Clean Run - February 2018 - 54

"I Want Agility
To Be Like This..."
By Barbara Scanlan

Some people talk about what they
think agility should be. Other people
build it.
It doesn't take long, when you're talking with a group of agility friends, for
someone to wistfully begin, "I sure wish
we could..." And so begins a discussion
that starts with the limitations they feel
in the current state of competition. Or
maybe they harken back to the good
old early days of agility when things
were simple and friendly. Then again,
there are others who'd just like to express more personality-put on a fresh
twist-and break free from the weekly
grind of trialing.

Jim Basic
The Bay Team 25th Anniversary
'90s Retro Trial
A return to a time when agility was
young
Jim Basic: The Bay Team 25th Anniversary celebration was a sanctioned USDAA
trial; however, I did things a lot differ54

In the olden days, with so many fewer
trials, people were just happy to have
the opportunity to show their dog.
Volunteerism was a greater part of the
culture. This is something I would like to
steer the agility community back to.
It is a lot to ask everyone to work for
free, so part of the retro aspect was to
slash prices to mid-1990s prices. We
charged $8 for regular titling classes
(normally $14), and $15 for Steeplechase and Grand Prix (normally $23).

Setting the tone

Good causes and impressive awards

We offered an event t-shirt designed by
club member, Laura Hartwick, who does
our club's Regional shirts. We served lots
of 25th Anniversary cake and rocked out
to music from the 1990s.
© LAURA HARtWick

And then, once in a while, someone
comes along who has a vision, and
wants it so much that they actually do
something about it. Here are the tales
of four people who brought a slice of
what else agility could be like to their
own little corners of the kingdom. Before you start reading, there is a lesson
in these stories. Though we don't often
see it, we, as individuals we have the
power to add new shape, spins, and
sparkle to the ways that we meet and
compete. The moral: agility doesn't
have to be cookie cutter. Do more than
dream. Make something happen.

ently than our normal shows. My first
motivation was, of course, to celebrate
the club's anniversary, but I decided
to go a lot further. I wanted to make it
kind of a 'retro' or 'throwback' trial that
would bring back the feeling of how
things were in the early days. Another
motivation was to try to inspire competitors and trainers to work together
and make them feel like they are part of
something bigger and better.

I organized two different raﬄes: one
was a worker raﬄe and the other was a
charity raﬄe that went to an organization that rescues senior dogs from shelters and finds them great homes.
Prizes for both raﬄes were donated by
competitors and businesses. The response was incredible. Over $2,500 was
raised for the charity, and both raﬄes
had many great prizes.
We also awarded over 50 metal cup
trophies with all of them paid for by
donations from competitors and trainers (over $1,800 worth)-no cheap
plastic here!

Return to the spirit of volunteerism
One of my first thoughts was to run this
trial like we did in the olden days and
make it a 100% volunteer effort. Over the
years we have seen compensation that
is paid to workers increase to the point
where it is often a trial's greatest expense.
Many people now will not work unless
they are getting 'paid' to do so.

We had trophies for the Grand Prix for
all heights in Championship and Performance. A number of other trophies
were awarded and 17 local trainers
sponsored trophies for a special class
called the Agility Trainers Cup. A special
No Clean Run/Clean Run drawing was
sponsored by Clean Run magazine.

Clean Run | February 18

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run - February 2018