Ontheflipside Flyball Team

What a weekend!!!

While the time doesn’t “officially” count for anything but our open time, the new PB speaks volumes about the work we’ve done as a team. We’ve had our own ups and downs over the last few seasons. Everything seemed possible on paper but dogs didn’t seem to click. This year. We are putting together multiple variation of dogs that can run 14.5-14.7.

On Sunday we hit a new PB and then as we walked back to campers when we got weather alerts from Omaha. Severe storms were headed our way, predicting softball size hail and tornadoes. We made the decision as a team to call it and pack up to head home and get settled before the storms rolled in. All of us drive some kind of large RV or 5th wheel/trailer and we needed to do what was best for us. We are glad we did, see the pictures of the flipside crews huddled in their basements waiting for it all to pass!

We are just getting into a rhythm and can’t wait to see everyone in Henry! Enjoy some pictures from the weekend!

Jumping our UFLI height with our ufli line up!

New team record! 14.592

It's taken almost a week to gather our thoughts on the weekend! But here goes nothing!

It's been almost 4 years since we've run a new best team time, we've tried multiple lineups with lots of dogs that on paper seemed so promising. Looking at times dogs can put up, it only takes 4 dogs, running 3.75 or lower in the same line up to hit a 14. That's just it, on paper, things seem so "easy". We would come out of a practice or go into a tournament knowing the potential and nothing coming of it. We have at least 8 dogs that can run 3.5s in any position yet sometimes we would struggle to hit a clean 14! Sometimes things click and sometimes, luck isn't on your side.

On Saturday, first heat of the day we broke our PB for the first time 14.753! That line up was Cajun, Lasso, Bru, Hotshot, after that first race the wheels on the Frontside wagon came off. We struggled to put much together after that. The good news for us, Backside and Upside had tons of success! Rush and Hatari ran new PBs, Rush hitting 3.6 for the first time and Hatari running a smooth 3.626!

Sunday, we decided to do a little "remodeling" across the teams. One idea we came up with, pick captains and just draw dogs names out of a hat. After much consideration and trial and error, we came up with brand new line ups for each team. What's the worst that could happen? Exciting things! Baffle ran a new PB 3.581, Hotshot went from anchor to second and Maybe made her debut on Frontside! With three McAllister dogs in the line up and a guest handler BOOM, new PB. 14.652! While fast times are fun, we had tons of other successes! Our little mini aussie, Sync ran full time as a height dog on Upside collecting a cool 385 points! We've been working very hard on ball holding, lots of success on that this weekend across all 3 teams!

When most of us started flyball, our goal was to run under 24 seconds by the end of the day on Sunday. Now we are flittering with mid 14s and having 2 teams run under 15 seconds. We've come a very long way and still have so much we still want to accomplish. As we continue to compete and train over the summer, we are looking forward to celebrating new wins!

Congratulations to everyone on their brags from the weekend!!

While our full tournament recap will come tomorrow, here’s a few of our highlights!

New PBs!
🔥 Baffle (Booful Toad) - 3.581
🔥 Rush (Rush*ta!) - 3.686
🔥 Hatari! - 3.626!
🔥 Frontside - 14.652 (Baffle, Hotshot, Tavi, Maybe)

Keep chipping!

Baffle, Hotshot, Tavi, Maybe!!

Our very own Rush*ta (Rush, Rushy Roo) ran his first 3.6!!!! Congratulations Mikala Mackey and Rush on your new PB 3.686!!

Chipping away at the PB! Frontside ran a new PB 14.753, line up was Cajun, Lasso, Bru, Hotshot!!

There’s a TikTok trend going around about a Trauma Candy Salad. We decided the trauma was a little too dark, so we did our favorite flyball story candy salad!

We had lots of laughs and told lots of stories about how we used to play flyball in polos and jeans/khakis!

What is your favorite flyball story?!

This season keeps us wanting more!

While the analytics might not tell the whole story, what it does tell us is we are so close to a new PB. Dogs and handlers are getting more and more consistent each tournament. We put up lots of 14.6-14.7s with a spit here or a hair early there, really looking forward to Hawkeye in a couple weeks to see if we can put it together!

📣 team brags 📣

🔥 Rush - PB 3.708 - this makes 2 tournaments in a row Rush has smashed a new PB!
🔥 Dupe - PB 3.381
🔥 Dupe and Maybe ran on a team together!
🔥 Frontside won - O1 Sunday

Can’t thank Jess and Monster enough for helping us out on Sunday when we needed a seasoned dog on our Backside team.

We had a great time using Flyball Vision for the first time! The pass calling, ability to do line to lines and share videos across the whole team was amazing! Huge thanks to Robert and Canine Sports Hub for the tech and providing such cool analytics for us to go back to!

Every tournament we leave a little stronger, a little faster, and a lot more grateful. The points and times don’t tell the whole story — but the support, the brags, and the moments we share along the way? That’s what keeps this team going!

Where do we even start!

What a 4-day flyball whirlwind.

Day 1-2 we had the opportunity to host Strive Dogs Inc for an amazing seminar. It was awesome to see so much improvement just over the 2 days, lots of cool dogs will be hitting the lanes very soon in our area!

We followed the seminar with our 5th annual March madness tournament. We ran 98 races on Saturday, finishing at 5:30, and followed it up with 78 races on Sunday, wrapping everything up and cleaned by 4:30. The efficiency, energy, and teamwork all weekend were outstanding.

None of this happens without the teams who continue to show up, compete, and support us year after year. We truly appreciate every one of you!

We dropped the ball on getting photos for the special awards, but still want to recognize and congratulate those who earned Dream Team, Breed Ambassadors, Best Box Turn, and Crowd Favorite, along with everyone who hit personal and team milestones throughout the weekend.

Team accomplishments!!

🔥 Rush - New PB 3.713
🔥 Hotshot - New PB 3.725
🔥 We raced ourselves!
🔥 We ran Variety with help from our friends Canine Express and Madison and Kreacher!
🔥 Our Frontside team ran 14.6-14.8 with 4 different line ups, just need to clean up some spits and we will be scratching at a new PB!
🔥 Our backside team ran a 15.350!
🔥 Hammi, Munchie and Party had a great team flight!
🔥 Dupe and Maybe ran lots of low 3.4s L2L in singles and maybe even an unofficial 3.3 for Dupe!
🔥 Venom 3.7s again!
🔥 lots of 3.5s for Kiwi, Cajun, Bru, Lasso and Tavi
🔥 Baffle hitting TONS of 3.6s in a pass after a returning from an injury at champs
🔥 Suspect 3.7s in multiple positions
🔥 Sync was rock solid running with her Variety besties!
🔥 Hatari continuing to learn to run in every position successfully!
🔥 Venti putting up lots of 3.9s in a pass!

Phew! That’s a lot to be proud of!

Overall, the dogs were on fire. We spent much of the winter dialing things in, and this weekend it all came together. The work paid off in a big way, with a lot of strong times this early in the season.

A huge thank you to our friends who stepped in to judge, line judge, and box load when we were short while racing each other. Your willingness to jump in and support means everything. You are truly an extension of our flyball family.

We are excited to add something new to the tournament!

Chris will have his 3D printer set up to make made to order custom crate tags!

He also has RTK water hooks, fan holders, p**p bag holders and so much more!!

Get your orders in early and they will be done at the tournament, otherwise he will ship!