New Coach and Team Manager for the IFCS World Team in 2017!
USDAA is excited to announce two new additions to the IFCS Team USA roster! We welcome aboard Tracy Sklenar, as the team’s new Coach and Monique Plinck as the new team Manager.
Tracy Sklenar lives in Callaway, Virginia, just outside of Roanoke in the Blue Ridge Mountains. She first became involved in agility in 1998 when she was learning to become a dog trainer. She says she was “hooked immediately!”
Tracy has competed in USDAA with nine different dogs and in almost every jump height. Her current dogs are: Export, an 11-year-old Border Collie/Jack Russell Terrier cross, Voodoo, a three-year-old Border Collie/Croatian Sheepdog cross and Macho Nacho, a two-year-old Papillon. Export just had an excellent showing at the Cynosport World Games and Tracy is working on getting the younger dogs ready to run at the regionals and Cynosport in 2017. Says Tracy, “My dogs are incredible teachers and teammates who have led me on adventures across the globe.”
Tracy loves USDAA competition and it has been the primary venue for her entire agility career. She and her dogs have won titles and placements at regionals, Cynosport and she and Export were honored to represent the USA at the IFCS World Agility Championships in 2015.
She is “really excited to be back on the coaching side of things! Team USA is incredibly talented and I am happy to be part of the staff that will help these dogs and handlers shine.” Tracy looks forward to “helping this team prepare for the handling and skills challenges they will see in international competition, as well as the mental preparation needed to attack each course!”
Monique Plinck has over 20 years of experience in agility competition. She took her very first class with her Rottweiler, Bianca who was “brilliantly smart with a ton of drive and zero impulse control. ” She has competed with multiple dogs at Cynosport and has twice been a member of the IFCS world team.
Monique recently left her full-time career to teach agility full-time at Ridgeland Farm in Middlefield, CT: ”Transitioning from a part-time business to teaching full-time has been a fantastic decision and one that affords me time to devote to this years IFCS Team as Manager. Hosting seminars, camps and workshops, logistics and communication are my thing.” Due to an injury Rachel Sanders will run her four-year old Papillon Tush while Monique helps manage the team. ”Being previously coached by Rachel Sanders, who will now run my dog, I feel more than prepared to support Tracy and this year’s team. ”
Monique and Tracy have taught camps together, competed internationally several times and ran their dogs on a Cynosport team. Says Monique, ”We bring international event experience, IFCS team member experience and a combined 40+ years of agility experience to support this year’s amazing team. I really look forward to helping each team mate do their very best when they step to the line in Valencia. ”
The IFCS World Agility Championships takes place in Spain in April 26-30, 2017. The event typically attracts more than 200 competitors from more than 15 different countries annually. To help support the fundraising for the team, please visit donate2dogsports.org. All proceeds are tax deductible and go toward helping the team cover international travel costs for themselves and their dogs.