What is Flyball?

Flyball: the fun dog's sport! Flyball is a fun, exciting sport for dogs and their people. Started in the mid-1980's in Michigan, the sport has grown tremendously and has now reached Springfield, Virginia.

Each team at a Flyball competition is made up of four to six dogs (only four can race at a time but a team may have two alternates which it can rotate in) and their handlers. Once the judge activates the starting lights, the dog races over four jumps to a spring loaded box which shoots out a tennis ball. The dog must catch the ball and bring it back over the four jumps so the next dog on the team can go. The first team to have all four dogs successfully complete the course wins the heat.

Besides competing for the first place at the tournament, the dogs also earn NAFA (North American Flyball Association) points toward flyball titles based on the team's time.

NAFA Flyball Titles < 32 seconds = 1 point < 28 seconds = 5 points < 24 seconds = 25 points
20 points	Flyball Dog	(FDX)
100 pts	Flyball Dog Excellent	(FDX)
500 pts	Flyball Dog Champion	(FDCh)
5,000 pts	Flyball Dog Master	(FM)
10,000 pts	F D Master Excellent	(FMX)
15,000 pts	F D Master Champion	(FMCh)
20,000 pts	Onyx
30,000 pts	Flyball Grand Champion	(FGDCh)
The NAFA record race is 16.06 seconds!

So what does it take to have a Flyball dog? Basically, you need a dog. It certainly helps if they are crazy about tennis balls but that's not a requirement. It is important that they NOT be dog aggressive, there is a lot of action going on out there. Even the calmest dog gets excited. Since the safety of the dogs is the number one concern, dogs with a history of dog aggression are not suited to this sport.

The size of the dog doesn't matter at all. There are different sizes of tennis balls made to fit even the smallest dog's mouth. And the jumps' heights (which range from 8 to 16 inches) are based on the jump height of the shortest dog running in the heat. For this reason, small dogs are in big demand. They allow all the dogs to jump at shorter heights.

And if your dog isn't crazy about tennis balls, that's something that can be worked on through training and practice.

So how do I get started? That's simple! Join a Flyball class and start learning. Most use all positive training methods to teach the dogs the skills they need to play Flyball.

Special thanks to Denise Lacey from New River Transport (Blacksburg, Virginia's Flyball team) for much of the above copy. Illustrations from the book "Flying High, The Complete Book of Flyball" by Joan Payne, 1996.