I just want to play with my dog. I have heard it a hundred times and I know I have even said it myself on a few occasions. What a concept, where we can play with our dog and not be on “a team.”
The Pickup TeamTM
I know, I know, the pickup team concept, invoked by U-FLI and now under consideration by NAFA, was not intended to do away with the flyball team. However, it may be a way to expand the sport. I am sure there are a number of people that might be playing flyball if it was not a team sport. A lot of agility people play agility with their dog because it is just them and their dog. The same concept could be used for flyball.
Do not get me wrong, I think that flyball will be always played as a team sport but what if people could sign up for pickup teams ahead of time just like teams do? In U-FLI I know that they can sign up for singles or pairs if offered but extending it to teams may allow more people to play without actually being on a team. I have a couple of dogs that have to sit out because there is no place on the team for them. I try to swap them out from one day to the next over single tournaments but still at least one day they are just sitting in the crate.
I know that there would be many issues to think about such as what flyball box would they use and seeding; maybe the pickup teams could just be in their own division. I am just throwing things out there to provoke thought on the subject. I think it could work because I hear all the time about people that would like to go to a tournament but are unable to because the whole team is not going. This could be a way for people without a permanent team or someone that just wants to attend a tournament in another area and does not know anyone in that area.
What do you think?
Larry
Pickup TeamTM is a registered trademarks of United Flyball League International, Inc.
12 comments ↓
Pickup teams can be a good way to build your club too.
Just offer to run a pickup team, advertise it a little, and
people will come. Sometimes the tournament host club
will help you fill out your pickup team since they will get
inquiries from various people that are looking for a space
to run a dog. But here’s the best part, if you like the
people you run with, and they like running with you, some day they may want to become full time members.
We added a great dog, Sooner, on our A team because he ran with us on our pickup team. And some of our older dogs that we had “retired” are now happy free agents in U-Fli. They get more running time on pickup teams than they did at the end of our roster.
I, too, like the pickup team concept since sometimes our club doesn’t have enough dogs to make up a second team and we hate to leave those who might want to go at home, or if someone wants to go to a tourney that the rest of the team doesn’t plan attending. I’m curious, though, that there were only 70 something percent of respondents to the NAFA survey on pick ups in favor of adding pick ups. What would be the reasons that participants would be against adding pickup teams? Pickup teams don’t get tournament points in U-fli, right? So it’s not like a team could stack things in their favor to win their division. Is there something I’m missing?
Beth
Good question! Maybe someone reading this that was against it will speak up and tell us why.
Arguments I heard included:
Who’s box would be used? Would it confuse dogs?
What would happen to the team, if the pick up team conflicted with the “real” team
Would it eventually break up teams?
Having played pick up, I found these particular concerns not to pan out. The dogs did surprisingly well on other boxes. Ring conflicts were a minimum, and teams usually don’t break up from these types of conflicts. If a team splits, there are usually other issues at work
I’ve also run pick-up and it was lots of fun. I think when you run pick-up there’s less competition and everyone’s a little more relaxed. It’s great to meet new people and talk dogs. I didn’t know any of the people I ran with before the tourn. and now have a whole new group of friends. We didn’t run into any real problems and just started the day with some loose passing to get the dogs used to each other. Almost all of the boxes in our region are made by the same person so the dogs didn’t really seem to have an issue with it.
I am still of mixed feelings regarding the role of the pickup team at tournaments.
Being of more traditional mind, I see where pickup teams detract from region-wide club competition. My thought is that neither team running wins tournament points, and the “Regular” team can not win bonus points for winning heats (U-FLI).
I have been to a tournament where pickup teams represented one third of a division, in an area where there are enough teams to go around (if you consider the distances some team members travel in order to run with their selected team (spring loaded is an international team).
I do feel pickup needs to be available, for the reasons that have already been expressed. I also feel that there should be no further movement toward integrating points earning to equal what a “regular” team earns.
For all the benefits, remember that a “regular” team competing against a pickup team and winning each heat does not earn the 5 bonus points – it should be this way. But be understanding if that team takes a dim view of pickup teams.
Hmm, I didn’t realize that the “regular” team didn’t pick up the bonus points. That doesn’t seem fair. Perhaps NAFA would be different on that issue.
The box issue seems that it would only matter to those actually racing on a PU team. Those worried about a different box of course needn’t join a PU team.
And the issue of splitting up a team doesn’t sound real reasonable either since from what I’ve seen so far, folks trying to get a PU spot know it’s only for that tournament.
