Orienteering Fun in the Summer of Sport

Scottish Orienteering, with the support of Sport Scotland Summer of Sport funding have been running an initiative to attract families into orienteering, with taster coaching sessions followed by local events.

Over the past month, 12 taster sessions to “Try Orienteering” were run all across Scotland – with events in Helensburgh, Dundee, East Lothian, Aboyne, Aberdeen and Inverness. More than 90 families registered to join in the fun with children of all ages (from 0 to 18) taking part.

The sessions were organised in conjunction with local clubs who provide a local come and try it event in the following weeks for the participants to come and try out their newfound orienteering skills and meet other orienteers. The families were also given membership of SOA and the local club to try to integrate them into the orienteering community and encourage them to attend subsequent events.

The sessions included games and activities to learn how to set the map and introduce map symbols before trying short courses with the emphasis on having fun!

The initiative was also aimed at helping newly qualified younger coaches establish themselves as coaches and start developing their own bank of resources whilst supported by experienced club coaches. Huge thanks to all the club coaches who helped and supported the new coaches in the run up to the sessions as well as providing their experience during the sessions and to all the volunteers in local clubs who welcome the newcomers at the forthcoming events and provide a fantastic introduction to all orienteering has to offer.

Feedback has been very positive from participants

We had a great time, learned lots as a family and left keen to do more – which I imagine was the whole point!

The initiative also caught the eye of BBC Radio Scotland’s Out of Doors program, and their presenter joined the session in Aberdeen along with her family to find out more about orienteering – so watch out for orienteering hitting the airwaves on October 17th!