Good Sportsmanship. What Does That Mean?

Flyball is unique in that it is the only dog sport that I know that requires a team of humans in order to participate. Dog sledding has a team of dogs but only requires one musher for the team. Flyball involves not only one handler for each dog but, an additional human must load the flyball box. It also helps to have a ball shagger to pickup those confounded loose balls and someone calling passes at the line.

So, it is extremely important that each person on the team contributes to the "teamwork" of the team. No dog can earn points for a heat unless all four dogs cross the line over the jumps with their ball under the allotted time. A three dog finish won't earn points. The dogs need us to accomplish this task. .....and, we need each other.

Good Sportsmanship is the brother to Teamwork. Since people are so important for a team to function successfully (and, in flyball, that means getting credit for points), I regard the people on a team to be at least as important as are the dogs. In the name of "competitiveness", some people have forgotten this. Winning becomes so important that they lose sight of that. In the quest for the fastest team, they make choices that negatively impact others.

We all have choices to make. ....but, when those choices impact others (such as, which dogs are running on which team? or, who's handling who's dog?) we need to be sensitive to others feelings. That is "internal" team sportsmanship. Be aware that someone thinks their dog is the "best" in the world even if it takes that dog 8 seconds to go down & back.

Conversely, as individuals, we need to be realistic about what our dog can do. We need to think about the team as a whole and if your dog is not ready to compete (drops ball, goes around jumps or is prone to crossover) then you need to be mature enough to recognize that and be ok with sitting out until your dog's issues are successfully worked through.

If we work well as a team with each other, then displaying good sportmanship in the ring should be a breeze. It is the competition itself that matters. Not who "wins" and who "loses". If you think about it, you need that other team racing on the other side for, without them, it's just not Flyball!

Good Luck and Good Racing!