Balancing multiple sports (an afterthought)

After I published the last post and as I was doing errands today, I had one more thought I should have added to the topic of Balancing multiple sports. When I'm concentrating on one sport in preparation for competition, I don't stop training the other sports. I just move them to a "maintenance" or background level.

For example, when I was pushing the field work this summer, I trained field 5 times a week. I continued Devon's weekly group agility class; I worked obedience once or twice a week; and I tried to track once a week or once every other week.

I didn't teach any new skills while I was preparing for the Senior Hunter. I made that mistake a couple of years ago when I was teaching Devon agility and doing pressure field drills at the same time. I used lots of rewards and made agility fun. I maintained our obedience work at least once a week. And I shortened Devon's VST tracks to no more than 300 yards and dropped any training on MOT turns.

I choose times when I am not pushing to prepare for trials to train and teach. This winter I'm doing a lot of training and teaching. Devon is firming up her Open obedience skills and learning her Utility exercises. She trains obedience at least 5 times a week. We can still do some field work, so field training is on her list a couple of times a week, weather permitted. Also as weather permits, I'd like to track once or twice a week. As the weather begins to break in late February-early March, Devon will pick up more tracking and probably another field session a week. And the obedience and agility will once again drop back to a maintenance level.