I could not agree more. It is Champs not a national gathering. Not everyone should qualify and to suggest that the requirements be adjusted so that "you" can participate is absurd. It is supposed to be difficult.. Just my opinion.
But the thing is, what is difficult to me might not be difficult for you (or vice versa). I know someone who said she qualified for Champs in 3 weekends. Does that sound difficult? I've done two weekends of NADAC and my dogs are almost qualified. So in my eyes the qualifications could be more difficult, but there are a whole lot of people who would be in an uproar if that happened.
For a lot of people, attending their organization's national event IS a social gathering. If you consider the 1200 or so people that attend AKC Nationals, I guarantee you that at least 80% of the people attending know that they don't have a prayer of making finals or winning. They are there because they put in the work to qualify (and those qualifications are pretty hefty), to hang out with friends, to watch some good agility, do some shopping, and to hopefully have some clean runs and bring home a Q ribbon from NAC. Not everyone is super competitive (like me
) and that's okay. These events would be pretty small if only the people/dogs who have a shot at winning came.
It's up to the organization to determine their goals. If the goal is to grow the event then you typically need to make qualifiers easier, or somehow increase the appeal of the event itself. Personally, I appreciate that the other orgs require everyone who attends to meet the same qualifications and runs the same courses. I would love it if NADAC had 1 set of qualifications, everyone just ran in the same (Elite) division, kept the 2-ring format, and ran Round 1 in one ring and Round 2 in the other ring at the same time, then had the groups swap. I don't need a different course for my DD dog. If he was not capable of running the regular courses I wouldn't bring him to Champs.
