Chris Van Wert has written an excellent post on the Pros and Cons of NAFA’s new Open Class. I think that even though some people have some problems with this new class, and Chris does a good job in bring them to light, in the long run it will be good for NAFA and good for the sport.
Chris also makes some other points, which are worth quoting here…
It’s possible that “Open Class” will actually help clubs to stay together. That the reasons for leaving a team will be less important if you can enter a tournament and run on another club without having to leave your club to do so. It will also give us the opportunity to become flyball ambassadors if we can enter tournaments on long distance trips. We would be able to meet and get to know flyball enthusiasts in places far removed from our home regions. Let’s give the Open Class a fair chance to win your approval. Flyball is changing — NAFA is changing — we are only afraid of change because of the “unknown”.
You can read the compete post on Chris’ blog here.
Larry
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Let me first say that our club ran Open Class at a tourney the first weekend of October and it was a blast! There were 7 teams entered in the division and it was fun to see the new ‘team’ dynamic of dogs that have never really run together before making it work and pulling in some amazing times.
We are a relatively new team and while we have some excellent flyball dogs… we also have a height dog shortage and the Open Class allowed us to enter a team of 3 of our bigger dogs along with a height dog from another team. It was truly a win/win for both teams as we needed a height dog and they had one that would otherwise have just been hanging out in its crate all weekend.
I give the Open Class an enthusiastic thumbs up and hope more people give it a chance. It opens up new possibilities for smaller clubs, clubs who have members that don’t want to ‘travel’, teams with dogs temporarily on the DL, etc. a chance to still play and be competitive and have fun.
I have run open class in u-fli and has lots of fun and I plan to run open again next weekend with dogs from two other teams. We have a very large club and usually run 4 teams. Splitting some of the dogs off into open makes things a little easier. I enjoy meeting new folks and open is pretty low stress. If you’re running open you’re there to have a good time. Open seems to work well for people coming from out of state. They might not be able to get enough people from their team to commit to an out of region tournament. We set-up a forum to help people get matched up for our tourn. I hope that nafa will set up some sort of by region forum to make it easier for people to connect.
I also support the basic idea of the Open Class. It is being offered at many tournaments now and seems to be getting filled by a few teams. However, I wonder if, after the newness has worn off, will we continue to see enough support in this class to make it feasible. I understand it is about having fun but it is also about competing with your dog. If only one team enters as open or if one very fast open team enters and one very slow open team enters, will it still be fun for the handlers? Flyball really is about competition and the races I remember best over the years are the ones that are so very close.
I guess it boils down to my curiousity of why the BOD decided that open teams can not compete directly against non-open teams. As long as open teams can not compete for tournament placement and regional points, what does it hurt to allow them to be entered as a “open team” in the regular racing? My understanding (from a BOD member) is that basically a single BOD member prevented the Open Class from being more open based on the opinion that NAFA should not be too much like U-Fli.
I would love to know if other flyballers think about this issue.
Interesting grapevine stuff - on the BoD attitude. This same attitude refused to assist Australia and Japan in setting up flyball.
“…it was good enuff for grandaddy…”
I have gone over the “con’s” listed in Chris’ blog - most arguments revolve around this one point that you make, Howard.
Instituting an Open class, instead of adopting a model that appears to be working, created a number of issues.
Pickup teams definately should be entered along side Regular teams, if for no other reason than to keep the competition fun and to help fill Regular divisions. Right?
In attempting to address the cons, (Chris’ blog) we are ignoring all the legitimate reasons for considering pick up teams: moving due to personal reasons, a club loses members to less than enough to fill a team, a new club is trying to get started, some, but not a whole club can travel to a distant tournament, some, but not the whole club can get away for even a local tournament. I am new to flyball, I am sure many of you have experienced more reasons than I have come up with.
bcollie gave a great example of how having pick up teams helps. Are others experiencing this same thing?
Who among us can attest to BoD candidates that are confident there is a way, rather than concentrating on the wall with no opening apparant in it?
“As long as open teams can not compete for tournament placement and regional points, what does it hurt to allow them to be entered as a “open team” in the regular racing?”
What fun is it to compete against a regular team knowing in advance that you cannot compete for tournament placement? That you will automatically finish at the bottom of your division no matter how well you race?
“Open Class” gives every team in that class an equal chance to win in their division. You can run together in your “Dream Team” no matter what you conceive that “Dream” to be. As an example, in the very first tournament that offered Open Class, I was able to run with my mini-aussie’s littermate sister. We also had a mother/2 daughters relation on that team. We also know where other members of this family of mini-aussies lives and my friend’s and I dream of the day we will enter an all mini-aussie Open Team. (We’ll probably call it “Awesome Aussies” or something like that.) But, I would feel robbed if we were prevented from racing for a Division win because we were just an “Open Team” stuck in a division to fill up regular racing. That would demote Open Class Teams to second-rate status.
