| Team Philosophy |
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Hyper Flight
is a very small, highly-competitive flyball club from Texas. Most
of our members live in northern Dallas, but some members live as far
away as Nacogdoches, in eastern Texas. We practice almost every
Sunday in Carrollton or Garland, usually for about 7 hours. Some of
the club members get together during the week for less formal
practices, usually in someone’s garage or at a park in Garland.
We usually attend 7-11 tournaments a year; tournaments are all-day
Saturday and Sunday events.
We only race in U-FLI events.
We believe that U-FLI is the only North American flyball
organization
that treats all competitors fairly. However, we have many friends
that race in NAFA events, and we believe that most NAFA competitors are
great people. About half of the tournaments
we attend are held in Texas, but we travel all over the country
seeking the best competition. In recent years, we have attended
tournaments in
Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Tennessee.
We believe it is important to
give back to the flyball community by hosting tournaments and helping
other clubs host tournaments. We hosted the first (2006) and
second (2007) annual U-FLI Championships. Between November 2006
and March 2008 (about 16 months) we hosted eight tournaments on
different weekends.
In
general, there are two broad philosophies among flyball competitors:
some competitors are primarily interested in obtaining points and
earning titles for their dogs (for an explanation of points and titles,
see p. 25 of the U-FLI rulebook),
whereas other competitors are primarily interested in winning
tournaments and running fast times. Neither philosophy is better
than the other; it’s just a matter of personal preference. Most
members of Hyper Flight are primarily interested in winning tournaments
and running fast times, but some of us care about titles.
People often wonder
why our practices are so long compared to most clubs. There
are at least two
reasons: (1) we don’t just run lineups every practice (in fact,
sometimes we go weeks without running lineups). Instead, we work
on very specific drills for each dog, with multiple people typically
analyzing the performance of each dog. (2) We have a LOT of
dogs. Most of our current members have multiple dogs that they
bring to practice each week. Unfortunately that means that in a 7
hour practice, individual dogs are usually only worked 1-2 times,
although we try to work inexperienced dogs 2-3
times/practice.
We
are obsessed with having a dog truly prepared before we begin racing it
in competition. Therefore, it often takes a year or more of
training before a dog enters its first tournament. This long
period of preparation is the single greatest obstacle to most newcomers
to Hyper Flight. We are happy to introduce someone to the sport,
and we welcome newcomers to come to our practices. However, there are
other clubs in the Dallas area that would likely put a newcomer’s dog
in the racing lane before we would. Hyper Flight is the fastest
flyball club in the south-central and southeastern United States, but
we recognize that we are not the right club for everyone. If
someone attends some Hyper Flight practices but decides later to join
another club, we understand. We just want flyball to grow in the north Texas area. U-FLI clubs in Texas and Oklahoma
are a close-knit group wherein all tend to help each other in any way
possible.
Other U-FLI flyball clubs in the Dallas area:
4 Dog Flight. 4 Dog Flight teaches flyball classes; information can be found on their website. e-mail 4 Dog Flight
Cutting Edge.
Cutting Edge is the sister club to Hyper Flight. Cutting Edge is
very small and, in general, more concerned about points and titles than
is Hyper Flight. Cutting Edge often practices with Hyper Flight
(but usually not for 8 hours!). e-mail Cutting Edge
PAC. Website. e-mail PAC.
Sure Shots.
Sure Shots is another highly-competitive club in the Dallas area. Sure Shots website