Pass the Lemsip please....
After another amazing Agility World Championships (AWC) watching top dogs from around the world compete for the status of FCI Agility World Champion, the performance analysis starts.
I'm sure some teams hit their performance targets (Germany, Czech Republic) and some no doubt exceeded their expectations. Poland won their first ever medal a Gold, and Hungary, Estonia and Lithuania won their 3rd medals*.
From my reckoning eight more countries joined the championships this year.**
Some of the stats on the 22nd FCI Agility World Championships*:
In 2016 Great Britain had won 17 medals at the AWC ranking us joint 12th in the medal table with Austria and Czech Republic.
Social media is buzzing with diagnosis of why teams did/didn't do as well as expected. Team members have been messaging each other with remedies that would sort out their annual dose of the 'common agility cold'. And team leaders, coaches and assistants are standing back looking for a wider cure for this annoying illness.
Indeed myself and the Coaching Team, 'The Management' as some people refer to (a term I don't particularly like) are delving into our data, the analysis and theories about why we caught another cold again this year; after all, we've been having regular flu jabs since December 2016...
Some of the common symptoms being discussed are:
We can go on taking cough medicine for these symptoms each year. We need to find a sustainable long lasting remedy. And I believe we need a change of direction and our approach rather than a different bottle of cough medicine each year.
I'll explore some thoughts in my next blog.
* Source - FCI
** Source - Agility Team GB records
I'm sure some teams hit their performance targets (Germany, Czech Republic) and some no doubt exceeded their expectations. Poland won their first ever medal a Gold, and Hungary, Estonia and Lithuania won their 3rd medals*.
From my reckoning eight more countries joined the championships this year.**
Some of the stats on the 22nd FCI Agility World Championships*:
- 514 dogs & handlers entered;
- 43 countries competing;
- 40 different breeds;
- 202 small dogs;
- 151 medium dogs and,
- 164 large dogs.
In 2016 Great Britain had won 17 medals at the AWC ranking us joint 12th in the medal table with Austria and Czech Republic.
- Switzerland hold the top spot with 41 medals,
- France with 37 medals and
- Finland 35.
Social media is buzzing with diagnosis of why teams did/didn't do as well as expected. Team members have been messaging each other with remedies that would sort out their annual dose of the 'common agility cold'. And team leaders, coaches and assistants are standing back looking for a wider cure for this annoying illness.
Some of the common symptoms being discussed are:
- Course design is so different to what we compete on week in week out;
- The FCI ring size creates a different style of course;
- Flat, even, perfect surfaces lets dogs run faster;
- We're not used to flowing courses;
- Our jump heights are different;
- The distance between jumps is different;
- The equipment is different;
- The selection process is different.
Then there are the alternative symptoms:
- The breeding of our agility dogs is different;
- Dogs and handlers are hand picked for this event;
- Its the wrong time of the year for us;
- We should train more and compete less;
- We were unlucky.
We can go on taking cough medicine for these symptoms each year. We need to find a sustainable long lasting remedy. And I believe we need a change of direction and our approach rather than a different bottle of cough medicine each year.
I'll explore some thoughts in my next blog.
* Source - FCI
** Source - Agility Team GB records
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