Why Volunteer

When I first started thinking about competing, I signed up for an all day workshop called "Entering Your First Trial" put on by SoBad Agility Club. Not only did we get tons of information along with  2 run throughs (one of which was a mock Full House -it was our first ever attempt at a game and we placed first!!), but the first half of the day was lecture style, going through the logistics of preparing for and entering your first trial. One of the things the presenters stressed was the importance of volunteering.  I took that recommendation to heart and when I entered my first CPE trial on May 1, 2010, I signed up for anything and everything in terms of volunteering but only signed up for one run each day.  It made for a very long (and very hot) weekend but boy did I learn a lot and I sure saw some great competitors!! The hosting club (BoGee) definitely knows how to treat their volunteers.  I was made to feel very welcome, help came readily if I got confused and they gave us some great gifts for volunteering.  It was a wonderful way to start my agility career.

Over the next few months I entered 4 more trials (3 CPE and 1 TDAA) and I volunteered at every one of them.  Every club runs their trials a bit differently and treatment of the volunteers differ too. For the most part everyone I met was helpful, eager to teach and just plain nice.  I got to see first hand just how much the host club relies on their volunteers in order to make the trial happen and being part of that is just one of the best feelings, especially when you get to watch a C-ATCH or C-ATE run and you're part of the ring crew!!

I've only entered one trial so far this year due to poor finances and I'm sad to say I did not volunteer this time. It was a return to my very first trial venue too but I had decided to enter every single event that weekend and I knew I would be too stressed out to deal with 3 dogs, competing and being at my volunteer post as well.   It was a wise decision for me for that particular trial as I did not have my friend with me like I did last year but as I watched people reporting to their posts I felt a twinge of being left out.  We did very well that weekend amassing 6 Q's with 3 firsts and 3 seconds, 1 non Q first place and one NQ. We are 2 runs away from our CL1 title which I hope to get before the fall season is over.  I will not be entering all runs available in my next trial that is for sure. It was exhausting!! We'll go for our Handler and Strategy titles and try Level 2 for the first time. AND I will definitely be volunteering once again!!

Here's to a great rest of the summer with nothing but clean runs and lots of fun!!