I get it. When you're competing against others, a win isn't guaranteed, so it's extra exciting, but just competing against yourself will help you see which traits to give preference to in your stock. I don't know if you have a way but I sure don't know, going into a show, whether there will be competition for my birds. It's a bit exciting to see that they've got competition from others.
It is odd how hard they are to find. When I was first getting into them, I assumed they'd be a fairly common breed, given there are two large clubs full of breeders... No luck finding birds in FL, and now almost a year after ordering hatching eggs, I still haven't seen any breeders of the variety I'm breeding- I've seen one breeder of bantams, and she had only a trio of Blacks. Large fowls have been a bit more plentiful than bantams, but I've still barely seen any breeders in the state. I was lucky enough to get in contact with the breeders I did, and I adore the birds I got.
Good luck with your birds!