Changing your perspective on competition....

With SA Champs and AWC Try-Outs a mere 23 days away, me and some of the friends also going out for the team this year have been chatting away, discussing various mental aspects of Agility...  Yup, there are other people around that is ALMOST as nerdy as me (SCAREEEEEEEEE)...

Now, I know that my biggest stumbling block will be my mental game, it has been pointed out to me repeatedly, that half the time I stand on that start-line my mind is not all the way there.  Okay arguably I am slightly insane so my mind is NEVER all the way the way there, but you know what I mean.  So I am reading a load of material, listening to my cd's and I am really hoping to fix this problem in time for the finals... okay but that is not actually what that this post is about, my thinking got me to quite another place on the mental game of agility...

So often I meet people who's mental state is not on the same level as their commitment or expectation of agility.  Many ways for this to happen, I will give you a few examples...

There are some handlers that want to compete at a certain level and they think what they do is 'good enough' and refuse to evolve as the sport does.  There are people that want to go to the AWC,  yet they refuse to teach their dog a contact method (other than the lovely scream of WAIT' when the dog reaches the downramp of course), because the don't think it is necessary.  They then try and justify there lacking performances and speeds by other means... like saying that another dog has longer legs or other wonderfully colourful stories...  I have spoken to said people, gently tried to nudge them, but apparently I am not as convincing as I think...  Their mental state is that of mediocrity while their expectation is that of exceptional performance.



In that same class is the people that have dogs with so much raw talent it is dripping out of their ears.  Dogs that has it ALL and even though the handlers can see this potential and there for want to be competitive on an international level... BUT since these handlers have not yet acquired the skill to train and handle their dogs, they consciously want to slow them down, you know break the edge off instead of adjusting their own mental state to get the best out of their dogs.

Of course there is the CLASSIC, the crowd that wants to be competitive, but they are not willing to put in the work, these handlers produce dog after dog that breaks their waits, leaps off contacts, demolishes courses...  this one is actually quite funny (not funny haha), because generally these dogs come in moulds, the same handler will produce the same mistake over and over and over and over and over again.  I don't know if this group don't have the sense to realise where the mistakes lie, or if they are just not willing to adjust their mental state, but regardless the problem is their mental game.



There is another example, and please note I am wearing my bullet proof vest on this one, as I am sure I will be taking shots, but lets face the facts.  On an international level, as in at the World Champs, there are breeds that will always have the advantage.  In the large dogs, Border Collies are bred for working, speed, their build, their work ethic, every single aspect OF the breed gives them an advantage.  Of course there are other breeds that can hold their own... Belgium Shepherds, Kelpies... in the smalls and mediums, there are ofc Shelties, Mudi's, Poodles, JRT's, Paps etc.  Dogs that have a scientific advantage.  But there are people, who want to prove a point, they get 'not normally worked breeds' or 'rare breeds', now I am all for this, but you will always HAVE to know that your goals will differ from Border Collie handlers.  So if you favour a certain breed and this is the dog you want to do agility with, that is cool.  However accept the fact that the chances of a Spaniel, or a ACD, or a Lab or a GSD, you HAVE to realise, that even though it IS possible, statistically you have a very low chance of winning the World Champs.  In this case, you can make the absolute best of the dog in question and achieve A LOT of things.  But if you have the thought in your head BEFORE getting a puppy that you want to be WORLD CHAMPION, then you should get yourself to a mental state that you have to optimize your chances.

I could name five million more examples, but my point is, your mental commitment should be equal to your goals in agility, otherwise you are doomed to disappointment.  The hardest part is that you have to be willing to continually adjust and evolve mentally to match the evolution of agility.  And by this I am not saying that everyone HAS to WANT to be competitive on the same level, but those that are not competitive cannot expect the rest of the world to aim for mediocrity, just so they can be competitive...  If you are doing agility just for fun, well then no aspect of competition should bother you after all....