Scottish Orienteering

Replies to the questionnaire

What do you see as the key strengths of the SOA?

(i.e. what are they good at?)

• SOA is particulary good at staging & hosting World Class competitions. Technically orienteering in Scotland is way ahead of our neighbours & many other IOF nations. Jumping through as many hoops as they can find
• Six days providing SI kit
• The 6 day event unites the SOA membership unlike any other competition or league. The permanent staff provide a core around which the association functions. The SOA is ultimately the sum (plus a bit) of the clubs than make it up. These clubs for the most part are proactive, work together and have a core of active volunteers.
• 1. Organising an ace week of Orienteering every 2 years. 2. IT rich - keeping up to date with Computer advances, good use of the web, and computerised results. 3. Good regular newsletter to members (Score).
• I don't really know. My wife and our three kids enjoy our orienteering and we make a big effort to attend local events and have travelled to one or two events away from Dumfries. Our local Solway Club has started to offer training which is good. I did try to get some training at Glenmore but it never seemed to be easy.
• co-ordinating O in Scotland, SCORE magazine
• Through the Professional Officer, good support to clubs with regard to the bureaucratic side of the sport (e.g. child protection, access). Reasonable communication through the website & Score. Quite often leading the way (by example) for orienteering in Britain.
• Scottish 6 Days and development of new areas National body that aligns with major source of funding (SportScotland)/sports policy development Professional Officers provide continuity
• a. Commitment, dedication and quality output of directors and volunteers. b. Co-ordinating the activities of the Scottish clubs, particularly with regard to championship and league events and of course the Six Days. c. Funding and direction of the Professional Officers and the supply of resource material and information through the NOC (Hilary Quick) d. Content, presentation and frequent updates to the Website
• Location, location, location Communications are good
• Putting on good events on excellent terrain.
• Fairly well organised and open with info: Fantastic website is a key example of this.
• Event organisation Training opprotunities
• Excellent expertise in putting on events. Good core of dedicated volunteers. Willingness to share ideas between clubs etc. Good network of reasonably intelligent people to ask advice from. Good orienteering areas. Clubs putting on a good number of events each year.
• Good website supporting the sports development.
• SOA represents orienteering in Scotland and it is a strength to have an organisation that can interact with specifically Scottish organisations, e.g. Sport Scotland, Forestry Commission in Scotland, education establishments. It is of sufficient size to have influence with NGBs. A strength lies in its wide range of operations and their integration. The professional officers are a great strength. SCORE is an award-winning magazine.
• 1. Good communication with members (excellent website and regular newsletter, enthusiastically edited with regular contributions from the membership. 2. Tremendous work from the NOC with enthusiastic work being done to develop grass roots orienteering. My immediate experience is of the work done by Hilary Quick which is quite outstanding. 3. The 6-Day Festival. 4. National squads that regularly box above their weight.
• Don't know. Most contact with the sport comes through clubs who seem to do most of the valuable work.
• Good fixtures structure; good website; financially strong with the Six Day Funding; good event organisation; excellent land access arrangements
• Putting on lots of events Goot variety of events and areas Supporting juniors Making use of National O Centre (well I would say that wouldn't I?)

What do you see as the key weaknesses of the SOA?

(i.e what are they poor at?)

