Tag: juniors

Jason Inman of Forth Valley Orienteering has been appointed as the Scottish Orienteering Squad (ScotJOS) Team Manager following the retirement of Judy Bell.

After 6 years in post as Scottish Junior Orienteering Squad (ScotJOS) manager, Judy Bell decided it was time to step down and last Saturday’s Junior Home International was her final event in post. The Scottish juniors and their parents were keen to show their appreciation for Judy’s efforts and so keen were they that they organised not one but two celebrations!

Last weekend saw Juniors from the Home Nations teams of England, Ireland, Wales and of course Scotland travel to the edge of the Trossachs for the Junior Home Internationals (JHIs). The event used the 5th event of the 2026 Scottish Orienteering League (SOL) calendar at Edinchip (Lochearnhead) for the individuals and a relay event at Lochan Spling near Aberfoyle for the relays. Forth Valley Orienteers (FVO) were hosting both the SOL and provided an opportunity to test themselves against the finest juniors by running the first leg of the relays with a mass start.

Back in June, Scottish Orienteering was excited to announce the brand‑new Junior Volunteer Awards Scheme. A scheme created to recognise and encourage juniors who are taking their first steps into volunteering. Juniors can be nominated for volunteering in four different categories; planning, organising coaching and IT/results/timing. These awards are not about being the best at a role — they are about having a go and learning! The winners of each category will be announced at the Junior interareas at the end of October. 

This scheme was first introduced as a points system whereby juniors could earn points each time they volunteered. The decision has been made to scrap this to avoid over-complicating it. Juniors can be nominated for one or more categories. To nominate a junior we just need their name and it would be helpful if you could provide a note of the volunteer tasks they have undertaken in the past year. Nominations can be made by; the junior, a coach, committee member, area squad official, club fixture secretary. 

We have had some fantastic trophies made up for the award and we hope presenting them at the interareas will encourage more juniors to try volunteering. 

Please contact heidi@scottish-orienteering.org to nominate a junior for one of these awards. Please have your nominations in by Sunday 25th October.

We are looking to recruit a Squad Manager for the Scottish Junior Orienteering Squad (ScotJOS). The person will work alongside Roger Goddard, and will replace Judy Bell, who has been a stalwart of the ScotJOS coaching team for many years. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Judy for all her hard work and acknowledge the enormous contribution she has made to ScotJOS and the development of our Scottish Juniors.

British Orienteering have established a youth voice programme and are seeking juniors from a variety of backgrounds and experience of orienteering to share their views and help improve orienteering. It would be great to see voices representing the Scottish experience. More information can be found here on British Orienteering Youth Voices Programme.

This week will have seen many of our 14 and 16 age class Scottish juniors away exploring the delights of Lagganlia or Deeside with the Junior Regional Orienteering Squads (JROS) with older juniors getting ready to take part in camps in Czechia, Stockholm and Gothenburg.

For juniors it is a week of intensive training in some really interesting terrain combined with games and lots of other fun! For parents they get a week of peace followed by the return of a very tired but contented kid who might after quite a lot of sleep tell them tales of adventures and new friends but brings with them what seems like a month’s supply of dirty orienteering and other kit.

Every 2 years ScotJOS organises a training tour to Sweden for all its junior members. This year a record 37 juniors (aged 14 to 18)  took part assisted by 10 adults.

Read on to find out more about their adventures ….

Scottish Orienteering is excited to introduce a brand‑new Junior Volunteer Awards Scheme, created to recognise and encourage juniors who are taking their first steps into volunteering. Juniors will be able to collect points and earn prizes for their volunteering in four different categories; planning, organising coaching and IT/results/timing. These awards are not about being the best at a role — they are about having a go and learning!

Well it’s that time of year again and World Orienteering Week will soon be upon us. Any event between 16th and 24th of May can be registered on the WOW website.

A maze is always fun

Look at those happy faces!