Pigeon Racing Champions: Schaerlaeckens

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Product Description Wouldn't you love to sit down for a couple of hours with one of Europe's all-time race winners? Ad Schaerlaeckens stars in this film that is the longest, most complete interview he has ever done. He answers all of the most common questions fanciers have and explains his unique view on racing. If you love his frank and funny writing you will definitely enjoy this film. Review I have just finished reviewing the entire four-DVD; Secrets of Champions; instructional series by the award-winning film maker Jim Jenner. Let me be the first to tell you that it is a masterpiece. The set of DVD s, now offered as a boxed collection, contain over ten hours of material built around interviews with some of today's greatest racing pigeon breeders and trainers. The information in this film is of the highest quality for new comers or veteran alike. I have been a racing pigeon fancier for 35 years but after watching the Secrets series I realized that I learned more in ten hours than I had learned in the past ten years. I feel as though I sat down with some of the greatest names in the Racing Pigeon hobby, such as Ad Schaerlaeckens, Alex Bieche, Frank Tasker, Ronnie Williamson and Geoff Kirkland, and learned the secrets of these champions. And those are just five of something like 25 top trainers Jenner included. The interviews are candid and friendly and done in such a way as to make the viewer want to watch them again and again. Jenner has done an excellent job featuring the best fanciers in the world, in a venue that makes you feel as though you are sitting with friends. No other film on our sport even comes close to this series. Begun by Jenner in 2005 and completed in 2009 it contains the best information anywhere. The film quality and special effects are superb, interesting, and informative. The four disc set includes: Secrets of Champions I; The Foundation of Victory. This episode discusses Throat Sign; an accurate way of evaluating the Racing and Breeding potential of a pigeon! Secrets of Champions II; Breeding, Feeding and old Bird Racing. Secrets of Champions III; Young Bird Racing. And the final DVD, Secrets of Champions IV; Winning Lofts: The Inside Story. It basically gives you the critical details you need to know to be a winner. I know ten hours of pigeon film may sound terrifying if you are used to the boring loft tours offered by other film producers. Remember, Jim Jenner is not only a lifelong pigeon fancier but has something like 40 years experience in television, starting at CBS News. In addition he eventually started his own production company and created many award-winning training programs for big companies and government agencies, so he knows how to keep the material interesting. What I enjoy the most is that each of the four films is divided into chapters. It makes it easy to watch the DVDs at your leisure. And, within each chapter, Jim expertly cuts all of the trainers comments together. The result is you learn the key issues quickly and also realize how alike the thinking is of top trainers who race in all parts of the world. For example, Secrets III on young bird racing is over three hours long but you barely notice the time go by. It hammers home the essential information but is never, ever boring. In my opinion the Secrets of Champions series is absolutely the best investment a new fancier can ever make. Sold individually the DVDs originally cost almost $200. And each year I bought the new one and learned from it. This new boxed set is $149.95 in North America [£79.95 in the U.K.] That may seem expensive until you consider the thousands of miles travelled, and dozens of top fanciers featured in these expertly edited programs. And, like a great reference book, you ll find you can enjoy watching it over and over. Rather than spending $150. in an auction on a single pigeon of questionable value any new fancier would be much better off investing that money in the Secrets of Champions series. There he will be immersed in the tips, techniques, ideas, and reasoning behind the cutting edge technology of the modern Racing Pigeon enthusiast. It will save you time, money and one heck of a lot of grief. --Richard Puccini P.when('A').execute(function(A) { A.on('a:expander:toggle_description:toggle:collapse', function(data) { window.scroll(0, data.expander.$expander[0].offsetTop-100); }); }); About the Actor He's been called THE KING OF ORLEANS for his three, first-place finishes in what was arguably the world's biggest pigeon race. But Ad Schaerlaeckens is more than Holland's greatest pigeon trainer. For decades he has been the hobby's leading writer, using his sharp mind to analyze how certain fanciers were winning. And using his sharp pen to call attention to the pigeon sport's bad ideas and buffoons. His global fame as one of the sport's living legends has brought Ad more attention than he cares for. And, over the past decade he has retreated more and more from the spotlight. In part it's because he's a private person, but also because the volume of visiting fanciers and inquiries via phone and the internet had become simply overwhelming. Knowing how much people want to hear his opinions led Ad Schaerlaeckens to agree to spend some time in front of a camera with a long-time friend, film maker Jim Jenner. Over a period of three days Schaerlaeckens answered the key questions pigeon fanciers constantly ask him about his methods. He also got to spend time describing his early years with pigeons and the factors that led to his unique view of the sport. Honest, blunt and always a step ahead of the pack, this is Ad Schaerlaeckens. Over more than an hour and half he talks about his basic approaches to selecting pigeons, keeping them healthy and winning races. It's as close as you can come to sitting down with the man himself. About the Director Jim Jenner is an American born film writer/director who first worked in media as a journalist for the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong, where he later joined CBS television news. At 20 he was a radio reporter and, at 21 had become the youngest reporter ever to appear on the CBS evening news, covering stories during the civil war in East Pakistan. Following a stint as a news producer based in New York he left CBS to start his own film company, PACCOM. A dedicated pigeon fancier and a wonderful spokesman for the sport Jim has been called the pigeon world's greatest storyteller. Jim lives in the Rocky Mountains of Montana where he bases his production company. See more