I’ve been racing for about three years now, but still feel like a newbie on certain issues that have had some conroversy like the measuring thing (since I come from the agility world, measuring is no big deal and is a fact of life we train for, but I don’t want to get that thread going again!).
Anway, thanks for the input. I continually find out more about things that seem very superficial at first, but have deeper rooted aspects that I hadn’t considered.
Beth
From a competitive standpoint, I wish pickup teams could compete for wins. If you beat a pickup team, you don’t get the 5 bonus points because you didn’t really have to win to get it. Too bad. I think it can be a drag sometimes, for the pickup team and for the team racing the pickup team. I know when we race a pickup team, we’ll likely rest our fastest dogs for that race.
On a related note, if someone scratches, I hate that we have to race an empty lane to pickup the wins. If you are playing baseball, and the other team does not shows up, they don’t make you play the game alone. I think if a team forfeits, you should have the option of not racing, take the wins and don’t get any points. If you want the points and the wins, then you can race an empty lane. This could also help tournaments go a little faster.
I agree with Robbie’s point in regaurds to having to race against an invisible team, due to forfiture. I too, think it would speed up the racing and I like his idea about opting to earn a win vs. a scratched opponent by racing and not earning points. Because if you race that ghost team like you have to right now- you still get the win even if it takes you 18 hours to complete the heat!- joking on the time, here
As far as pick up teams – I do think that by racing with your actual team should be worth something extra, because you show commitment and loyalty to your club. You train with them, you work many hours together. I think it’s fair to earn something for that team dedication.
Just a thought; but maybe an extra point per race your dog ran if you raced with your “home” club. On the other hand if there wasn’t a spot for you on your real club or they didn’t want to enter a specific tourney for whatever reason and you join a pick up team to compete then you could still get a win just not the extra point.
Just a thought to ponder….
The other thing about pick ups is that every club has an opionon as to whether they think a dog is “race ready”. This can be a bit scary in my mind, because race ready on one team may be no where near what you consider race ready. We’ve alll seen clubs put dogs in repeatedly who weren’t ready. To the dissapointment of their opponents and handlers on thier own teams alike. Pick up teams must choose wisely there’s an element of risk in doing so, for all involved.
I like pick up and am glad it’s there. There are things that must be discussed and decided upon by participants that if all agree to it flows really well- and everyone walks away with a great experience.
We’ve been using the vets team option in NAFA as a pick up team, it enables us to run some of our older dogs, and it helps other teams, 1 in particular with several young dogs who needed racing time & vet dogs still able to run fulltime, but not quite ready for 2 teams (yet). We’ve run with a judge’s dog, so instead of just judging all day, the judge got to have some flyball fun too. We’ve also been tossed onto teams with random folks and it worked just fine.
None of us have lost the concept of team, we have a very enjoyable time getting some points on dogs who love running. At one point, I nearly busted a gut laughing because we had a whole vets team of ex-teammates, all on 3 different teams now, but who once all played together. We all got along just fine and did a great job running together, I’d say we had more fun than when we were ALL on the same team. I see that in U-Fli pick up that is creates a fellowship amongst teams, that yes we compete against you, but we can also help each other out & have a lot of fun running dogs together. I’ve seldom seen a pick up team that was cursed by that one new dog, most have more than 4 dogs or teams put their solid dogs on the pick up to work in a more green dog on their own lineups. Course there is always an exception & that’s part of the risk of a pick up team (or vets team).
I’d say if people do leave their original team b/c they have such a better experience on a pick up team, that there are probably a whole lot of underlying issues in ideology, club leadership, yadda ya. Maybe the pick up team just showed them there was another way to play that was a better fit for them. Pick up teams can also be a good option for folks who just aren’t good teammates in general. They get to play, nobody has to deal with them on a regular basis.
As a bonus entering vets/pick up teams provides the host team with additional revenue, which could be the difference between profit & loss in the hosting effort.
I love pickup teams. It’s such a great option for people who want to participate but can’t for whatever reason. I am travelling to 2 tournaments this fall without my team, but I want to still race, and gain some tournament experience for my very green dog. This gives me the perfect opportunity to do just that. My team benfits by having me return with a dog who is much more race-ready when we compete again locally. I hope that NAFA decides to do the same thing, because it’s a great and very innovative thing that Ufli is doing very very well.
We have NFC teams here in the UK (Not For Competition) where, if there is room at a tournament, dogs from various teams can join up to run as an NFC team. No points or rosettes but it’s a great way to keep the oldies or slower dogs running. Jumps can be at any height and using wings is allowed if necessary.
The cost is the same as entering a divisional team and it doesn’t matter how many points a dog has or hasn’t.
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