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!
Read More…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!
Edinburgh Southern Orienteering Club (ESOC) has been trialling a new initiative, Ozone, aimed at supporting young juniors at local events through fun, informal activities that build confidence, skills and enables them to meet other children at events.
Although still in its pilot phase, the Ozone has so far provided a strong example of best practice for engaging younger participants and their families, while supporting progression into independent orienteering for juniors that currently participate with their parents.
On Sunday 16 November, in the stunning grounds of Hopetoun House near Edinburgh, Edinburgh Southern Orienteering Club hosted the British Schools Orienteering Championships for the first time in Scotland since 2011. Around 340 pupils competed, with approximately 220 from Scottish schools, making it a fantastic showcase of pupils from across the country. The weather couldn’t have been better, with blue sky for miles and not a cloud in sight, providing perfect conditions for competitors, spectators and volunteers alike.
Eight adult beginners braved some very wet and wild conditions at Hazlehead Park, Aberdeen, on 25th October for a Scottish Orienteering adult coaching day designed to build confidence and skills for newcomers to the sport.
The session was organised by the SOA, planned and led by Katja Neumann (MAROC) and assisted on the day by Fiona McDonald (GRAMP). Among the eight participants were two AUOC (Aberdeen University Orienteering Club) members, who were fully funded to attend as part of ongoing efforts to support student engagement in orienteering.
So far we have received two fantastic nominations for our Young Orienteer of the Year award. It’s always encouraging to hear about the contributions that our young people are making in all areas of the sport often while training as elite athletes too.
Finlay McLuckie – MOR
Finlay has made a huge contribution to the sport of orienteering in recent years, and this year he has excelled himself! At club level, Finlay is a very willing and active participant in various club activities, such as our regular pre-event coaching sessions and welcoming newcomers at CATI events. He has contributed to running local events, particularly as a planner and is currently our Junior representative on the club committee. This year he accepted the considerable responsibility of Assistant Planner of Day 1 of the Scottish Six Days on Royal Deeside. He fulfilled this role very competently , running several of the longer courses to assess technical and physical difficulty! After the event he sought feedback from colleagues on the courses, demonstrating considerable maturity and understanding of how to improve as a planner. Finlay’s contribution to our sport extends beyond Moray. He was proud to put on his kilt as a part of the prize-giving team at the World Sprint Championships held in Edinburgh last summer!
Euan Tryner – EUOC
Euan was EUOC secretary last academic year and is now captain of the club while in his 2nd and 3rd years of study respectively. This is early to take on these roles in ones university journey. Both roles, but especially captain, demand taking on a lot of responsibility for how the club is run and how it presents itself to both the orienteering community and the university institutions. He deals with this responsibility extremely well in my opinion. In addition to this, he is an athlete representative on the British Orienteering performance steering group, providing valuable insights from athletes into shaping the future of British orienteering. All of this is while training to be an elite athlete.
We are happy to take any last minute nominations up until Thursday 23rd. Use the form to tell us about your young hero.
Every year we celebrate the contribution made to the sport by our young people. This year we have decided to deconflict our Young Orienteer of the Year award with Volunteer Week in June by asking for nominations later in the year and presenting the trophy at the Junior Inter Areas in October. We are eagerly looking forward to hearing what our young people have been up to in our clubs and squads. This award is not about performance but rather contribution to the sport through volunteering and in the past we have had activities as diverse as running school clubs, mapping, writing newsletters, coaching and officiating at events recognised and celebrated.
Do you know a young person under 21 who is inspiring others? Consistently assisting with club activities? Or making a difference by raising the profile of our sport through their volunteering?
Use the form to nominate your young hero and give them the recognition they deserve.
Planners and future planners – we have offerings for you as well. Our tried and tested Planners’ workshops series ( adult and junior) are being run again this winter by Colin Eades and his team of trainers. In addition we are delighted to say that some experts have volunteered to give existing and new planners the benefit of their experience by hosting 3 planners discussions. We also have a range of ESWs to suit all. All these workshops are free to SOA members.
A course combining theory and practical for juniors with some knowledge of orienteering (TD3 standard ), who are interested in helping with coaching in a club, squad, camp or school setting. This course is a fun and sociable introduction to aspects of coaching and is in 2 parts:
Course Content:
Discussion around what to coach and how to coach orienteering; practical self and peer evaluated exercises.
Pre-requisites:
Competent orienteers at least at TD3; age 14+
OTHER NOTES:
This course counts as a pre-requisite for the SCCO Level 5 Club Coach course.
MORE DETAIL:
This course will be held in Stirling or Edinburgh depending on location of participants
Book online through the Google form by Fri 7th Nov or contact Suzanne Robins-Bird with any questions
We are always looking for ways to help you – our hardworking volunteers – and one of our offerings is organisers’ courses. Organising can be something that folk find off putting due the seeming enormity of the task. If you would like to help your club by organising an event but don’t know where to start then one of our organisers’ courses is the right place.
