Posting by Mark Laker
For the 1st time, Agility Team GB & CSJ support a team of young handlers at the European Open for Juniors in Slovakia
By now most of the agility community are aware that for the first time Agility Team GB and CSJ supported a team of young handlers going to the European Open for Juniors in Slovakia last weekend. I was part of the Coaching Team that went along to support and manage the team. We had the most amazing time.
For a start the venue, The X Bionic sphere was out of this world. Apparently it’s one of the top sports venue’s in Europe. It can host up to 27 Olympic sports, has seven different sauna’s, a cinema, a 50m pool, running tracks, in fact everything imaginable for sports people. It was a very inspirational venue to host such events.
The competition was attended by over 450 young handlers from across Europe and was also attended by teams from USA, Canada and Russia. The standard was equal to the adult competition and the judges didn’t compromise on their course; these were some of the toughest agility courses I’ve seen.
Our handlers produced some fantastic runs bringing back bronze, silver and gold medals across all heights and categories.
One of the most memorable parts of the whole event for me, apart from the medal haul, was seeing a group of young handlers come together as a team, support each other through good runs and tough times and produce world class competition agility. There was also a carnival like atmosphere with young people from all countries coming together to dance, celebrate and enjoy the competition.
It was a most memorable event.
