Clubs are always looking for more volunteers to take on event official roles and help spread the load. Would you like to help out but don’t know where to start? Our accessible courses, run by experts are all designed to help ease you into new volunteering roles in a non threatening learning environment.
Last Saturday, SOA organised an Introduction to Orienteering course with the British Deaf Association Scotland. Held in Alexandra Park in Glasgow, members of the deaf community came along to learn all about orienteering and how they could go about teaching it to their peers! For most, this was their first experience of orienteering so the course began with the basics of understanding maps, along with a shout out to the Deaflympics which orienteering is a part of. The day progressed outside where competitive spirits were encouraged with some games – here provided a great example of the adaptability of these games to make them inclusive for all when musical-o proved a great success! The concluding challenge was a group task in which star and loop exercises were planned for each other to have a go at – including their first efforts at having to hang controls.
This was a great day with loads of learning generated for both the participants and IntrO tutors. It’s also wonderful to see how orienteering can provide an inclusive and welcoming opportunity for everyone! There was lots of enthusiasm which we hope will spread through the deaf community.
A huge thanks to DRP Transitions and the BDA Scotland for helping to organise this and to Judy Bell (IntrO tutor) for putting in so much effort to ensure the course content met the needs of the participants whilst also being fun, exciting and informative. SOA would like to thank STAG Orienteering Club for the use of the map of Alexandra Park and Terry for all his help and advice in choosing what proved to be an excellent venue. Thanks too to John Gormlie and Krystian of the Milnbank Housing Association for use of their facilities. This project was jointly funded by BDA, BOF and SOA.
Juniors – are you a keen orienteer who would like to start getting involved in volunteering? Club volunteer coordinators – do you ever struggle to find event officials? Coaches – do you want a pair of young legs to help you out?
SOA Young Leader courses are all designed to give juniors the knowledge & experience to get involved with volunteering in the club, easing the load whilst giving them new, transferable skills. Run by experts who have worked in the roles for many years, we have 3 areas of expertise – hopefully something to suit everyone:
The Junior Interarea weekend will take place on the 26/27th October. This is a weekend of interarea competition between the North, East and West Area. At the end of the weekend one of the areas will be crowned champions!
Have you ever fancied helping out your club by organising an event or been asked to but it all seemed too complicated? Well, help is at hand. The outwardly daunting task of organising is broken down and explained in our organiser workshops. Run by experts who have organised many events, we have 3 options, hopefully something to suit everyone.
The Young People’s Sport Panel has applications open for its seventh cohort of members. If you’re aged 14-23, living in Scotland and you’re passionate about sport then this could be a great opportunity to get involved.
After the success of the last in person Coach CPD day at Kinnoull Hill the resolution was that we definitely needed more opportunities to get together in the woods with some maps and try out new ideas.
As we roll into September, another academic year starts giving our university clubs the opportunity to recruit new faces into the sport. All four Scottish University Orienteering clubs (Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Stirling) have ‘give it a go’ activities planned for freshers week.
An Extraordinary General Meeting of Scottish Orienteering is being held in person at North Inch Community Campus, Gowan Terrace, Perth PH1 5BF, on Saturday 14th September 2024 at 10am.
The EGM Booklet is linked below containing details of the proposals. In terms of the EGM document you will note that certain amendments to the Articles of Association are proposed and you will also find linked below a copy of the Articles of Association with the proposed changes shown marked.
Read More…The European Orienteering Championships took place in the Vértes Hills in Hungary, in very hot conditions.
There were a number of Scots and Scottish based athletes in the team, with Grace Molloy (Forth Valley Orienteers) earning the best results. She was 28th in the middle distance, and 22nd in the long distance, and in a team also containing Jo Shepherd (Inverness Orienteering Club), came 9th in the relay.
Fiona Bunn (Edinburgh University Orienteering Club) backed up a good WUOC with solid 54th and 37th in the individual races, but unfortunately was injured for the relay. Peter Molloy (Forth Valley Orienteers) was 45th in the long, and part of the men’s relay team which finished 14th. Luke Fisher (Interlopers) made his team GB debut, coming 58th in the long distance, and Jo Shepherd was also 58th.
Grace had this to say – “I was excited to be back in the forest after focusing on sprint orienteering ahead of WOC. The races presented different challenges with technical steep slopes in the middle, physically tough courses with important route choices in the long, and a fast relay with no chance to recover from mistakes. I was pleased to deliver my most consistent set of World Cup races including my best senior long result.”