Month: February 2021

Following the First Minister’s statements this week we want to provide something to look forward to during these days in lockdown and to reassure our members that we are committed to hosting events in 2021, when restrictions allow. Our primary focus as the first step will be supporting and encouraging clubs to restart with local events and re-engage their members. We will provide advice and support to clubs  to ensure everyone has confidence that all measures have been taken to allow for the safe return of our sport.

And looking beyond local events, we want to give our commitment to supporting the return of regional and national events when we are permitted to do so.

We are truly delighted to welcome Neil Rankin to the SOA Board of Directors. As an Independent Director, Neil was approved by the Board following an application and interview process. Neil brings to the role significant experience in the Scottish sporting system and professional insight into the areas of welfare, equity and inclusion.

While some progress is being made to suppress the virus and incredible efforts towards vaccinating adults is taking place, from the First Minister’s statement today it looks as though our events and activities remain suspended for now. We must all follow the guidance to stay at home with the hope of more positive news to come.

We will work with sportscotland on the guidance for 12-17year olds and also work to prepare our clubs with any additional information we obtain about what Level 3 may look like come April.

Today, Jan Kersel joined our SOA Team Meeting and provided a valuable update on all the developments taking place across Argyll & Bute. It was uplifting to hear the impact of the appointment of Jan on EckO and we felt compelled to share her story. Enjoy!

We are looking forward to hosting the second of the Child Wellbeing and Protection in Sport courses on 22nd February and were delighted to get good feedback following the first course earlier this month. There are some spaces left on the courses on the 9th and 18th March, so if you are interested please do sign up here

One question which we were asked to clarify following the course was who needed a PVG within orienteering in Scotland?

Today we say a farewell to Colin Matheson from the Scottish Orienteering staff team after over 10 years. Colin will be stepping away from his roll as Events Manger for SOA to focus on Lochaber 2021 and will continue to work on Scottish 6 Days on a 2 day a week basis. We are indebted to Colin for all his work on events, advancing data for clubs and creating crucial links to enable access in many areas. We are holding off on a big finale for Colin until we can meet in person and we can celebrate all of Colin’s achievement on behalf of Scottish Orienteering.

As part of the 2021 Virtual BOF Coaching Conference, the SOA organised and convened a session on Additional Support Needs in Orienteering. The objective of the workshop was for coaches to share experiences of working with youngsters with ASN and to map out some simple tips for others to assimilate.

The annual British Orienteering Federation coaching conference wrapped up in early February after a fully diverse offering of workshops and sessions

For the first time the annual IOF High Level Event Seminar (HLES) was held online and saw a record attendance of over 100 from 5 Continents and covering all disciplines – FootO, SkiO, TrailO and MTBO.  Videos of the event are publicly available here The focus of the event is very much on World Cup and World Orienteering Championship level events – Scotland is hosting the Sprint World Orienteering Championships 2024 so the HLES is very much part of the run-up to this.