“In attempting to address the cons, (Chris’ blog) we are ignoring all the legitimate reasons for considering pick up teams: moving due to personal reasons, a club loses members to less than enough to fill a team, a new club is trying to get started, some, but not a whole club can travel to a distant tournament, some, but not the whole club can get away for even a local tournament. ”
I didn’t ignore all those reasons for considering “pick-up teams” All the reasons you site are reasons I support the Open Class.
…but, what I was attempting to answer are the reasons that 30% of the delegates polled answered NO to pick up teams. That there are more reasons to support the Open Class than there are reasons to criticize it.
The biggest “fear” that people have of the Open Class is that it will become bigger and more popular than the regular classes: 4-Breed and Regular. The only benefit for racing in the Regular Class is that you are eligible for Regional Points. If you aren’t racing for Regional Points, then I would prefer to pick up a dog from anywhere and race in the Open Class for a Tournament win.
“I wonder if, after the newness has worn off, will we continue to see enough support in this class to make it feasible?”
I think support for the Open Class will exceed all expectations. Everywhere I go, people are making plans to enter the Open Class. The one thing I see holding this back will be TDs who choose not to offer it. Or, who “limit” the number of entries in Open they’ll accept.
“What fun is it to compete against a regular team knowing in advance that you cannot compete for tournament placement? That you will automatically finish at the bottom of your division no matter how well you race?”
I think you are missing the point. Even though you have no chance to win tournament placement, what fun is it to run against a much faster or much slower team? Open teams should be seeded and run in the division they belong for the sake of the dogs and the people. The dogs thrive on the competition just as much as the people do.
I think you are pretty much right on on everything else in your article
“I guess it boils down to my curiousity of why the BOD decided that open teams can not compete directly against non-open teams. ”
Howard, they CAN. They are called “Performance Teams”.
“Even though you have no chance to win tournament placement, what fun is it to run against a much faster or much slower team? Open teams should be seeded and run in the division they belong for the sake of the dogs and the people.”
I’d rather “lose” to a faster seeded team that actually ran a faster time than my team then to have a legitimate “win” taken away from me due to an inferior status, ie the “Open Team”.
Remember, NAFA DOES allow “Open Team” to be seeded in the regular racing. They are called Performance Teams. Treat the Open Class as it should be…a separate Class.
I disagree, as I am sure many do. This may be a good poll issue.
Performance Teams are only for the rare occasion when at team has entered a tournament and then cannot field a team because of some unforeseen circumstance.
“…“Open Class” gives every team in that class an equal chance to win in their division. You can run together in your “Dream Team” no matter what you conceive that “Dream” to be. …”
And three paragraphs later
… “The biggest “fear” that people have of the Open Class is that it will become bigger and more popular than the regular classes: …”
You have struck at the heart of this issue, Chris, in my opinion. The fear of “Dream Teams” running for points and unofficial glory and the fear that Open class will diminish a desire to work it out in clubs.
Pick up teams should be an opportunity to run when the club is short too many dogs to fill a team. Anything else detracts from the concept of a team sport: placement, separate class/division.
It is perfectly acceptable to me to run my dog on a pick up team, understanding the following: he/she is getting experience, he/she is getting points, and doing so helps another team in the same way. Tournament points are not relevant, they are not earned as a club, NAFA or U-FLI records are not relevant, they are not earned running as a club.
Not that it matters to me, but Open class is not competitive, seed times can range from D1 to D5+, and run in the same bracket.
A theme running through Chris’ post argues that teams will just run for points. The Open class as instituted, lends itself to clubs helping each other run for points, because each dog can run Open and Regular.
If pickup teams ran in Regular Brackets, they could not double up except in Mixed (4-Breed).
This is not because of the pick up team concept. It is because of the way it is established.
Something to consider, maybe. What has Pick Up, and Singles/Pairs done for U-FLI? (I do not know.) Is NAFA so safely ensconced in the fabric of America that it can spurn “innovation” at will? Maybe it is. Is it important that a new wheel be invented?
bcollie: “We set-up a forum to help people get matched up for our tourn. I hope that nafa will set up some sort of by region forum to make it easier for people to connect.”
I heard you bcollie. I figure why wait for NAFA when I can set up a forum for free? So, for anyone wishing to make a connection for the purpose of racing in the Open classes, Veterans Classes or need to find a dog to declare a Performance Team, I have set up a forum designed to hook you up, team to dog or dog to team, Region by Region.
Anyone can post to these forums. You do not need to be a member but, it helps to make a connection if you leave your email address.
http://www.freewebs.com/chrisvanwert/nafaflyball.htm
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