Each 'World Championship Event' has it's own feel, format, it's own personality. I don't think preparation for any final that an Agility handler might run is the same... my take on the South African road to the FCI Agility World Championships is just a single view, a single opinion, a single way of preparing.As a South African, I travel halfway across the world, spending a large sum of money. This is a choice I make, it is something that you work towards over many months. Once you are selected for the team, there are mounds of paperwork and technical details: flights, cargo costings, titre tests, EU Health Certificates, Customs Clearing, Schengen Visa Applications, flight crates, to mention a few. On top of that most of us need to do some serious fundraising (we are talking a trip that costs in the region of 2800 Euro or 3700 dollars here). In between holding a day job and planning logistics, this trip is not something to be underestimated.
In between worrying about all of the above there is the actual preparation...
This is not all 'running AWC judge courses'... If I ran one full course a week in the last month it is a lot... It started with analysing my own weaknesses (weave poles speed, full wraps and a million other thing), improving those, thinking of better ways, videos and analysis, dreams and sleepless nights. Only then did I analyse courses from the AWC judges, A LOT of courses, pulling them apart and separating the small individual sequences and then analysing the patterns and calculating the repetitions percentage for each judge... yes I am VERY technical.... Then overlapping my own skill strengths and weaknesses with judge habits and determining the best ways to train these individually to build our partnerships as strong as possible... have the most skills possible available at our finger tips. There is of course also fitness and muscle building exercises to ensure we are both as strong as we can possibly be. And then my best friend, The Mental Game. Making sure that I am prepared for every step from leaving South Africa, to stepping on the start line. Coping with disappointment and failure, just as much as success and triumph. Prioritising, shutting out, keeping in. Practising startline routines and exiting the ring and rewarding. I have two team rounds, where I owe it to my team mates to keep it together, to make sure that we stay in the game, recovering from mistakes and making it through. I know Volt runs at his best when I run all out, with everything I have, but balancing that with not incurring a disqualification is the key. I have two individual rounds where there is only one rule, all or nothing, those are the Agility rounds that I live for. I will have to be sure to run each round as it is called for.
Now I am starting to get excited. I am a traveller after all. Sight-seeing and laughs with good friends. A European 'Braai' (barbecue). A local show. A team that wants to. A fun fair. My runs in the morning. Seeing 'old' Agility friends and making new ones (if you read this blog and you are going to Luxembourg, come and say hi). Quality time with Volt. New food. Good BEER! Walks with my dog. An unforgettable experience.
The support from Agility South Africa has been absolutely mind-blowing this year. People from near and far have been showing their enthusiasm for our team in so many ways and I hope we will do everyone proud! I want to thank everyone, sorry if I forgot to do it personally. All your messages, all your good luck gifts, all your kind words and all your positive thoughts will be going with me to Luxembourg. I want to especially thank my amazing training partners and friends, the journey has been one that is bigger and more important than words.
