Voting closes tonight to choose the 2018-20 Agility Committee, and we’ll soon have a brand new committee to run our sport. Before they go, I thought I’d take a moment to thank the outgoing AC for all their hard work. I’m especially grateful for the following changes to our sport that have been made over the last two years:
- The Club Trainers Subcommitee – I think this is an awesome initiative to help support and grow our clubs. I’m looking forward to seeing what the subcommittee achieves over the next couple of years.
- Taking AC meetings on the road – It’s a super idea to make the agility committee more accessible to people around the country. Unfortunately I couldn’t make it to the Christchurch meeting, but maybe next time! I hope the incoming committee keeps this up.
- Consultation on Starters and AD classes – Personally, I think our agility graduation system needs some revision. The survey revealed that I’m in the minority there, but oh well. I’m so glad that we had the opportunity to discuss graduation and have our views heard.
- Funding the Ian Gray history project – Many of you will have seen the discussion about this on Facebook. What you may not realise is that Dogs NZ and our AC have each contributed $500 to this project. Ian was the “founding father” of agility in NZ, and it was thanks to his efforts that agility became a Dogs NZ recognised sport in 1987. I can’t wait to see the finished project!
- Requiring voters to be members of an agility club – Prior to this change, any Dogs NZ member could register for the agility voting roll. This opened our elections up to interference from outside our community. I’m not aware of anything untoward happening (hopefully most people have better things to do than meddle in our elections!) but I’m glad to see this loophole removed. It also sends a message that people who compete in agility and want to have their voices heard should belong to an agility club. Personally I think this should be a requirement to compete at all!
Thank you to all the outgoing AC – Carl, Sallie, Bevan, Diana, Chris, Steve, Wayne and Joanne – for your hard work. Thanks also to the other volunteers who keep our sport running – particularly Pete (website), Cam (permanent numbers) and the heights review-subcommittee.
What was your favourite decision made by our outgoing Agility Committee?
I’m enjoying your blog Kate!
I also liked the starters/AD consultation… I was surprised to find I’m in the minority in that I would prefer agility to align with jumpers structure.. but the consultation was a good thing. But my favourite thing over the last term was the jump heights review… and whilst I still favour some of the overseas heights over ours, I think being able to follow the process and see everything as it happened was excellent.