Dear Mid-Atlantic Flyball Friends,

    I was overwhelmed by the accolade shown to me at the NSL tournament.  I was totally taken by surprise, but as is usual for me, unable to control my tears sufficiently to thank you all.  I needed to say, what is probably obvious, that I was only the organizer of flyball’s growth.  The workshops we did at home and at other clubs were staffed by Oriole DTC flyballers who took it in turns to come with me to give their time and teaching experience.  I hesitate to name them in case I miss somebody out but they are still foremost on the NSL team and you know them all. 

    I enjoyed examining my unique quilt when I got home and only then realized the reverse was covered in paw prints.  It has been placed on a bed at the top of the stairs in a room with a red carpet so I see it whenever I go up there.  I also only then appreciated the dogs on the giant card were a border collie and a JRT.  You seem to have thought of every detail.  The check I ask to be donated to a spay/neuter program and picked the Maryland SPCA  “neuter scooter” a mobile surgical unit serving Baltimore offering free neutering for dogs and cats. 

    I would like to tell those of you who were not in at the beginning Mid-Atlantic region’s flyball growth, and that is most of you, how small the beginning was.

    The first experience I had of flyball was in the summer of 1990 or thereabouts when Chris Zink persuaded Oriole DTC to buy 8 flyball jumps and 2 flyball boxes (the tuna can type).  She ran a class for a few weeks but did not continue as too few dogs showed competition potential. A group of people in Capital Dog Training Club were learning flyball, and I joined them for demonstrations at local fairs and fund raisers for animal benefits. Eventually 4 of us decided to enter a tournament at the nearest location, which happened to be in Michigan in 1992, (I think).  Our team was made up of 4 Border Collies who had to jump 14”, almost full height. We knew little about how to seed ourselves, or about the value of a little dog to bring the jump heights down. But we won our division anyway. We had named our team Capital Flyers.

    At a flyball demo in Leesburg , Virginia , given by a team from Michigan , I met Mike Randall, the President of The North American Flyball Association (NAFA) at that time. He drew us into his demonstration and our 4 Border Collies ran against his 4 dogs and, to our delight, we won.  Then he brought out his REAL team, and we saw how fast and coordinated a competition team was.  However Mike was encouraging and we were able to measure and photograph a modern box, and with this information I constructed 2 boxes, with considerable saving of money.

    Capital Flyers only competed that 1 time, not everyone being prepared to travel so far to tournaments, and the group disbanded.

     I decided to get a group together at Oriole DTC again. It was open to all comers, the only provisions were the dogs would come with basic obedience and avid dedication to retrieving tennis balls. At that time there was only one book printed on flyball training and I enthusiastically blundered along using my knowledge of obedience training. We produced a team of 3 Border Collies and 1 Australian Shepherd, again having to jump a comparatively high height of 14”, and so we entered our first tournament as No Speed Limit. It was in Michigan in 1993.We followed this by going to some Canadian tournaments (a side benefit-you get to go to Niagara Falls on the way home).

   To try to spread the sport, we began giving workshops, and in fact our first one spawned the seeds for the second Mid-Atlantic group to form, destined to become our nearest rival, namely Hairier Jump Jets of Virginia.  They now have teams which I am sorry to say can beat us.  But just wait, the tide will turn! For a year we visited interested clubs and gave workshops for the cost of our gasoline in NH, PA, VA, DE, NJ and MD.  Plus we held about 3 workshops a year in the Oriole DTC building.            

   We held flyball matches, the first one in conjunction with an Artful Dodgers Agility Trial at Timonium Fairgrounds, on the in-field. The teams were arranged by me from any and all dogs that could run a flyball course. Two other matches were more organized, and we actually had real teams who formed themselves, one being Hairier Jump Jets from VA and one from PA, namely Fur Fun who at that time had raced with a team in MI.

     On the way back from some far distant tournament we decided we should put on our own NAFA sanctioned tournament, which we did in September 1995, in conjunction with the Rare Breeds Match at Howard County Fairgrounds. The site just met NAFA’s minimum standards, but the price was right and we had a local tournament. The entry was a grand 6 teams, one from VA, one from PA, and four from Oriole.  The following year we had five teams and I thought this sport is not going to catch on.   At our third tournament we had 10 teams and LIGHTS and we were off growing to as many as 54 teams in a tournament!  Our sites gradually changed as funds permitted and we upgraded. 

   Gradually new groups enlarged, split off from parent organizations and formed new teams. For some time No Speed Limit was the only tournament giver, and then others took the plunge, so now we may have as many as 26 or 27 tournaments in the eastern United States.  The sport is still despised by breed and obedience enthusiasts largely because they have never seen flyball or, if they have, it seems out of control and too noisy for them.  But dogs can not be forced to do flyball.  They do it because they love it, and they want to go on doing it even when they become old, or as at our club, when missing one hind leg!

    Developing flyball has been both interesting and immeasurably fulfilling and I consider it one of my proudest achievements.    

Eunice Morgan

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