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Monday, March 22, 2010

Enzo world championship qualified, Tooney almost!

This weekend we had our AWI (Ashley Whippet Invitation) qualifier. People from California, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, Washington and New York came. We also had appearances from Indiana's Tony Hoard and Rory (from America's Got Talent) and Alex Stein (one of the founders of disc doggin'). The event consisted of 1 round of freestyle and 1 round of toss/fetch. They combine those scores and take the top 15 to perform a 2nd round of frestyle. The top 5 get an invitation to the World Championships in Chicago. With over 40 entries, making the cut would be hard enough, let alone the top 5.

Enzo and I went out and performed our freestyle as a gangsta and pimp. I wore a flat-billed hat, baggy shorts and a giant frisbee-clock hanging from my neck (Flava Flav style). The clock was Jenn's idea - thanks home girl! Enzo wore his pimp costume that my mom made! The routine was solid and went over well with the crowd. I got a lot of good feedback on the theme. I am super happy with our routine for 2010. Flow is great and Enzo has incredible athleticism. I also have some throws that are quite difficult and impressive looking. Here's Enzo's first round:



Tooney had a great first round of freestyle and looked as cute as ever. My throws were right on target and she only had about 3 drops. After watching her routine back, I really like how it looks now. I used to just think it was cute and fun, but now I see some great athleticism out of Tooney. She never stops running and can catch almost anything I throw! She makes most of my throws look right on target because she understands how to adjust her stride really well (thanks to agility along with natural ability I'm sure). Our routine flows REALLY good and I have a wide range of throws. Here's her first round:



After Enzo's first round, I figured he just needed a solid toss and fetch and he'd make the cut to top 15. Enzo had an average round of toss/fetch with 9.5. Tooney had a below average round of t/f for her, but matched Enzo's score. They announced the cut to the top 15 and in 7th place they said Jeff Hill and... Tooney?!?!?! What!!! Tooney made the cut!!!!!!!!!!! I am so proud of her! Usually it is her toss/fetch that pushes her up in the standings, but this time it was freestyle! Then in 5th place was Enzo!

After the initial excitement, I realized I had to prepare to do 2 rounds of freestyle almost back to back and perform at a high level to keep Enzo in the top 5 and keep Tooney in the top 10. They both had awesome 2nd rounds just before it got dark out. They announced the final order and the placements stayed the same. 7th and 5th! At the event, I felt Enzo's 1st round was better, but watching the videos back, I thought the 2nd round looked better. We got slightly better scores in the 1st round. Tooney's 2nd round video didn't come out, but we got Enzo's:



Now for the big decision... are we going to Chicago? You betcha! It's not a final decision, but Jenn and I are confident that we will go. We have made a decision that if we travel far for a disc dog competition this year, it will be Chicago for the AWI finals!

I really wish I would have started Tooney in frisbee earlier. She could have accomplished great things early on. It is my fault and a silly mistake. I never had any faith she could do it and felt she didn't have the athleticism, focus or drive for it. As it turns out, these characteristics that make her great at frisbee. I was completely wrong and I will always regret it. Jenn and I are going to enjoy little Fluffasaurus and her awesome frisbee skills as long as possible and have decided we will definitely not be getting a new puppy until Tooney has decided she's had enough of frisbee, giving her the full dedication and attention she deserves! Based on her current performance, we think that won't be for a long time!!!

2 comments:

Sarah Duke said...

LOL ok first of all, I love the clock idea! That was hilarious. Jeff your dish-spin-pop move!!! Can you explain what you are doing? Or have Jenn shoot some video of it. I really like it. Anyway huge congrats and we'll see ya'll Labor Day Weekend! :)

Furrari said...

I'm right handed and I hold the bottom disc in my left hand and spin the other disc with my right hand (ie, the normal way), then I throw the bottom disc out causing the top disc to pop up. If you throw the bottom disc horizontally (and fast), the top disc hits the edge of the bottom disc and pops up in the air. It originally started out as just throwing the disc to the side then I turned it into a flip. I've messed with other variations, but that is the latest.