• Avoiding all the PC crap that goes around
• encouraging new adult orienteers and providing coaching for them
• The geographic distance makes travel across the extremes of Scotland difficult means links tend to weak with clubs (and hosted events) that are further away. A factor that that just has to be acknowledged. The total membership is low meaning that events do not have the attendance (and income) of other larger associations.
• 1. Advertising Orienteering to other sports. 2. Complete reliance on participants to run events and develop the grass roots. 3. Grass roots training is dependent on club resources. If you live in the 'right' area, you're laughing. Otherwise, tough.
• Too much aimed at the elite (especially juniors) instead of trying to get loads more people to try Orienteering. I want to get away from a culture that only values winners but still lets people have fun trying to do the best possible time. Permanent courses need to be checked regularly. It is very off-putting for newcomers to find posts missing. Trail O is VERY hard for newcomers.
• Long time lag to find out what the Board of Directors are discussing e.g. minutes being posted on the web. This year the SOA AGM is not at a good time - mid-June with a SOL on the Sunday and indoor course maybe arranged for the Saturday (I have only heard rumour of it at the moment). How many outdoor enthusiasts are likely to turn up for the AGM?
• Narrow external funding base (SportScotland) Small nucleus of key contributors creates risk of loss of knowledge/competence base
• a. Poor at explaining to ordinary members what the SOA does for them. b. Loss of broad experience and 'beyond the call of duty' input when Donald Petrie resigned as PO. c. Suspect people with disabilities are a low priority, as SOA does not appear to promote Trail-O.
• Reaching out beyond the core enthusiasts
• Marketing could be improved. (banners and website an exception) Not very good at writing surveys! The few people in company where this was mentiond recently hinted that surveys really need to be yes/no, grading or a choice of answers .... people dont want to have to think much.. and may not comment on important issues if not asked directly .... only the dedicated and / or bored will tend to respond otherwise. Not enough leadership / clarity given with respect to Child Protection ... still too many conflicting interpretations of the law, which is confusing , and in turn worrying many. (As a result of such fear our Adult Club Training had to 'ban' some 'adults' just because they were still subject to child protection guidelines.)
• don't know
• Relying very heavily on retired members to do a lot of the volunteer work. General feeling that the new membership fees are too expensive so we pussy-foot around the issue of getting newcomers to join. The SOA set goals/targets, as required by SportScotland, but clubs don't really buy into them (extra work/hassle/no gain for the club etc..) Prizegivings at our major championships.
• People presence with the ordinary orienteer.
• I don't think it is actually poor at very much, but it is vulnerable. It relies on volunteers. It is ineligible for cash provided for the sport by Sport England and must be sure to win at least as much support from Sport Scotland. It could do more to take the sport to the public and bid for commercial sponsorship that might come only on the back of public exposure. More imaginative ways of delivering orienteering to overcome threats etc. below.
• I'm not sure the SOA is really weak at anything. One thing that would be nice is if a regional coaching network could be developed, or even have coaches who could visit areas to provide occasional 'expert' masterclasses for developing juniors (or adults for that matter).
• Don't know.
• Not good at growing the sport and expanding to new areas Not good at club development Focus on performance development is less than in many other sports
• Promoting orienteering in universities. Communication - at all levels. Too much e-mail and not enough talking to people. Also tendency to put things on website and just expect people to be bothered to see them and do something. Influencing things at BOF.

What do you think are the key roles (functions) that the SOA should focus on?

