Want to run for Scotland in a major international event?
Put Glasgow 2014 and the Commonwealth Games on the back burner.
Set your sights on Madrid 2009 and ISF World Schools Championship Orienteering.
The road to Spring in Spain for Scotland’s 13 to 17 year olds starts on Friday June 6th at Coatbridge’s Drumpellier Park (very accessible, just off the motorway) when Scottish Schools Orienteering stage the 2008 Scottish Schools Orienteering Festival.
First ISF rule for taking part in the “Worlds” is you must compete in your national school championships – that means the Scottish Festival.
Second is that entries to any competition group must be headed by an entry to the schools section.
This year for example in Edinburgh with school teams from Firhill, St Thomas Aquinas, Aboyne and Biggar taking part, Scotland fielded individual entries in all four (junior/senior- boys and girls) classes.
One Irish girl ran and won the Junior Girls Select, but with no Irish school team entered, her win did not count.
Best way to make sure is to get out and get a squad from your school to the Scottish Schools Festival.
If they look set for Scottish selection for Madrid, you have ten months or more to get them trained up and drum up the funding.
Nice if you can get a teacher involved.
But, just as with the Aboyne squad in Edinburgh this year, parents can fill the necessary leader roles and take the squad to Spain.
Want to meet new people from across the world make new friends and enjoy a first rate social week as well as quality Spanish orienteering?
Remember that date – Friday 6th June
And the venue – Drumpellier Park, Coatbridge.
Posted on 28th Apr 08 by
Filed under: News
Comments:
So, are you saying that in order for an athlete to get a chance to run in the World Schools next year he/she must persuade his/her school to take part in this competition on 6th June - how many pupils must attend? One. two?
If the pupils attend, manage to get round, maybe disqualify themselves because they are new - how does this affect the talented pupil’s chances?
And, are you saying that the Schools Event on 6th June is the one and only event that will be used to select the Scottish Schools and Select Teams for an event next April (another School year from this June)?
There are no dates in the Scottish summer term that see no clashes. The SSOF has been the first Friday in June for many years ,having settled there to avoid the Scottish Schools’ Athletics.
At the SSOF pupils run in their year groups and this means that there is no direct comparison to WSCO entry and therefore the need for a Selection race in September/October.
This is no different from other Nations who organise selection races specifically for the WSCO which are only open to those who take part in the National Championship/Festival.
The provisional dates for Madrid are 14-20 April.
I hope that this goes some way to answering the questions posted so far.
Blair
6th June is the same date as the Scottish schools swimming relays, so some of the best all rounders will have to decide which is most important to them. However, trying to be positive, they are both in Glasgow so hopefully they can share transport.
can you tell me the dates for madrid if the teams get through please
I know that you need 3-5 pupils to make a team at the world schools, but what’s the minimum number needed to make a school team for the scottish schools and how do the school years for Scottish schools relate to year of birth for world schools?
Other items in the same category
Entry to Scottish Schools’ events in all sports are via the School. This seems fairly logical as otherwise these events become just another competition.
It also gives pupils of all abilities the opportunity to be recognised within the School, as often Schools can be unaware of the sporting talents that exist amongst the pupils in activities that the School does not turn out Teams.
The corner stone of the ISF Championships is the School Teams races. If a country does not enter a School Team in a category, they cannot enter a select team no matter how talented the pupils in the Select Team are.
It is therefore very important to encourage as many Schools as possible to enter Teams so that standards can be constantly improved.
Aboyne Academy did this and were rewarded with an excellent set of silver medals. Equally importatly, they also entered a girls team who competed well against strong International competition and have come away from Edinburgh with an experience that will stay with them the rest of there lives.
School sport is different from mainstream sport as it is part of an overall educational package offered by the Schools who take part. The competitive element is only one aspect and it is no more or less important than the social aspects of taking part in the sport. Everyone likes to win but it should not be the only thing to aim for.
The Scottish Team at WSCO has grown from just four in Belgium in 2004, to nine in Slovakia two years ago to the fourty one athletes who took part last week.
I look forward to seeing a record entry at this years Festival and the need to have Selection races to decide which Schools will represent Scotland in Madrid.
Blair Young