Is a “champion” roller self-proclaimed, or is there some type of contest that the bird has to win a certain number of times to become a “champion”.  I would say first, the bird should have to pass the certification process before we could even consider him for any type of title.  The NBRC has a good program designed to do just that.  Once you have a certified spinner, I would say, enter him or her in an individual contest.  This part may be hard to do, but if you belong to a good, local, flying roller club, most have an individual competition at least once a year.  Which poses another question: If an individual competition is only held once a year, how many wins should a bird have before he can be considered a “champion”?  As we all know, a bird shouldn’t even be considered, until it has had it’s first mature molt.  Another question is: should a champion have to prove himself in the stock loft as well?  Can he reproduce himself?  Or better yet, can he produce better than himself?  Not only would the BIRD have to be good for this to ring true, but the loft manager or owner would also have to be good, to properly pair him or her.                                                                                                                                          

        That leads us to the other aspect of the sport.  Does the bird have what it takes to even be in the breeding -loft in the first place?  If he’s a certified spinner and has won multiple contests against his peers, well, I’d say he at least deserves a shot.  But what about “type”, does he have it?  I’ve seen some of the best spinners in the air, but when they reach the show pen, you’d say something like, “what wind blew that bird in”?  Is this your representation of a true all around “champion”?  I think we’d be putting a lot of undue stress on ourselves, as well as our birds, if we tried to go to those extremes.  Which leads us back, full circle, to the original question: What is a champion?

        This is just food for thought, sometimes we get carried away with ourselves and use the title “champion” too loosely.  Suddenly, birds become "champions” in order to make a pedigree look good, or to overly pat ourselves on the back.  But I think it would be nice if we could set some parameters on what a bon-e-fide champion is, versus, what is really just someone’s favorite bird in their loft.       

        Maybe we could all get together and, say a certified spinner, that wins two or maybe three individual competitions in a recognized flying roller club could be considered an “aerial champion” and leave it at that.  Or, we could look at the SBRC in southern California.  They’re the only club that I know of, that caters solely to the individual performer.  They actually grade the performance on an individual basis, on a scale from one to four, on all the aspects of a performing roller.  Which includes speed, style, frequency, depth, and longevity.  The bird has to amass a certain number of points to achieve “champion” status.                                                                                                                                                                            

        Then we can look at the other side of the coin, and say, a cock that produced three or more certified spinners on two or more different hens, or a hen who did the same thing on two or more different cocks, could be considered a “champion producer”.  Well, maybe if enough people read this, it could  (if nothing else) make for good conversation!

                                                                      Yours in sport,  mbd009@aol.com