Learn to Orienteer

An introduction to "O" for juniors and parents

WORDS DANIEL STOTT

Netball has NetSetGo, hockey has Hookin2Hockey, AFL has Auskick... what about orienteering? How can we help newcomers and juniors learn the core skills of orienteering?

These questions stimulated the concept of the Learn to Orienteer program that was trialled in 2021. We wanted to create something that:

- has a specific learning environment

- is for people interested in orienteering and those just starting out

- uses clear explanations of the orienteering skills followed by specific practice

- offers a chance to race and implement the new skills

- and essentially, facilitates making links with each other and having an enjoyable time.

So we advertised the Learn to Orienteer program:

∙ 5 Saturday afternoons

∙ Learn the core orienteering skills

∙ Fun navigational games

∙ Using electronic timing for mini courses

∙ Make friends and have fun

We decided to focus on children and their families. 18 people from 8 families joined at Croxton School for the launch. One third were new to orienteering. Over the 5 weeks (with an unfortunate lockdown gap in the middle) we also visited Darebin Parklands, Princes Park and two parts of Royal Park. During the celebratory afternoon tea in the last week, we were inspired by seeing how participants were confidently running through the bush, along the tracks and around the billabong. Each week started with a warmup to get the body and brain going. After a quick explanation of the two skills to learn, short practice legs were completed. The last 40 mins saw participants apply their new skills in an orienteering course which followed a different style each week: star, score, cloverleaf, line. Reflection and sharing of further opportunities concluded the day.

Learning started with the very basics of orienteering: the map colours and symbols and orienating it. The middle weeks covered topics to help with navigating: handrails, attack points, contours, collecting and catching features, bearings, visualisation and simplification and the navigational process (here, where, there). The last week looked at rough vs precision (traffic lights) and error recovery (relocation).

Activities were designed to be fun; eg. learning about the map colours and symbols involved having a relay and completing a puzzle. They needed to be engaging; eg. understanding the map represents real world objects required groups to tell an imaginary story of having an adventure through the map puzzle they just made. And the activities needed to keep the participants moving; to practice reading the map, pairs placed a flag about 100m away and then described the location so another pair could find it.

Feedback from the participants showed the usefulness of specifically learning some of the orienteering skills. Having dedicated learning time away from competition was also valued. There have been enquiries about another Learn to Orienteer program and a modified online version was delivered to some students who were home schooling. It has been encouraging to see the participants continue their orienteering journey through club events, Vic Schools and Vic Champs.

The hope is to create a package of this program so it can be delivered easily by clubs throughout Australia. It would be nice to equip and pay the coaches so they can help flow more people into club membership while building up our juniors’ and newcomers’ skills.