Tag: young people

As the Jamie Stevenson Trophy hosts the presentation of the Young Orienteer of the Year Award this Sunday, it’s time to remind everyone of just how much young people are doing for our sport.  Back in Nov 2022, we hatched a plan to recognise the contribution that our juniors make and to train them to fulfil those roles effectively – the Young Leader scheme was reborn.  We envisaged 3 roles – coaching, planning and organising and designed courses and club experience logs. 

Last Friday was the Scottish School Orienteering Festival. This year the festival was organised by St Andrews Orienteering Club, Glasgow (STAG) and was held at Drumpellier Country Park, Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire. This was the fourth time it has been held in Drumpellier Country Park having previously being held there in 2008, 2014 and 2017.

The Scottish Elite and Development Squad (SEDS) is an initiative designed to help orienteers in their 20s and beyond to stay in the sport.

SEDS arranges for groups to take part in major events and training. In the middle of February, sixteen orienteers – paying their own way – travelled to Burgohondo, two hours west of Madrid, for a warm weather training camp.

The week in Spain ended with the four-day Maximus O Meeting (MOM) event.

The MOM is a huge and important event with a top field from across Europe. There were 85 in the Women’s Elite and 220 in the Men’s Elite, which had to be split in two to cope with the numbers.

An online Organisers’ workshop is being run over 2 online sessions on the 4th March and 9th September  with club based mentored tasks to be completed in between.  Participants will need to attend both workshops and complete all the club based tasks to complete the Young Organiser award. This is open to juniors( 16 +) who are starting out in organising and will cover some of the basics of organising a local event.

Book online through the Google form by 26th Feb or contact Suzanne with any questions

An optional workshop on Friday 12th January is to ensure that learners are familiar with the basics of using either Condes or Purple Pen. It is strongly suggested that you attend this unless you are confident using course planning software.

The Sprint Scotland event in Alloa last weekend saw the presentation of the President’s Medal and the Young Orienteer of the Year awards by SOA President, Richard Oxlade.

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. 

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

Imagine our sport thriving with lots of young adults swelling our numbers. Can we be more attractive?

We know we have demographic deficit with numbers dropping off in the late teens and not picking up until the 40 plus age group . Orienteering Edinburgh was an attempt to make the sport more attractive to a younger demographic. A trial approach to recruiting younger people into the sport through offering a simplified and united approach from clubs across the city of Edinburgh.

Today in a celebration of the young people that contribute to our sport, we are highlighting the activities of our nominations for Young Orienteer of the Year 2023. We are delighted to announce that the winners this year are Charlotte Horne and Isla O’Donoghue who between them are the mainstays of Aberdeen University Orienteering Club.

Today features some key contributors that Forth Valley Orienteers have highlighted as members who are helping their club continue to flourish.

Young leaders have been stepping up to their new responsibilities – Sam Hunt and Grace Polwart supporting the FVO Stars coaching, with Sam also planning events, and Scarlett Kelly organising events.