• Competition - developing a structure that continues to offer the best orienteering in the UK. Talant spotting - developing a programme that works & will lead to medal winning Scots competing as a Scottish Team in future WOCs
• participation large events obtaining sponsorship, publicity and funding for the sport ensuring there are sufficient qualified key officials - controllers, planners etc and providing support and courses for them
• The 6 day. Supporting clubs meeting increasing policy and legislation requirements. Dealing and being the sport's representative with government / Scottish Assembly, other official organisations and NGOs. Supporting national teams and coaching, particularly at the junior level. Providing a glue between clubs by promoting sharing and exchanges of good practice and experiences.
• 1. developing the sport in schools and universities. 2. healthy active lifestyles - huge potential in here. 3. promoting Orienteering more to other sports/press.
• Youth Development
• I'm a keen hill runner and Scottish Hill Runners appear to support hill running and race organisers in an effective way, I make no judgement or have no idea about SOA in this respect. They seem to strike a good balance and the once yearly high quality glossy race calendar gets all the information across easily. I don't seem to get the same connection with orienteering, no sure why?
• Participation, trying to make Oing appear less geeky to youngsters. Selling Oing as a good way to keep fit and enjoy the countryside.
• Supporting clubs so that the clubs can put on quality events ranging from C5 to International events. Helping clubs to make these events as user-friendly as possible to newcomers to the sport e.g. pre-marked maps, electronic punching, red courses.
• Developing more orienteering areas Raising the profile of the sport in Scotland to: 1. Have more leverage as a sport at a national level and attract more funding 2. Attract corporate sponsorship 3. Increase participation and membership Continuing skills development (planning/controlling/coaching etc) Scottish 6 Days
• a. Should continue to direct most of their energies towards promotion of the sport through support to clubs in the form of coaching, training, mapping and development of volunteers to organise, plan and control events. b. Make every effort to limit bureaucracy and over-formalisation of procedures, rules and guidelines, as these are a serious deterrent to potential event organisers and coaches.
• promotion and marketing
• Putting less events,in different parts of the country, on the same weekend but putting two or more events(nearby) on the same weekend to attract more people. e.g. Colour coded or street race/ night event or night street race/ SOL or other large event i.e. 11 person,score champs etc
• Apart from the obvious: Help and encourage clubs to attract, welcome and retain new members / participants. Offer / organise seminars for clubs / club officials on how to do this (marketing / phsychology / target groups / involvement in the community / other 'putting bums on seats' strategies etc) Just because BOF gets too caught up in red tape, doesnt mean the SOA has to fall into the same trap.
• fixtures and keeping clubs supported to put on events
• More of less as it is - Making sure we have enough funding. An umbrella for all the various functions involved in putting on events. Support for the various teams. Try to get more publicity in newspapers, magazines, tv - and try to have them written by an orienteer so that the right impression is made.
• Developing hte sport through providing information, publicity and training coaches, planners and organisers in Scotland
• Having in place an effective national, regional, club structure to actually deliver events and the social side. Representation of orienteering at a national level in debates about sport and outdoor education. Raising the profile of orienteering through schools, taking the sport to the public and generally making it family and user friendly. Securing sufficient funding. Providing development opportunities for idividuals and clubs. Helping clubs to diversify orienteering for wider consumption - a companies championship?.
• Co-Ordinate fixtures. Keep the 6-Day event as thriving as it is. Help clubs to develop new orienteers, especially those who don't have expertise of their own to do this. Try to develop more participation at secondary school level (incl orange and beyond. Co-ordinate national squads and international representation Assist clubs with promotional literature/leaflets.
• Supporting orienteers and helping them enjoy good quality orienteering at all levels. Helping clubs.
• Priority should be given to growing participation in the sport using the excellent network of events of all standards
• Helping and supporting clubs so their people can spend their time putting on events and running round forests, which is what they want to do.

How could the SOA improve the service to the membership?

• providing support and raising the profile (publicity, sposorship, prizes etc) for key events e.g. scottish champs and sol series.
• Overall I am pretty happy with the current status. The involvement is about right without it getting too involved in the autonomous activities of clubs. The key area for additional focus is seeking out opportunities to promote the sport and to generally increase awareness across the wider population. This needs to occur at all levels from schools, potential fun participants to potential elite competitors.
• Advocating fair competition and implementing it at every opportunity. Raise the entry fees at some events and buy-in support so that members can enjoy the day a bit more without dashing off to do a duty here and there. It's supposed to be a leisure activity. More training opportunities. Training material is practically non existant as well. Try searching on Amazon for books about Orienteering technique.
• I don't really know but keeping things easy and concise is always helpful.
• I am out of contact with club organisation nowadays so it is difficult for me to comment. It seems OK to me.
• Target email lists for information that people 'opt in to'. Have every 2 or 3 or 4 years a weekend get together (it doesn't really matter how it is dressed up, could be coaching, personal performance, etc) so that people meet in comfort and the SOA Board can get a flavour of the positives and negatives from the membership.
• Concentrate on the above
• a. Communication of activities to membership. There is considerable evidence of improvement in this area in the last year. b. Encourage feedback from members, e.g. this questionnaire.
• Online or magazine stuff aimed at younger members/ participants
• Reduce membership and event fees.
• Less red tape. Give a proper real world hands on type of course / training on Child Protection to all club officials (but especially coaches / coach assitants). Let the younger folk with new and progressive ideas (eg Ross / Andy / Hillary) take more of the reigns so they can carry through with their ambition. (Support them more in what they do already) Keep thinking about what we want the sport / organisation to be (rather than what it is or used to be) Enough said about Child Protection (above etc)
• don't know
• For existing members who are regular orienteers I think it's fine. Maybe something to help newcomers - SOA welcome pack, reduced charge at coaching courses.
• Put SOa personalities on websites. Meet the clubs on a regular basis
• The vast majority of the membership wants good events, and these are delivered by volunteers at club level. So, support for clubs & volunteers through advice, courses, grants, rewards, facilities to advertise our sport. We all like to see our sport taken notice of. So, good publicity and representation. Excellent communication, both from and to SOA. Always room for improvement in these areas.
• Keep the newsletter going (don't rely purely on the internet). Provide new members with a welcome pack up, especially those 'local' BOF members who don't get much from BOF. Nothing else really, you do a great job.
• Short regular email bulletins about upcoming events, and timely reminders of closing dates of events.
• Nothing major needs to be done

