Scottish Orienteering Association Development Update - February 2021

Whilst orienteering events and activities have been on hold for the last while, there has been lots of work going on in the background to position us to get more people than ever out orienteering, just as soon as we are able. 

Here is a flavour of what the Scottish Orienteering Association Development team has been up to.

Lochaber

With no club local to Fort William, we have been working remotely with Active Schools and schools in the town to facilitate orienteering opportunities ahead of the 6-day event in August.  This has included teacher training, activities delivered by PE specialists in lockdown school hubs, MapRun courses, and plans for some family orienteering sessions in the spring / summer.

Dundee

Similar to Fort William there is no orienteering club in Dundee itself, but the Active Schools team in the city are very keen to introduce the sport to youngsters.  We have therefore been working with a group of Active Schools Coordinators to empower them with the skills to train in turn other teachers in delivering activities.  Alongside basic introductory skills, the training has included use of PurplePen and how to develop Virtual Orienteering Courses using OOM and MapRun.  We plan to build on the schools activity later in the year through facilitating some family sessions in the city.

Ayrshire

Keen interest in orienteering from the three local councils within Ayrshire has helped the local club, AyrOC, to appoint a new Club Development Officer to help grow and develop the club in the region.  It is hoped a recent application to sportscotland will lead to longer term funding of this post.

Argyll

With support from the development team, Loch Eck Orienteers, based near Oban, were able to secure funding for their Club Development Officer last summer.  It has been great to hear about the success that the club has already seen in recruiting greater participation and membership despite the impacts of COVID-19 on planned activities.

Home-Schooling

Resources produced during the first lockdown continue to be of interest for use with home schooling. We have been working with schools and Active Schools in various areas to help them set orienteering tasks, including completion of local MapRun courses, as part of home-schooling PE and “screen free” activities.

Training and CPD for Members

The benefits of online learning continue to be further exploited, with it now much simpler to get enough people together at the same time to run training workshops.  Two Coaching Foundation courses have run, one Level 1 Coaching course is wrapping up and several CPD sessions at the British Orienteering Coaching Conference were coordinated by the Scottish Orienteering Association team.  Virtual Event Safety workshops have seen 50+ newly qualified members and as a response to changes in coaching and club practices, we have been hosting monthly virtual discussion sessions.  A new format of Planning workshops has also been successfully trialled.

Planning for Restart

Obviously, we are keen to help everyone get out doing some real orienteering again as soon as possible, and with this in mind we are currently helping to shape up plans for some junior races in the spring and summer, as well as looking at resources to help support and motivate with club training.  In the meantime, online junior squad activities are being supported to try and retain engagement and interest.