If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins.
Benjamin Franklin
Flyball is a game of much passion whether it’s playing in the ring or discussing it as evidenced from recent comments on this forum. There are many people that have strong opinions and a personal attachment to this sport. Others, outside of North America are most likely looking at this and trying to figure out why there is so much discussion on these seemingly trivial subjects. However, they can likely look forward to these same topics in the future as flyball evolves in their countries, for the competitive nature of the sport lends itself to such passion. Whether you lurk or comment on this forum you have opinions.
Many of you who are new to the sport and new to dog related activities, are probably scratching your heads and saying, “I just want to play with my dog.” Please try to understand the addition of new organizations, rule changes, and/or the lack of rule changes affect the way you play with your dog.
Politics
No one likes talking about politics but it is unavoidable. For those that don’t know or were not involve with the sport at the time, the people who created U-FLI were heavily involved in NAFA and its politics. Frustration and controversy was a major factor in the departure of these people and the creation of U-FLI. There are still to this day many hard feelings on both sides. Many of the same things that are being discussed now were discussed before the split. Therefore, it is very obvious that current NAFA Board members are very reluctant to follow U-FLI’s lead in several areas no matter if they are good ideas or not.
It is important to me and I hope it’s important to everyone in the flyball community that we have two thriving flyball organizations. I know that it’s hard, but pride should not play a part in the achievement of this goal. For competition’s sake, if something is working well in one organization, the other organization needs to look at what is working, strive to improve upon it, and implement it. The time for sitting idly by is over.
Secrecy
During one of the NAFA Candidate chat sessions it was pointed out to me that Sam Ford, NAFA Executive Director, asked the question…
At times the BoD discusses issues that are not to be made public. Are you willing to commit to keeping these private discussions totally private and not divulging information even when you disagree with the majority?
He goes on to say…
…Commitment by everyone to the organization is basic. And the ability to discuss sensitive issues and keep them private are bedrock foundations for the organization. Committing to these before the election is a promise that we all should make to this organization….
I have said this before and here it is again, if we have dogs that run in this organization then we are stockholders in this organization and have a right to know how our board members feel about certain issue that are discussed. If it is discussed in a meeting of the board, it should be in the minutes. I understand that some items of discussion need to remain private and that’s why Executive Session exists. How can the delegates know what our representatives think of certain issues if everything is secret? Secrecy leads to speculation and rumor, which doesn’t help anyone.
Larry
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2 comments ↓
I agree, secrecy is not a good policy. If you are a government and national security depends on it, sure. But a dog sport… this reminds me of what happened with NADAC agility. I got so frustrated with them i stopped competing in the venue. Secrets, random rule changes… it was frustrating and not worth it anymore.
This secrecy thing is one of the reasons we left our old team. Certain people are privy the major desicions that affect the whole. And before you know it it becomes a rule even if there’s a majority of others who feel diferently. For us, it was often; “when did we vote on that?” That’s not the way majority rule works. ( I suppose this couldv’e gotten a but confusing for some when we ended up with a President who didn’t actually win and the world ended up where we are now…) - ( ooo look out contraversy on the way, it however is true, and applies to this topic on a much smaller scale as representation isn’t happening on a regular basis and the few voices that are speaking up are not being heard or made less of.) I will state I do not equate what’s going on in the world, to anything dog related. I just am making a point here.
Board Members are supposed to represent the whole. (Officers in the club represent their club member’s , RD are to represent the clubs in their region, you all know how this should work… this means the RD’s should be talking to each club ( via e-mail I suppose) and each club’s opinion should be represented(after asking their members) and reported to the NAFA BOD. It’s basic civics. These positions involve representing the people who elected you. Not any other agenda. This is the job you said you would do and why you were chosen above the others.
At this point, it seems possible that NAFA may be approaching the “taxation without representation” revolt in the near future.(as we eventually revolted agaist our former club) History does repeat itself…
That could be why some clubs only run U-fli these days…The voices of their people are not being heard.
I suggest the BOD sit back and have a nice cup of tea…
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