Having established that we need to find a way to retain and grow the key demographic of 20-39, the SOA Board have appointed Graham Gristwood as Scottish Orienteering Performance Manager working 2 days a month from 1st September.
Photo Credit: Rob Lines
Graham brings both his experience as GB athlete and that of a level 3 licensed coach who has worked in a variety of coaching roles for both clubs and at a personal level. His role is one aimed at both the support of elite athletes as well as helping to encourage retention of orienteers in the sport between 20 and 39. To address any conflict of interest regarding WOC 2024 ( as Graham was one of the WOC mappers, and previously was Technical Director before COVID delays), Graham will only be working on forest based support until after WOC 2024.
In order to develop orienteers aged between 20 -39, he will aim to work not only with Scotjos leavers but any athletes in the age group who are running at TD 5 and based in Scotland. The aim is to encourage these athletes to remain in the sport through coaching trips and social elements as well as helping high level coaching development in Scotland.
At the elite level, Graham will help prepare Scottish based athletes when they either represent Scotland at the Senior Home Internationals or are selected to represent GB. Athletes and their coaches will be engaged on a one to one level with Graham developing a regular program through the year to provide not just training but coordination of transport to event. The hope is to develop a team feel where people are proud to represent Scotland.
If any athletes would like to be included on mailing list or if any licensed coaches are interested in working with the programme please get in touch with Graham directly on grahamgristwood@scottish-orienteering.org
On a club committee or have an interest in ensuring your club has a plan for its future? Tune in to the July Community Conversation where our development conversation will lead a discussion on club development plans. We have two clubs lined up to provide attendees with their experience of using a development plans and how they used them to drive their clubs forward. There will be time for lots of questions.
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:
For those who attended the Club Conference on 15th April, a short summary of the data gathered and project proposal for Making the Most of WOC 2024 was provided to aid discussions on the day. The SOA Board are however aware that for most members they may have engaged with the data gathering carried out but have not had the opportunity to hear more about the results and the proposal. To that end, as previously indicated there will be a community conversation taking place on Monday 8th May at 7pm online providing a summary of the work carried out by Baroudeur and allow a discussion on the data gathered.
We are delighted to announce that Scottish Orienteering and British Orienteering have appointed Baroudeur Consultancy to lead on the ‘Making The Most of WOC 2024’ project. The initial project phase is 6 months to allow for scoping and consultation to identify opportunities and also create a delivery plan towards July 2024 and beyond. Some of the SOA staff and Board met with Baroudeur in Edinburgh earlier this week to identify key stakeholders and agree on the time lines of the project.
More details on the project brief are available here
The Scottish Orienteering Association has a small pot of money available each year for clubs to support the development of grassroots orienteering. These sports development grants are funded by sportscotland to enable clubs to make a tangible difference in their area. Roxburgh Reivers (RR) applied to the SOA development fund last year to support the appointment of a club development officer to initiate and deliver their Earlston High School project. The application was successful. They additionally sourced funding from Build Back a Better Borders, Live Borders, Toddleburn Wind Farm and the Orienteering Federation to make the project possible.
The project involved RR hosting orienteering at Earlston High School during school time which was attended by P7s at each of the cluster primary schools as part of their transition to High School after the summer. This was followed up by ‘Come and Try’ (CATI) events hosted at each of the cluster primary schools. The CATI events would then feed pupils into the RR so they could continue to engage with orienteering.
The cluster Primary Schools session at Earlston High School was very successful. With 158 pupils taking part on a sunny day, activities could take place outside. During the session pupils could try out three different activities including linear, score courses and an orienteering maze. The linear and score courses were particularly well received from pupils, who enjoyed using a dibber and getting a print out of their splits at the end. The maze had mixed feedback as some pupils were too slow creating a queue meanwhile others loved it and raced round. The maze format may work better for smaller groups.
Giving pupils a positive orienteering experience in schools is great, however this needs to be followed up to engage them in the sport and get them involved in the local club. In order to do this the next stage of the project was a series of CATI events at Earlston High Schools cluster primary schools. The events were at the schools to take the activity to the pupils rather than them having to travel. If they did need to travel it wouldn’t be far. Come and try it events were held on a mix Wednesday, Saturday and Sundays to suit a range of availability. The CATI events were free of charge to pupils and their parents.
The CATI events took place throughout August and were promoted through the RR mailing list, Facebook and through posters around the schools where the events were hosted. Two of the schools circulated the information about the events through their Parents Group App. These were also the schools which had the best turn out, highlighting the importance of involving their parents when engaging children in orienteering. Pupils were also given a flyer after the first session about the CATI events.
Apart from the first CATI, they were well attended. Over the month 81 beginners attended the CATI events however, there wasn’t a huge number of P7’s attending. Many people commented that they’d always thought they’d like to try orienteering. At one of the CATI events 26 newcomers came along.
Following on from the CATI series RR have hosted one local event where two people from the series attended and ran an orange. Most people who attended the CATI events gave the RR their email address and are now on their mailing list for more follow up activity and events.
Overall the project has been a success and has increased awareness of the RR and orienteering in the area. Going forward the club is planning on implementing a similar series of events for next year and learning from feedback from teachers, parents and pupils to make next year’s programme even stronger.
The club is planning on implementing a schools league next year between the Earlston High School cluster primary schools. This is where an orienteering training session would occur during school time and out of school pupils can attend local events hosted by the club and compete for their school. Hopefully this will motivate more P7s to come along to the events. Hosting a Schools League has been very successful for other clubs such the South Yorkshire Orienteers. We are very excited to see how the schools league goes next year for RR!
At SOA we are very keen to support the development of grassroots orienteering. If you have a project in mind or want to discuss an idea please contact us or submit your applications to Fran.Loots@scottish-orienteering.org. Applications for financial support for club development projects are welcomed from SOA clubs, groups of clubs, regional associations, or squads. Depending on demand, the likely upper limit for funding is usually around £1000.
Come join our team and help us truly capitalise on the unique opportunity that hosting the World Orienteering Championships in Edinburgh in 2024 presents. We are looking for a self-motivated professional to lead on a 6month scoping project to create a project plan which outlines what could be accomplished and reflects the aspirations of the sport in creating an exciting development plan linked to WOC 2024. Join us as our WOC2024 Project Manager!
