First off, I think it's great that you're trying for this, it's good to have a goal to reach for.
As to why the FCI championships are better known/higher regarded, there are a couple factors at work. One is that the FCI championships have been held longer, and are held every year, so there have been a lot more of them. The IFCS event has been held every other year since 2002 (according to that site), so not so many of them.
The IFCS is also basically the international arm of the USDAA. Not exactly, but close. I did read something about this elsewhere, and it's pretty much the USDAA and Russia partnered with the stated goal of wanting an international standard for agility- I think maybe so it could become an Olympic event, but I might be making that up. Anyway, it is very USDAA-centric, with the classes offered and the jump heights. Which doesn't fall that well into what the rest of the world is doing, hence the fact that it hasn't caught on more than it has. I'm not sure the rest of the world even uses those particular games. Most countries certainly don't put the weight on them that the USDAA does.
The games do make the event less accessible, because if you don't train for them, they are hard to do, and if the classes aren't important in the orgs you usually compete in, you aren't going to want to train them.
I did think about trying for this myself, since it's to be in the US, but the selection process is pretty impossible for me, I simply can't get to the events I would need to earn points at. From that aspect, the AKC FCI team is more inclusive, as the requirements to try out can be met anywhere, then there's the "all or nothing" tryouts, and you're done.
But I'd agree with Heather that there isn't a true world championship which gives a reasonable chance to anyone. Fun to play with what we have, though.
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Date: 2010-12-22 04:12 pm (UTC)As to why the FCI championships are better known/higher regarded, there are a couple factors at work. One is that the FCI championships have been held longer, and are held every year, so there have been a lot more of them. The IFCS event has been held every other year since 2002 (according to that site), so not so many of them.
The IFCS is also basically the international arm of the USDAA. Not exactly, but close. I did read something about this elsewhere, and it's pretty much the USDAA and Russia partnered with the stated goal of wanting an international standard for agility- I think maybe so it could become an Olympic event, but I might be making that up. Anyway, it is very USDAA-centric, with the classes offered and the jump heights. Which doesn't fall that well into what the rest of the world is doing, hence the fact that it hasn't caught on more than it has. I'm not sure the rest of the world even uses those particular games. Most countries certainly don't put the weight on them that the USDAA does.
The games do make the event less accessible, because if you don't train for them, they are hard to do, and if the classes aren't important in the orgs you usually compete in, you aren't going to want to train them.
I did think about trying for this myself, since it's to be in the US, but the selection process is pretty impossible for me, I simply can't get to the events I would need to earn points at. From that aspect, the AKC FCI team is more inclusive, as the requirements to try out can be met anywhere, then there's the "all or nothing" tryouts, and you're done.
But I'd agree with Heather that there isn't a true world championship which gives a reasonable chance to anyone. Fun to play with what we have, though.