What do you see as the key threats facing the SOA?

(i.e. what are the big issues facing the organisation and/or the sport)

• All the PC crap that floats around in the UK just now... it will over burden administrators & scare volunteers away...
• Lack of new participants, especially adult Overload on volunteer helpers
• The sport relies on its volunteers and looking around many of the people will in 5-10 years time be seeking a rest. It is vital to have the next set of people coming into the sport and ready to pick up the baton. This is a natural cycle that needs to be managed. Increasing legislation that adversely impacts the sport, e.g. capercaillie access restrictions and potential HSE rules. These may either put up costs or just frustrate volunteers who don't want to get bogged down in bureaucracy.
• 1. Lack of participating members. Needs more development in schools and universities and up to age 40 else the sport will die. Participation is OK in the higher vets classes. 2. Environmental issues.
• Not enough youths are taking up the sport
• There are so many other things to do! I think more local events would help, especially as travelling is becoming expensive. It is relatively easy to train in hill running and race locally, but not so easy for orienteering.
• Costs of transport especially now that fuel is going up in price. Land access which may be denied for 'environmental' reasons. DONALD TRUMP!(and his like)
• Finance,volunteer burn-out and the environmental concerns / cost of driving long distances.. People want a top class service, with (almost) professionally run events which are staged by volunteers and yet they grip about the high cost of entry fees. Taken as part of the overall cost, the entry fee is not high but do too many clubs have avery low entry fee for C5 events and then the differential to C3 is huge?
• Loss of funding Loss of volunteer base through bureaucratic burden
• The biggest threat I see currently, and it is unlikely to go away, is the big increase in fuel costs as this is bound to lead to a fall-off in participation at distant events and therefore affect total particpation levels. Diversion of Sports Council and Lottery funding towards the Olympics and Commonwealth Games away from grass-roots sports.
• Other less challenging activities/ inactivities Invisibility
• Loosing members due to high costs of events. Have a structure that each club follows e.g No more than £2/£5 colour coded and no more than £3/£8 badge/national event.
• Fewer (relatively) volunteers to do more work. Low numbers of coaches coming through. (and other officials too but to a lesser extent) Litigation Culture / Child Protection : Or moreso extreme OTT fear / reaction to legal aspects of volunteering.
• not attracting enough members in
• Ageing competitors, less 21-35's. Too many other things for people to try. The general public have a strange view of the sport and don't take it seriously.
• Introducing the sport to more young people especially girls - there was a very low enttry for W21 in the Scottuish champs. The high price of fuel and travel to events in a green culture.
• Funding. Loss of volunteers. Difficulty of access to events - travel issues.
• 1. The uncertainty about funding from national bodies and the often complicated administrative tasks that volunteers have to live with. 2. The extremely high standards that seem to be expected from events these days - it can be so daunting for new volunteers. Basically, the simpler we can keep the sport at a local level the better - insist on the clever stuff for SOLs and beyond. 3. The high cost of fuel affecting peoples' ability to travel long distances to events.
• Declining membership and poor "brand" in the wider public.
• Competition from other adventure activities Smaller numbers of young people entering the sport Lack of orienteering activity in schools and poor links between schools and clubs Increasing cost of fuel
• Rising travel costs and the "green agenda" are increasingly making people reluctant to travel long distances to events.

What do you see as the key opportunities for the SOA?

(i.e. are there trends/events etc that you feel the organisation should take advantage of?)

