Flyball is a team sport. Each flyball team consists of 4-6 dogs, although only four can race at a time. The four dogs who race will be in rotation, or chosen depending on team strategy, or maybe two of the dogs will be reserves. The four racing dogs and four racing handlers each have their own role and placement in the team, and will run in lead, second, third, or anchor positions.
There are also roles at competition which don’t involve a dog! You may have raced your dog, but you will almost certainly have other roles with other teams that your club is racing.
Team Captain: In charge of the team! The team captain ensures the team knows which dogs are racing, the order that the dogs will race in, how the team did, and most importantly assesses each leg of the race and if necessary, lets the team know what they need to do to improve (and win!).
Scribe: In charge of the paperwork! Writes down the team and individual times, and lets the tournament ring judges know which dogs are running.
Boxloader: Loads the flyball box with tennis balls for each dog on the team to retrieve. Needs to remember which way each dog turns, and needs to load the ball correctly and be out of the way before the dog arrives at the box! The boxloader can only verbally encourage the dog to approach the box.
Ball Collector: Collects all the tennis balls after the dogs have dropped them. Not always as easy as it sounds!
At The Phantoms, we also have a role known as Propmaster! This person is in charge of ensuring that all the props are in place for each dog during the warm-up period. We also often have someone videoing changeovers/passes.