This past weekend marked the 2nd straight year that the University of Kentucky Men’s Basketball team progressed from a field of 68 NCAA teams to the Final Four. And to top it off, the UK Wildcats will be playing in-state rival, the University of Louisville Cardinals – coached by ex-UK Coach Rick Pitino. What a show-down for we Kentuckians! We love our college hoops almost as much we love our Kentucky bourbon.
What does any of this have to do with dog agility? Actually, quite a bit. Both are team sports. Basketball has five players on the court that have to work together to score points – both offensively and defensively. The 2012 UK team is an impressive group of freshmen who have learned how to read each other, handle the ball selflessly and mature their play beyond their years. The same is true in the sport of agility. The handler and the dog must work together as a team. The handler has to be able to read the course, read the dog’s body language all while guiding the dog through the course to score their “points” during a run. Likewise, the dog reads the handler's movement, body language – including eye movement, and verbal cues.
Besides playing together as a team, both basketball players and dog agility teams have fun and love the sport. Watch any great basketball game and one can see the love of the sport and the ease at which the teams play. When Kentucky beat Baylor this past Sunday, the players were making seamless passes and slam dunks look easy. Man, these boys can play! And they love it. Same with watching a master handler like Stuart Mah run his border collie, Ares. They move together effortlessly as Stuart navigates Ares through threadles, serpentines and independent weave pole entries. They make it look easy because they are having fun and really love the sport.
Finally, basketball and agility require gumption on the part of the team. Look at the University of Louisville Cardinals. They lost the last four of the regular season Big East games; they had multiple players out with injuries and were overlooked by the critics as having a “snow ball’s chance” of winning the Big East Championship, let alone make it to the Final Four. Rick Pitino did not let that get in his team’s way; rather, he coached his team to work hard, play smart and disregard the criticism. As a result, the University of Louisville won the Big East Championship and this Saturday’s Elite 8 game coming from a double-digit deficit to beat the Florida Gators to be the first team named to the NCAA Final Four.
Similarly, dog agility teams have gumption or “stick-to-it-ness” to learn a skill that will result in clean runs. We handlers work hard on learning new handling techniques and training strategies to help our doggies learn how to better read our directions. We train running contacts, 2o2o, 2x2’s, weave-o-matics, training wires, Susan Salo jumping, Linda Mecklenburg’s handling, and so many more techniques to help us “play smart” with our teammates. On any given day or night, the LCDA practice field is populated with dog agility teams who are working hard to train and practice for upcoming events.
So, basketball and dog agility are more alike than I bet you even had thought. As we go into the Final Four this weekend and you watch the teams play in the Big Dance, think about how you and your doggie can be the best agility team. I sure know that I will…
GO BIG BLUE!!
"Good teams become great ones when the members trust each other enough to surrender the Me for the We."
-Phil Jackson
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