Today’s volunteers are the INVOC coaching team who have all been working incredibly hard to make high quality coaching available to a wide range of youngsters. In addition to club sessions, some of the coaches run sessions in local schools as well, encouraging youngsters to get into the sport. The following report from club lead coach Jacquie Laird explains:
The INVOC coaching team started the current model of sessions in lockdown when we began with online sessions on Wednesday evenings – first the older groups, then we added the TD3 group. As lockdown eased we started adding back in alternate weeks forest sessions on Wednesday evenings for an hour. This seems to work well – less pressure than weekly sessions for coaches and parents ferrying kids.
Well it’s time of year again when we say an extra big thank-you to all of our volunteers. This week we will highlight those who have been nominated as having gone above and beyond the call of duty but celebrating them serves to remind us that our fantastic sport could not go ahead without the contributions of all our volunteers – so thank-you one and all for doing what you can to support Orienteering.
Well what a weekend! Some great terrain, fabulous courses and amazing team spirit on show this weekend at both the Scottish Orienteering Individual and Relay Championships.
2023 was the turn of the west area clubs to host the event and the west clubs – Ayrshire Orienteering Club (AYROC), Clydeside Orienteers (CLYDE), Forth Valley Orienteering Club (FVO), Loch Eck Orienteering Club (ECKO), Solway Orienteering Club (SOLWAY), St Andrew’s Orienteering Club Glasgow (STAG) and Tinto Orienteering Club (TINTO). ECKO allowed their maps of Creag Mhic and Inverawe Country Park to be used, obtained landowner permissions whilst members of all the west area clubs acted as officials and volunteers to ensure everything went off smoothly and we all had a great event.
Last Saturday we had our first joint training session for the West (SWAT) and East (ESOA) area regional training squads. The regional squads are for juniors TD3 and above. The aim of the regional squads is to let juniors have fun and make friends through orienteering. The training took place at Galamuir led by SWAT coach Roger Goddard. The FVO stars TD1-2 also joined in with the training. The FVO Stars will go on to join SWAT once they are TD3.
At the start of the session the juniors broke into four different coaching groups: FVO stars, TD3, TD4 and Adults. The SWAT and ESOA squads worked on simplification and relocation. The relocation exercise was very tricky with a few very well hidden fences and earth walls making the exercise challenging. Despite the woods being described as ‘disgusting’ by an enthusiastic SWAT member there were lots of smiles and lots of learning.
The SOA AGM will take place on Monday 5th June online at 7pm.
Today we have published the AGM Booklet which includes all proposals and nominations of Directors which require your voting. There will be the option of proxy voting by post and online and we hope to engage in some dialogue prior to voting in person. We still welcome further nominations for the vacant Board Director positions and truly hope you will consider putting your name forward.
We have outlined all the proposals for voting below.
AGM PROPOSALS
1
No change in senior membership fees in 2024, keeping them at £12 for an adult membership.
2
No change in junior and student membership fees, keeping them at £2 in 2024.
3
A change is proposed in the criteria for an event levy to apply. Currently event levies only apply where the entry fee for seniors is >£10. It is proposed to extend event levies to all regional, national and major events. No change is proposed in the rate for event levies, retaining them in 2024 at £1 per senior and £0.40 per junior.
4
That Ken McDonald be formally appointed as Equality, Welfare and Diversity Director
5
That Brian Miller be reappointed as independent examiner for the 2023 SOA accounts
Do you know of someone who has gone above and beyond for the benefit of orienteering? The President’s Medal is handed out annually at the AGM to recognise significant contribution to the sport. We truly welcome all nominations.
Anyone or any club/ organisation, other than previous winners, can be nominated even those who has been nominated previously. Nominations should be submitted by Friday 2nd June.
May’s Community Conversation provided those who attended an insight into why the Making the Most of WOC 2024 Report was commissioned by the Scottish Orienteering Association and the British Orienteering Federation, how the consultants Baroudeur carried out their research and the conclusions drawn as a result of the research.
For those who were unable to attend, a copy of the slides can be found here
The next Community Conversation will be the SOA AGM on 5th June 2023. Those who wish to propose any matters of business to be heard at the AGM should contact nikki@scottish-orienteering.org
With the retiral of current board members there are several board positions which the SOA are looking to fill and we ask anyone interested to speak to a current board member or contact nikki@scottish-orienteering.org The board positions available at the AGM are President, Operations Director, Development Director, Marketing and Communications Director and Equality, Welfare and Diversity Director.
Moravian Orienteering Club’s New Development Officer
Last month we were excited to announce that Moravian Orienteering Club has appointed a new Development Officer – Will Hall. Club development officers are central to the development of a club. Club development officers help to lead the development of a club’s volunteer workforce and support the club to further build its capacity for new members. Previously Forth Valley and Tayside Orienteering Clubs have had development officers which enabled them to sustainably grow their membership.
Let’s speak to Will to find out more about him and his plans working with Moravian:
