A step into the future

A step into the future, remote delivery of school orienteering programs

2020 was a year like no other and with schools orienteering taking a hiatus for most of the year it made a swift (if not overwhelming) return in Term 4. Many schools who had secured Sporting Schools funding were very keen to use it, while other schools were looking to offer their students an interesting and exciting experience to end what could be summed up as a bit of a dull year!

However, with the slowly easing restrictions in Victoria and strict school policies, the need for an innovative approach through remote mapping and teacher delivered, coach supported programs was required. This approach not only allowed OV to navigate the new “Covid normal” but allowed us to service remote schools where we did not have mappers or coaches on the ground.

So what is a remote map? This is an orienteering map of the school made with no on the ground “fieldwork” at all. Not the easiest task, but with high quality satellite imagery, school diagrams and evacuation plans, and videos/photos of the school, it is possible to still produce a high-quality map. Several skilled young mappers embraced this challenge with great enthusiasm, with the attention to detail these mappers used complimented on and appreciated by school teachers.

Promoting and facilitating teacher delivered programs had been relatively uncharted territory for Orienteering Victoria prior to 2020. However, the outstanding new school orienteering materials developed on a national level made this process much easier. Utilizing video conferencing and the ability to screenshare, Brodie Nankervis, the OV Schools Officer at the time, was able to provide an overview of orienteering, describe and teach the orienteering activities used in schools and demonstrate how to use Purple Pen software with great success.

The great work pioneered in Term 4 2020 paves the way for remote delivery of orienteering programs into the future, helping OV support orienteering programs across our entire state and spreading the orienteering word far and wide! Thanks to all of those who contributed to school orienteering in 2020, OV is looking forward to working with you all and others in 2021 😊