Slovakia 2016 - WOW

Slovakia 2016 will go down as one of my most memorable trips with Agility Team GB, it was fabulous.

Agility fans reading this will have seen many of the pictures and posts from the team and probably gained a sense of the excitement we had. There were so many parts of the journey I enjoyed from considering how we send a team, the planning through to the event itself. I'm going to blog about some of this over the next week. I have also asked the junior handlers to write a short piece for me too.

So here's a short summary from me on this blog:

• The idea to send a team to the European Open for Juniors (EOJ) was started before I was asked to manage the project - thanks guys for getting the idea started;
  
• The YKC and CSJ once again have been right behind the project giving us 100% support throughout. This makes a huge contribution to the teams overall success and enjoyment. Its clear when talking to other countries, that we are very fortunate to have this support;
  
• Having people around me I could rely on to 'get the job done' was imperative. Trying to get the handlers to warm up, get their dogs ready and get to the ring on time was done in relaxed, calm and stress-free way thanks to their help.
  
• The parents were very supportive. They let us do our job and were their for their children for the highs and lows. They were a great support team themselves!
  
• This years venue was extra special. We are so lucky to have experienced a truly inspirational location for a sporting event like the EOJ;
  
• Dogs continue to amaze me as to how well they can cope with: the heat; the travelling; living in a hotel room for a week and the excitement of high pressure agility. They are more adaptable than we sometimes believe;
  
• And of course the handlers who were fantastic. They came together as a group of young people from across the UK as one team. They supported each other, they made new friends, they dealt with this high pressure event incredible well and managed to win medals. We'll be seeing more of them in the future I'm sure.

So thank you to everyone who made this journey possible. I'm very honoured to have been part of a successful project to get Agility Team GB Juniors established and successful at our first international competition.

... Luxembourg 2017 anyone?