive actions. Appealing
to public forums for a change in rules, as
a result of your experience, in order to
help improve the sport is also usually well
founded, and o en important to the progression of dog agility. But declaring, or
even simply implying, that the winning
team did not genuinely earn the title that
day insults the e orts of all competitors
involved. Sometimes competition brings
with it tough breaks: a bar fell but the
surface was to blame, your dog struggled
with the markings on the weave poles all
weekend, or the judges opted to include
an obstacle you le out of your training
plans. As a competitor, you have every
right to experience your loss fully, and
re ect on pieces that may have been
unjust about the circumstances. But you
also have an obligation to your opponents to respect their success under the
designated rules and conditions.

Sportsmanship Is Just as
Important When You Succeed
Demonstrating sportsmanship goes
beyond moments of failure; it is just as

pressing when it comes to success. Victory
is invigorating, and winning alongside
your dog can make it especially magical.
However, succeeding with grace, with tact,
and with joy is o en a practiced art, and
practicing good sportsmanship a er a win
can sometimes involve a bit of a balancing
act. While you have full rights to your joy,
enthusiasm, amusement, and satisfaction,
you also have a responsibility to show respect and regard for your competition.
Recognition of your opponents' e orts
-recognizing that they fought in the
same battle you won-is a crucial aspect
of sport uency. Consider those players who strike you as good competitors,
as solid competitors, whether they win
or lose. A de ning feature that almost
all will possess is the strength to respect
those around them, in loss, but also in
victory. ere is no climbing over others to steal a better view, or extravagant
boasting of their most recent win or accomplishment; rather, these individuals
succeed in a way that hails the rest of the
world up alongside them. ey know the
mountain o ers more than enough beauty for anyone willing to brave the climb.
Competition, though a means of acknowledging champions, also facilitates
the gathering of tenacity, dedication, and
spirit into a single venue. It is the drawing
together of individuals that possess these
traits that sparks re to fuel an event, a
sport, a passion. As such, a game absent
of challengers, adversaries, and contenders is no game at all. Without the layers
and layers of contrasting competitors
and di erent perspectives, sport ceases to
exist. So win or lose, always honor your
opponent, if for no other reason than the
truth: we need one another.

But this championing of others is not
an action of cost to those who have triumphed that day. Moreover, in success, we
earn the claim to an accomplishment, the
right to sink into the moment and experience fully the high that comes with a win.
Minimizing one's achievements for the
sake of others fails to relay integrity in the
accomplishment, and is irreverent to other
players of sport. Part of understanding
that the gathering of competitor spirit fuels the game is realizing that it is our individual experiences-both our pain, and
our joy-that allow us to relate our stories.
We must recognize that it is the circulation of these stories, in whatever style we
choose to forge them, which inspires and
kindles future work. erein, sharing your
enthusiasm and love for a performance is
not a self-serving act, but a humanistic act,
one of heart and one of courage.

Sportsmanship Is Part of Life
When we agree to enter a competition
with others, we agree to embark on a
journey, wherein there are unspoken
pieces of magic, not handed out freely,
but hidden for us to nd along the way.
You might say that of living, as well.
ough sportsmanship is something
you can attach to sport, to a game, this
exploration and honoring of character is
unmistakable in all areas of life. Games
are nothing if not parallels to the everyday, so take note when behavior and
character in sport re ect actions in life.
We are always playing, from morning
hellos to a partner, to interactions with
colleagues, to the smile you exchange
with your dog a er an easy morning
on the couch. Sportsmanship is never
isolated to competition; the game is life.
Play ercely; play kindly. D

Tori Self is an avid dog lover, writer, agility coach, wannabe chef, and explorer. She started competing in agility at 12 years of age and has since earned national and
international success alongside her Border Collie, Revolution. Tori currently trains and ventures with Rev and her young Border Collie, Brave, narrating their journeys
on her blog at www.toriself.com.
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Clean Run | February 16

http://www.toriself.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run - February 2016