For a long time I was concerned about whether or not the sport would exist in the future. I have come to realize that many of us do not change our habits, regardless of how counter productive they are to ourselves until we have no choice.
I believe that small race teams which are more manageable that can be transported in cars that get 35-50 miles per gallon, with up to 100 birds in a race is where the sport is going.
Furthermore to cut down on costs, the heavily researched widowhood method of flying will continue to gain popularity in the US, as fanciers realize they do not have to drive up the road every day to train their birds for peak performance. The work can be done at home.
Also I believe that eventually people will realize that we have it all backwards in this country where our emphasis is on young birds and we should be focusing on old birds in racing much more so. Why push a 4 to 10 month old baby so hard when you could race them up to 4 years old… even 5 if you do not burn them out. Many fanciers do not have developed old bird teams and this is because of young bird greed. Then they turn around and push the heck out of the yearlings. Perhaps 6 or 7 weeks of young bird racing up to 300 miles and racing for 10 weeks of old birds in the spring and 4-5 weeks in the fall. To do this fanciers need accomplished old bird teams. That will not happen until it becomes their focus.
I think over the next decade all of this will come to be commonplace in locations where clubs consist of 10 guys or less and transportation costs continue to rise. There is no need for our life’s passion to disappear— we simply need to adapt. And yes, at times change is good.
