The most amazing time

‘We’ve had the most amazing time ever, thank you so much’  

That type of feedback from a parent makes me realise just what a special event the European Open for Juniors is.  For the young handlers it’s a huge step up from the competitions they’re used to. For the parents it’s an emotional roller coaster. For the Coaching Team it’s four rewarding days of constant exciting activity.

After all the preparation and planning to finally walk run into the opening ceremony is a great feeling for all of us.

It’s a family holiday, it’s the coming together of a years planning, it’s the highlight of a young handlers agility career. 

It’s also a lot of fun.

At this years championships there were: 27 countries; 564 dogs and 126 teams. And make no mistake, the standard is as good as any Championship class in the UK. I'm not just talking about children doing dog agility, these are well practiced and well prepared agility handlers under the age of 18 demonstration the future of agility.

YKC Agility Team GB came home with three class places and a bronze medal (overall small junior individual); a fantastic result for the team. Of course winning podium places and medals is important to us, but so is the development of future handlers. To this extent the Championships were very successful. 

We built in more team work to our preparations this year. I’m sure this contributed to our improved performance. The team spirit amongst the handlers, parents and the coaching team was incredible. When you see an experienced young handler stepping in to help another with course handling decisions completely unaided you realise the supportive culture built up in this years team.

Like all teams we came together to achieve an objective, win medals / class places and develop handlers. Once the objective is achieved the team disbands. However, unlike most teams I don’t think this years team will be disbanding any time soon. 

There were friendships made in The Netherlands that will go on for a long time. Friendships between children and parents that will support these handlers long into their agility careers and probably outside of agility too.

Next week I'm off to the European Open with the adult team in Austria. I'm sure this will be equally as exciting. That will be the subject of my next blog.