HIGH PERFORMANCE REPORT

AS I write this column for the winter edition the final group of athletes is in the process of being selected for our trio of World Championship teams having just completed the Easter series of events. It promises to be an exciting time for our national teams competing in the World MTBO Championships, the Junior World Championships and Senior World Championships. In MTBO we have the number one ranked rider in Adrian Jackson and Alex Randall who is also ranked in the top 10 which is a fantastic effort while Hanny Allston, our 2005 Athlete of the Year, is fronting up for her final tilt as a junior. In addition, we have seen Dave Shepherd overcome the persistent injuries of last year to dominate the men’s division of the 2006 National League, Grace Elson has taken her orienteering to another level and Simon Uppill has emerged as a genuine future talent. We wish them and all athletes and coaches of our national teams well for their World Championship races.

Elite Athletes Take On Coaching

Orienteering Australia was delighted to appoint one of our outstanding elite orienteers of many years standing in Tom Quayle as coach of the Bushrangers team for 2006-07. Tom is an orienteer with many years of top international experience and it is gratifying to see him wanting to move into coaching to impart his great knowledge onto our emerging athletes who form our “Bushies” team for the test matches against New Zealand. Tom’s appointment is very much a central part of our long-term strategy to encourage our elites to be actively involved in coaching to build our pool of coaching knowledge so that we can continue to improve our international competitiveness. To that end we are delighted that elite orienteers Reuben Smith and Rob Walter will again be helping out with the JWOC team in Lithuania for their final preparations, as they did last year, along with Suzanne Casanova. In addition, Head Coach Grant Bluett is implementing a High Performance Level 2 Coaching program to enable our elites involved in coaching to build on their practical knowledge with the support of a sound theoretical framework.

Coaching The Essence Of Improving Your Orienteering

With the restructure of the activities of Orienteering Australia in 2005 coaching came under the auspices of the Director, High Performance. To that end, I was privileged to be able to attend the meeting of the OA Coaching Committee during the Easter 3 Days in Victoria and to get to hear first hand the work a dedicated band of people are undertaking in their States. There is no doubt that good coaching is the cornerstone of any athlete in any sport being able to improve their enjoyment of their sport at any level. The role of the Coaching Committee is to provide leadership in the area of coaching education and development with support from OA Head Coach Grant Bluett. It was with great pleasure on my part that Queensland’s Fiona Calabro took on the role of Chair of the Committee. We are fortunate in orienteering to have people like Fiona who bring a great sense of passion and dedication to this vital area of orienteering activities.

Improving Our National League

Our National league is now a well established and a vital component of our domestic competition calendar. One the major goals of the Board of Orienteering Australia and the foot High Performance Management Group for this year is to look at ways we can continue to develop the National League and make it an even better series of events as our premier domestic competitive series. There is no doubt States are building the capacity to become more competitive with team depth and the addition of the Junior division in recent years is a positive move to build an articulated pathway for our young orienteers. One aspect we will be looking at is how to assist States to continue to improve both the quality of orienteering and the presentation of the event to the viewing audience where possible. As always your thoughts and ideas are always welcome.

Mike Dowling 17 High St, Bellerive 7018

Ph 6244 71773 Email mdowling@tassie.net.au