Category: Coaching

The East Area clubs (KFO, TAY, ESOC, INT, EUOC, ELO and RR) are working together to develop a programme of training opportunities open to all junior orienteers that have reached TD3 (orange) standard or above. The plans are a first step towards re-establishing an East Area junior squad, similar to the successful SWAT squad that has been running in the west of Scotland for several years now.

One of the autumn’s newly qualified Level 1 coaches has already played his part in getting the ball rolling for coaching at KFO. Matthew Clark has been helping the club’s new members get their bearings in local woods.

 In partnership with existing club coach, Ian Doig, the duo has also developed a set of training mornings for club members. The first had fourteen KFO members come along to polish their compass skills.  

Scottish Orienteering is keen to help facilitate opportunities for youngsters to try out orienteering at summer camps in various locations around Scotland, especially in the lead up to WOC 2024 in Edinburgh. To help make this happen we need a team of people who are interested in paid coaching work over the summer to get involved with delivery of the activities. No specific coaching qualifications or prior experience of delivery are necessary as we would help get you trained up with the relevant skills.

A January training camp in Perthshire seemed like a great idea, but this turned into a camp of many plans…..

This year’s coaching courses have now been added to the new look courses page of the website. Lead coaches and club development officers are reminded that Coaching Foundation courses can be run for individual clubs if you have 6-8 interested participants. These courses are not assessed, but provide beginners with the tools and confidence they need to get started on the coaching pathway. Get in touch with Suzanne if you feel this is the way forward for your club.

Following the article in the most recent edition of Score, a number of members have expressed concerns regarding anti-doping rules and how they may be impacted. To allay these fears and answer any questions, Tim O’Donoghue, our lead Anti-Doping Officer, is hosting a meeting on Zoom on Wed 5th Jan at 7.30. Please register using the Google form.

Despite the constraints of lockdown and Covid restrictions a lot of coach education happened in 2021. Having spent a much of the last 18 months adapting coaching courses to online and blended delivery, we have decided to keep this format for 2022 for the foreseeable future. The provisional coaching course calendar for 2022 is as follows:

As part of the SOA’s initiative to help kick start orienteering in the spring of 2021, some development funding was set aside specifically to support projects that would help restart club coaching. Maroc successfully applied for funding to help create a more sustainable club coaching programme, through developing resources to simplify and reduce the work involved in setting up a full club training session. The coaching resources have now been made available for other clubs to use and adapt to help develop their own club coaching programme.

The Scottish Junior Orienteering Squad held their final training camp of 2021 in Moray on the weekend of 10^th – 12^th December.  It was great to get together for some fantastic training and festive fun.

Congratulations to all the juniors who have been selected to be part of the new Talent Scotland squad and thanks to all the coaches who have volunteered to support them.

So what is Talent Scotland?