HIGH PERFORMANCE

Mike Dowling, Director, High Performance

THE main international competition season is well underway as I write this, with JWOC just complete and the first series of the 2004 World Cup being well underway. Congratulations and well done to all athletes and their coaches who have assisted the athletes represent their sport on the international stage. While all this is going on planning is well advanced for 2005, which is the culmination of our current High Performance Strategic Plan. As such it is the end-game of the plan and we hope one that will bring us some ‘top notch’ outcomes from the 2005 foot World Championships in Japan and the 2005 MTB-O World Championships in Slovakia.

Preparation Planning for Japan 05

The High Performance Management Group (HPMG) is well advanced with our planning for the 2005 World Championships team. We will assist athletes attend training periods in Japan in November of this year and in March 2005. The March 2005 period also presents an ideal opportunity for us to support our overseas based squad athletes to return to Australia for the Easter Carnival period and take in training opportunities in Japan on the way. In addition, we will be taking the National Senior Squad to New Zealand next January for a squad training camp in conjunction with the Oceania Championships. This also presents an ideal opportunity to train in soft, steep terrain of the type that is likely to be found in Japan. To bring this all together our national coaching team of Jim Russell and Geoff Peck are working hard in ensuring we make the best use of these opportunities.

Allied to this, a review of selection guidelines and procedures will have been conducted to refine our selection processes for both squads and national teams. The aim here is to further enhance certainty and transparency to the selection process. It is important to acknowledge the hard work of our various selection panels for both foot and mountain bike Orienteering. It is often a thankless task always fraught with the potential for controversy and one where everyone has an opinion. We can be assured that our panels conduct themselves with a great sense of duty and fairness.

MTBO WOC in Ballarat

A great sense of anticipation is building with the rapidly approaching MTB-O World Championships. We have a squad of very keen athletes who have been working in partnership with national coaches Kay Haarsma and Paul Darvodelsky. We will have a most competitive team with great chances to do well on home terrain. I’m sure all of us wish the team when selected every success and that our athletes can achieve their own personal goals.

Bushrangers - a Continued Success

The Bushrangers, our second tier elite foot-Orienteering team, have become an integral part of our national team program with another very successful “test” series against our New Zealand friends in June. Thanks to all the athletes who represented us and also thanks to Jason McCrae, our High Performance Manager, who travelled with the team as coach. In 2005 we anticipate a “test” as a part of the Oceania Championships and hopefully as a part of the October national carnival in Tasmania. The goal here is to make it an annual event where we travel to New Zealand at least once in a calendar year. It is anticipated that in the future a June New Zealand based test series will become the general norm.

Competition Rules Reviewed

Thanks to the magnificent work of our new OA Technical Director Andy Hogg many orienteers involved with event organisation will know a review of our sport’s competition rules has been undertaken across the board to remove anomalies, bring us into line with new international procedures and address the growing popularity of shorter forms of Orienteering. In addition, we hope to achieve a greater clarity of the National League guidelines to address issues that have arisen as we moved decisively forward in developing our major national elite competition program in foot-Orienteering.

High Performance Manager

It is now well over six months since the appointment of Jason McCrae as our Manager, High Performance. There is absolutely no doubt in the world that our elite programs are much healthier since Jason’s appointment and his work across the board has been particularly appreciated by all involved in high performance Orienteering activities. Some of the highlights of Jason’s work have been in working to fill key coaching and managerial positions, managing financial matters as they relate to national team and squad matters in conjunction with Team Mangers, working particularly hard with state based coordinators to foster improved training outcomes for high performance athletes at a state level, developing a webbased communication board as a means of keeping our high performance athletes updated with training and event information etc. and managing this year’s National League program.

Giving Our National Teams an Identity

We have the Bushrangers as an identity for our second tier elite foot orienteering team. What about a suitable identity for our other teams? The High Performance Management Group values your suggestions for our teams. We are currently canvassing options for our national senior foot-O team. How does “The Warrigals” or “The Dingoes” sound, or what about “The Boomerangs”? Do you have an idea for an identity? What about “The Quokkas” for the JWOC team or what about “The Darters for our MTB-O team? You get the idea.

Do you have an inspirational idea? Get in touch with your Director High Performance, at mdowling@tassie.net.au, with your suggestions.

Books on orienteering

There are a great number of books on all aspects of orienteering. For a list and prices contact: Orienteering Services of Australia 44 Alexandra Parade, Clifton Hill VIC 3068 Phone (03) 9489 9766 Email info@macson.com.au

ORIENTEERING PUBLICATIONS

IOF Publications

International Specifications for Orienteering Maps . . . . . . . . . . $11 .00 Competition rules for IOF events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $11 .00 Control Descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . . $11 .00 Simple Maps for Orienteering . . . . $11 .00 Trail Orienteering (BOF book) . . . . . $30 .00 Trail Orienteering (booklet) . . . . . . . . $8 .25 Trail O (leaflet) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $0 .70

Australian Publications

Elementary Orienteering Instructors Manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . $13 .20 Level 1 Coaching Manual . . . . . . . . $22 .00 Level 1 Coaching Syllabus . . . . . . . . $3 .90 Level 2 Coaching Syllabus . . . . . . . . $4 .40 Level 3 Coaching Syllabus . . . . . . . . $4 .40 Among the Best Orienteers (video) $19 .75 Sponsorship & Advertising, 1996 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . available from states Club Guide, available on disc .

Prices include GST and postage within Australia for single copies. Prices for bulk orders available on request. Orders should be addressed to Orienteering Australia, PO Box 740, Glebe, NSW 2037, with cheques made payable to Orienteering Australia. Email: orienteering@dsr.nsw.gov.au