FROM THE PRESIDENT

Bob McCreddin President, Orienteering Australia

Supporting our Teams

ONE of the responsibilities – or privileges – of being a Member of the Board of Orienteering Australia is to read the annual reports of each of the coaches, managers and members of our national teams. Doing this for the first time in 2004 proved for me to be a most rewarding and enlightening personal experience.

We all understand the commitment of the elite orienteer, but studying the reports reinforced for me the extreme level of commitment so many of our Members make in support of our elite orienteers. National coaches, managers and selectors all undertake high profile roles in support of national teams, and we salute their contribution. However, there are many others who voluntarily provide support services to teams or the individual members of the teams, whose contributions go largely unrecognised beyond the orienteers concerned.

As the National O League and its Junior Division grow in status, there are increasing numbers of coaches, managers and team supporters providing assistance to elite orienteers. Indeed, the success of the National O League is largely dependant on the extent and quality of the support and coaching that members of these teams receive.

With the growth of the regional concept of international Orienteering and the inevitable strengthening of our orienteering ties with New Zealand as part of the ‘new’ Oceania Region, I am sure that the status of the ANZ Challenge [and the associated ‘test matches’ between elite and school teams] will be enhanced and more attention will be given to selection, coaching and team management than has typically occurred in the past.

It is great for our sport that there are such numbers of committed people undertaking these roles and in many cases being prepared to train or acquire skills to assist these teams. There is, however, a particular need for us to train greater numbers of orienteering coaches at all levels. [Make a file note now to speak to your state coaching coordinator!]

Of course, behind most of these national or state teams there is also a squad from which the team is selected and many believe that the development of these squads and the engendering of ‘team spirit’ is just as important as having highly competent orienteers to select for the team. If I had any negative reaction to the many reports that I read, it was the extent to which some team members saw themselves as an individual competitor rather than as a member of a team. The most significant support a team member expects is the support of the other members of the team – and this is where the quality of the team spirit cuts in.

I sincerely thank all orienteers who in 2004 undertook roles in support of teams selected to represent Australia or teams selected to compete in national events.

Keep spiking those controls.

The Early Years

Hugh Cameron – IOF Senior Vice-President

THE acronym IOF might appear to have little relevance to those who just wish to enjoy a day’s orienteering in the forest – a distant organization with an office in Helsinki, Finland. However, from the day it came into being in May 1961 the International Orienteering Federation has very much determined the nature of the sport we enjoy so much.

The IOF aims to spread the sport of Orienteering world-wide and promote its development. Let’s take a closer look at the IOF.

The IOF is made up of several bodies - the Council which is responsible for leading the IOF between biennial General Assemblies; the discipline commissions (foot, ski, mountain bike and trail); and the support commissions (environment, IT, map, medical, rules, policy and development). The Council (numbering seven until 1973, then nine from 1977) is elected by the member federations.

In 1961, the IOF had 10 members – Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, the Federal Republic of Germany, the German Democratic Republic, Finland, Hungary, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland. Today, there are 64 members, the most recent being Somalia, accepted as a member by the IOF Council in Jan 2005.

In the early days, there was a very friendly atmosphere within the IOF. The O-family had a positive feeling of friendship and understanding that is still very much evident today.

The goal of the new federation was to shape a sport that would conform to the same general standards throughout the world. In the 1960s every country had its own type of map and several different scales were used. The IOF attempted to create some uniformity. At first, the difficulties seemed insurmountable.

In 1975, the IOF Map Committee produced Drawing Specifications for International O-maps in English and German. Think of this legacy today. Every orienteer knows what to expect of an Orienteering map in any country in the world, whether it be foot, ski, trail or mountain bike Orienteering. The same may be said of competition rules.

As the IOF grew, language became an increasing challenge, particularly with respect to control descriptions. In 1975 the IOF introduced symbolic control descriptions which today, at club events or World Championships, we take for granted.

In a booklet entitled Control Descriptions, control sites were depicted by means of pictorial symbols. Erik Tobe (SWE), the first IOF President (1961-1975) writes: “This development, together with the production of mapping standards are, in my opinion, the main achievements of the IOF in its first fourteen years.”

The first World Orienteering Championships (Foot) were held in Finland in 1966 and Ski in 1975.

In Australia, the Orienteering Federation of Australia (now Orienteering Australia) was formed in 1970. In 1971, the first Australia-New Zealand Challenge was held at Puckapunyal, Vic. Australia won the challenge!

Australia joined the IOF in 1973, together with Israel, New Zealand and USA, bringing the membership to 21. In 1974, in Czechoslovakia, Rod Dominish (Manager, AUS WOC team 2005) became the first person to represent Australia at the World Championships.

In 1980, the first Pacific Orienteering Championships were held near Canberra. In 1982, Ted Wester (NSW) became the first Australian to serve on the IOF Council. Dick Adams, USA, 1977-1980 and Gordon Hunter, CAN, 1980-1986, preceded Ted Wester as the first members of the IOF Council from outside Europe.

Following these early years, the IOF and international Orienteering have experienced considerable change. Australia has maintained a significant presence on the international Orienteering scene. These developments will be explored in a future article.