• Independance for Scotland. The SOA should already be establishing it's identity on the grander orienteering stage. Scotland should compete as a nation more often. There have been almost no nation v nation internationals (outside the SHI) in the last 30 or 40 years of orienteering in Scotland.
• publicity - making most of trend of adventure sports and trying to raise the profile of orienteering
• To be seen as a healthy, family friendly and fun sport that fits with the natural advantages that Scotland has to offer. Building on the 6-day, but noting not to create too much demand on the volunteer base. Exploit the competition success that many association runner are having for publicity and as role models to draw people in.
• 1. MBTO 2. Healthy and active lifestyles. Orienteering needs to offer itself as a sport providing solutions to a government identified problem (lack of exercise/poor diet/lifestyle). 3. Selling hard copies of orienteering maps to other users of open spaces/countryside/parks/forrestry we currently use. This has huge advertising potential as well.
• help clubs to run more local events
• Healthy schools programme might attract more competitors. Cunning running aspect of the sport. Maybe a sponsored event could be organised to make money for a charity and give publicity to the sport. Provides an opportunity for people to experience the outdoor environment.
• Sprint O brings the sport into the public eye. BUT what are the implications of this in terms of risk assessment etc?
• Our sport aligns with many national policy stands such as 1. Health and exercise 2. Recreational enjoyment of the countryside 3. Family oriented exercise 4. Developing skills in young people especially independence, analtyical thinking and risk management. We have great potential to market ourselves to many sectors of public life and be an exemplary partner to energetic, forward-looking sponsors.
• a. Encouragement of more local events to offset dropping participation levels at distant events following fuel price increases. b. Greater promotion of Orienteering as a healthy activity. The Scottish Executive, aka Government, has declared a determination to improve the health of Scots. Can their commitment be put to the test by asking for additional funding and resources to allow the SOA and clubs to advertise and put on events for the public to help address the health issue?
• the growth of path networks better access agreements better gear available environmental studies work in primary and growing cross-curricular work in secondary schools
• Pulling clubs together more to share resources / experience etc.
• making sure enough orienteering news hits the general public so they know how fun and relevant it could be to them
• Non-orienteers are willing to pay high entry fees for anything to do with adventure racing or trail running and I feel there is a market there for us.
• Linking up with big charity and other city events and providing a street/park orienteering alternative eg BUPA run, RAT race etc to raise money through or provide entertainment for the supporters. Street o's are more visible for pwople of thinking of trying orienteering and do not always involve so much travel.
• The increasing recognition that orienteering is a great sport for school kids, families. The growth of local orienteering and orienteering in urban and parkland areas. The great terrain we have and, to be honest, great elite orienteers.
• 1. There's loads of untapped interest and talent out there. Encourage clubs to put on as many simple, local events as possible, and work with local bodies such as the Active Schools Co-Ordinators to encourage participation. In my experience, once newcomers to the sport get a few events under their belt they're much more likely to travel further to bigger events once they're hooked. The only way to do this is to put more emphasis on the value of simple, local events. Easier said than done, I know! 2. Make the most of big events. Newcomers to the sport [especially children) who get the chance to experience orienteering on a grand scale are invariably enthused and want to do more(judging by the comments by parents of the new bunch of Moravian juniors after the British Champs at Culbin). If these showcase events can be really well publicised in the media as events that the general public can attend it would be a good thing. 3. Encourage sprint O and town maps - it's a great variation of the sport for the regulars and hopefully we can get a few road running club members interested this way, and get the sport much more in the public eye.
• For a relatively new orienteer one of the big challenges is the complexity of the sport. The activity itself is complex and mentally and physically challenging - that is inherent in the sport - but then we have in addition a very complex language, symbology (you know what I mean!), and codes and classes which are confusing and off-putting. For my juniors it has been quite a struggle to cope with the different types of event and class (Orange - nice and simple, JM3 or JM4 - what does this mean - help, M12A M12B what's the difference - which do I enter?) To get new entrants to the sport I think SOA needs to think about marketing a few biggish, higher profile events that are exciting and appealing to a new audience. Probably physically challenging but navigation not so hard - and less intimidating that a usual O-Event
• Increasing interest in outdoor activities Good access legislation
• Health agenda and the anti-obesity thing. Growing orienteering interest in schools. Increasing professionalism of coaching.