Judges

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Groeten,
Gert

Every year, USDAA brings amazing judges to the Cynosport Games. This year is no exception! Meet them now:

Nadia Calabria

Nadia is from the French-speaking Lausanne, Switzerland. She started agility in 1989 with her Belgian Malinois mix, Lady. Nadia was only 10 years old at the time, but the two went on to become Junior Swiss Champion in 1991 and went up to Class 2 (before Class 3 was created) in Switzerland. Her current dog, Vick, is also a Malinois and is not yet competing.

Nadia has been a Swiss judge since 2000 and has been judging internationally since 2003. She has judged in Italy and at the 5th FCI Americas and Caribbean Agility Championships in Guatemala. In her "non-dog life" she is preparing to become a lawyer.


Mark Wirant

Mark lives with his wife, Sharon, in the small New England town of Westmoreland, New Hampshire, overlooking a farm that has cows out in the pasture. Mark is a Masters judge, a Certified Measuring Judge, and course reviewer. He is also able to supervise judges at the Masters level. He has been judging USDAA agility since 1993 and this is his third time judging a USDAA national event.


Patty Drom

Patty holds a degree in biology and she worked as a project manager for retail point-of-sale systems for 20 years. Patty started dog agility training in 1986 when a small local group named DAWG invited her to play. She left her corporate job and in 1995 opened Dallas Dog Sports, a dog training facility located in Wylie, Texas. She is the owner/operator and serves as the Training Director. Patty has competed in obedience and agility with two Springers (Scooter and Max) and two Border Collies (Jessie and Buzz), earning 24 titles in all. ADCH Buzz, who is nine years old, is currently competing in the Performance Division. Her young BC-in-training, Dewley, will be making his agility debut later this year. This will by Patty's fifth appearance as a judge at the USDAA Nationals.


Gert Siekmans

Gert is a married father of two children that he and his wife adopted from China. He lives on the east side of the Netherlands in the city of Hardenberg. He has been judging for Federation Dogsports of the Netherlands for 11 years. He has judged several Dutch championships in agility and in May 2006 he was one of the judges of the World Agility Championship in Holland. Gert's "day job" is managing and teaching in a vocational training school which educates assistants in primary schools and schools for special education. He judged at last year's Cynosport Games as well.


Scott Chamberlain

Scott has judged USDAA agility for 12 years. He also judges agility for the AKC and flyball for the North American Flyball Association. He lives in York, Pennsylvania and makes a living managing a computer network for a large engineering firm. He has a 9-year-old Border Collie.


Martin Gatsby

Martin has been doing agility for 12 years and judging for the last five. He and his wife, Lisa Brownschidle, currently are competing with two Shetland Sheepdogs and two Jack Russell terriers, although Martin's previous dog was a Malinois. Agility has taken over Martin's life since he got hooked on it; prior to agility he and his wife's hobby was ballroom dancing. His "day job" is as a research technician in the field of agriculture. He is very excited about his first nationals judging assignment ever and he wonders if the other judges will be giving him a ribbing!