Underdogs (pt. 2)
November 10th 2011
It all began to feel right. We were slowly finding our flow, finding our set up and execution of tricks. My little man was starting to make some waves in the sport we both loved.
All the while, Eko was making waves of her own. Her drive increased exponentially as she found a new love for the game and her competitiveness began to come to the surface. She became consistent in her toss and fetch games, averaging some placement in the top 10 at most of her events in 2011. Of course there were a few flubs here and there, usually my fault as she was amazing all season.
She would constantly overshadow Brick’s improvements by pulling off spectacular toss and fetch rounds, spot landing rounds or time trials. While she wasn’t pulling in the scores of many of her fellow competitors, she was still hanging in the top with the herding breeds. Not bad for a short-nose, prima donna of a dog. It became fun for both of us. My expectations lowered as it was now just a matter of playing with my baby girl. Once the pressure dropped, scores increased and the more fun we had. Our bond grew and our game grew.
The most impressive and proudest moment for my little Eko came in September at the Skyhoundz DiscDogAThon World Championship Qualifier. Taking place at Camp Jordan, Chattanooga, the pups and I went out to play, nothing more. I had no expectations of what was to come and had no pressure to qualify as the pool of competitors was a strong one.
The day started with Spot Landing. This had been Eko’s game all year and this day she didn’t disappoint. I can’t recall the number of competitors in this event but it was more than 20 for certain. We were close to the first team to compete that damp, dreary morning.
As always, we began in the start circle. A couple of deep breaths later and the clock began. First throw to the short circle was a catch outside of the circle; 1 point. Second throw, catch in the zone; 6 points. After that, we just played our game. By the end of our 60 seconds, we had a solid 19 points. I was certain that wasn’t a qualifying score but I didn’t care. We had fun just playing our game.
The day continued on as Brick and I were first in the lineup for freestyle. It bombed! I’ve never liked going first or early in the lineup as its very difficult to get a great score when you have nothing to compare to. Was it our worst round? No but it certainly wasn’t our best. Brick pushed me and we rushed. Poor setups, poor sequencing, poor flow and poor throws. I knew the moment I walked off the field there was no way we got a qualifying score. I couldn’t blame Brick though. I knew we weren’t comfortable going first and I knew it was all on me to carry the game despite my nerves. He gave me 110% as he always does and I couldn’t ask for more.
However, I learned a lot from this. Instead of being angry, I stopped, reflected and got my head right to learn from the others there. I thought through what went wrong and began to take mental notes from what I saw other competitors doing. I had 3 days between this event and the Classic Last Chance Qualifier coming up on Friday.
I was greatly influenced by the moves of Jonathan Offi and his dogs, Ruby and Aztec, as well as the games of Tracy Custer and her dogs. I was missing transitional movements, movements I was well aware would improve the game but had never thought to include them into our routine. Duh LT! I had learned those transitional moves long before I ever brought Brick into the pack. I guess it took this event and situation for the light to click on in my brain that these were the movements I was missing. There was way too much starting and stopping in our routine; the sequences were too obviously separated by pauses. Time to rethink the routine.
Finally, that afternoon, the results were in. I wasn’t expecting to have qualified in anything. I hadn’t thought that I would hear what I was about to. Upon announcement of the results, Eko had placed 4th in Spot Landing, landing her an invitation to the World Championships the following day. I didn’t believe it at first and was virtually expressionless until the announcer announced it again. At that point, I could’ve cried. My baby girl was now a World Finalist in the inaugural DiscDogAThon World Championships. What a total surprise! Talk about underdog to wonderdog! Eko gets written off by so many because of her short nose and because she’s not a herding dog but it feels so good when she shows those other dogs what she’s made of. She’s a true competitor when she wants to be but more importantly she really doesn’t give a rip when she’s out there. She wants to play, have fun and make others laugh. She so often brings a smile to the faces of others, that makes it more enjoyable than anything. But this was her shining moment and she knew she had done something. She was all aglow.
Upon arriving back to our rented house that evening, Brick and I began working short sessions on transitions. We worked simple sequences that lead into transitions, like flip>thru>vault or thru>scoot>flip>vault. We worked a variety of transitions, learning the basic concepts and perfecting our timing.
Over the next few days, we continued to work these short sessions, 2 or 3, 5 minute sessions a day in attempt to be ready by the Friday Qualifier.
To be continued…
