By Mark Laker
Social media is a great way to keep up with positive news stories and topics of interest.
Although I rarely get involved in Facebook debates, I consider them to be a huge drain on my time for little or no reward and mostly trivia.
However, I recently commented on a post regarding a proposed rule change on the number of obstacles used in agility courses. I commented because I am privileged to be in a position where I see the sport from an International level right down to local club level. So I added my thoughts and left it for the decision makers to progress.
But, the conversations in the thread of the topic played on my mind, something about this didn’t sit well for me. It wasn’t a controversial thread or one of those pointless posts people put for the sake of stirring-up others. No there was something more deep-rooted about this. Then I realised…the conversation was focused on the topic the originator intended, but the issue’s raised weren’t all about the proposed number of obstacles, they were about the one thing that makes agility unique from many other sports…
Men, women, boys, and girls of all ages and capabilities competing against each other. Increasing the number of obstacles would increase the challenge for some, while for others it may just push agility from a fun hobby to something physically out of reach; a view I sympathise with.
Maybe agility has evolved to the point where we need to take a serious look and decide if we’re still happy with our unique position. Should we remain a sport which everyone competes against each other, or do we start looking at switching some of the focus on to the human athlete, with classes for young, senior, males, females as most other sports do?
Are we able to perceive this as a way to progress agility as a fun sport for all.
Mark Laker
