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

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?

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.

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.

Howard, they CAN. They are called “Performance Teams”.

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

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.

“…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?

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.