THE TOURNAMENT
HERE'S HOW IT WORKS
Stafford Olympics Tournaments are managed by 1 Tournament Official, and several Tournament Judges which are appointed by the Official. The Tournament Judges are responsible for leading the teams of competitors, and judging the handling and scores according to the rules, while the Tournament Official will be responsible for the supervision of the Judges and competitors alike. All decisions made by the Tournament Official are final and cannot be contested.
The Tournaments will always consist of 10 Disciplines, this is only susceptible to change under unforseen circumstances, in which case the decision is made by the Tournament Official in agreement with the Tournament Judges.
Dogs are divided in Classes based on height; 14", 15", 16", 17" and 18"+
HEIGHT MEASUREMENTS & AGE
Competing dogs must be correctly measured by an Official in order to participate. It is through these measurements that the dogs are placed in their respective Classes.
The owner / handler will be responsible for managing the dog during this process, and is free to talk to, praise and calm down their dog while standing next to them. No other dogs or people should be within 10 meters of the measuring area to avoid causing unnecessary stress or restlessness in the dog.
A dog receives it's final height measurement upon reaching the age of 1 Year and 6 Months (18 Months), this measurement will become permanent and remeasurements will no longer be necessary. After the age of 18 months any changes to the measurement are considered muscle growth or loss and will hold no consequences. Before 18 months, the dog cannot have a set height, and must be measured before each tournament.
Dogs younger than 10 months old cannot be entered in tournaments.
These measurements should be entered in the dog's profile in the Stafford Olympics app by an Official or Team Captain.
Measurements are always done by an appointed Official.
HOW TO MEASURE THE DOG
The handler will place the foot of the dog in the correct angle on the floor and the following points will be checked before measuring begins:
The elbow of the dog must be equal to the lower chest, the legs of the dog stand straight and square to the ground and the dog is resting completely on the soles of it's feet.
The measuring ruler rests at the highest point in the dog's withers and should gently be pushed through the coat. The measurement is obtained when the ruler and beam are level.
STAR LEVELS
Stafford Athletics works with ranking points and fixed Levels, otherwise known as “Stars” which are labeled by color.
★ WHITE STAR ★
4 Points
★ ORANGE STAR ★
6 Points
★ BLUE STAR ★
8 Points
★ YELLOW STAR ★
5 Points
★ GREEN STAR ★
7 Points
★ BROWN STAR ★
9 Points
★ BLACK STAR ★
10 Points
The Black Star is the highest achievable level that awards the hightest punctuation, however, the Black Star does not impose a limit on how much a dog can do in a tournament. Dogs are welcome to trespass and exceed the score which grants the Black Star, often awarding extra points, but the Star Level doesn't increase past Black.
TITLING
The title of Stafford Athletics Champion (SA Ch) is granted when a dog achieves their Black Star in every one of the 10 Stafford Athletics disciplines and is awarded via an official certificate.
The Black Star must be achieved during an official event, be it DSA, BSA, BRSA, or in a Challenge Day organized by the local Official and / or Team Captains. Black Stars for Championship are stackable, meaning you can collect them over multiple events throughout a dog's lifetime.
Championship can only be awarded to dogs over the age of 18 months, any Black Stars achieved prior to this age will not count towards titling.