Should Field Trials continue to hold Amateur Stakes?
YES we believe that field trials should always hold amateur stakes!
If we took away the amateur stakes, it is quite possible that a number of amateurs would no longer continue to run their dogs. By not running their own dogs, what can happen is they may no longer attend the trials, work at the trials, train their own dogs, and would have a lesser ability to judge.
I think some would just sit back and let the pro do all the training and
trialing, and the amateur would loose interest in being involved.
Really, they wouldn't have to attend the trial at all if their pro was
running both stakes.
And is it not the Amateurs that do most the work behind the scenes?
We think it would be a big detriment to the sport to have double
open stakes.
Another point.....
John is competitive in either stake........
However, I am a greener amateur, and my chances of competing
with the pro's is going to be more difficult. NOT that Amateur stakes
are easy by any means or even necessarily smaller
but it can give me a better chance of being called back to the next
series, and keep my interest in the sport alive.
Encouraging callbacks and getting more amateurs thru each series
for respectable work should be a judges goal. The more experience and time a competitior gets to stand "on the line" and run each series is
what encourages us to enter the next trial.
A dog with both an FC and AFC to me is most impressive.
What would happen to our Amateur National?