HIGH PERFORMANCE REPORT

Changes have brought Success

Mike Dowling, OA Director, High Performance

Strategic Plan

The 2006 Annual Conference of Orienteering Australia saw the annual review of the High Performance Strategic Plan that underpins our activities over the period to 2008. Key outcomes adopted which relate to our high performance activities were:

• The establishment of a National Junior Development Squad in 2007; • The restructuring of the Senior Selection Panel for foot orienteering; • The commencement of a national MTBO series in 2008; • The adoption of a four team competition for the National League in 2007.

Orienteering Australia is calling for applications for a coach of our new National Junior Development Squad. The squad will be announced following the JWOC carnival in July. The formation of this Squad completes the formal development pathway for high performance orienteering in Australia. The primary goal of the Squad will be to identify talented young orienteers in the 15 - 17 age bracket and provide them with ongoing support and training opportunities. We will specifically look for young orienteers who demonstrate orienteering ability and in particular the physical attributes to be successful future high performance orienteers. The central role of the Squad coach will be to work in partnership with squad members and their coaches and to conduct at least one national camp for squad members each year.

New selection structure for senior teams & squads

The OA Conference endorsed a proposal to restructure the Senior Selection Panel for 2007 with the new structure to be reviewed at the 2007 Conference. The new panel includes an independent chair, the Head Coach and coaches of both our WOC and Bushrangers teams. The new structure aims to place the onus of team performance outcomes more firmly on the coaching team thus increasing accountability for athlete performance by flattening the administrative layers in the selection of both squads and teams. It also takes into account the central role of the Head Coach in overseeing all aspects of elite athlete development by having them become an integral part of the selection process. An independent chair provides the necessary checks and balances to ensure selection maintains an objective basis. One of the key tasks of the new panel is to review the selection criteria for both the Bushrangers team and the national Senior Squad to enable us to better support the development of our potential future WOC representatives.

National MTBO Series In 2008

A National League (Series) will commence from 2008 for our high performance MTBO athletes. This will be an important aspect in furthering the development of MTBO from both a competitive and participation standpoint. The MTBO High Performance Management Group is developing a proposal for a firm structure for the series for final approval at the 2007 AGM. Two key aspects of the national series under consideration are that it would be an individual based series incorporating the annual selection races for the MTBO WOC team, national championships and possibly one state Championship weekend.

Four team National League competition in 2007

In an exciting development for our premier domestic competition Orienteering Australia will now be conducting a four team competition as a part of the league in Junior & Senior Women and Junior and Senior Men divisions respectively. It will be a great opportunity to see which state teams will come to the fore in this initial series of races to be held over the Easter holiday period in South Australia.

Thanks Grant & Welcome Gareth

Our Head Coach, Grant Bluett, resigned from this role in January to take on a new career direction. I would like to extend a sincere personal vote of thanks to Grant for the dedicated, passionate and enthusiastic commitment he has put into furthering Australian orienteering over the last year. He has done so much for orienteering in the Head Coach role and will still continue to have a major role in influencing the future direction of our high performance orienteering program through his role as a coach with our national Junior Team. The Board of Orienteering Australia has appointed Gareth Candy to the role of Head Coach. Gareth brings many fine attributes having been a very successful coach of our 2006 JWOC team and possessing tertiary qualifications in Coaching Science. Orienteering is indeed fortunate to able to call upon the services of Gareth in this vital role.

ACTAS Our National Training Centre

Last December I had the privilege to meet with Emery Holmik, Director of the ACT Academy of Sport. As ACTAS is our National Training Centre it performs a vital role in the preparation and training support of many of our top orienteers. The meeting with Emery gave me with a much better insight into the important role played by ACTAS in supporting our high performance orienteers.

Future directions for High Performance program

In this edition OA president, Bob Mouatt, discusses the development of our high performance programs over the last 10 years. It is clear we have done much to enhance our programs, our standing in the Australian sporting community and most importantly our international competitiveness with AUS achieving World Championship gold medals in all three of the World Championships we participate in, backed up by a growing number of benchmark performances (top-16 individual and top-8 relay). Over the next 10 year period I see five main goals we should be striving to achieve to continue to build both our standing and our international competitiveness from a strategic standpoint. They are:

• A full time Head Coach managing and articulating the strategic direction of our national teams and their underpinning programs; • A full time national Director of Coaching to work with coaches in all states to build the quality of coaches working with orienteers at all levels of our wonderful sport; • The building of greater competitive depth of all teams taking part in our national orienteering series in partnership with states that underpins our international competition program; • Building greater partnerships with the corporate world and government at all levels to grow our sport as an integral part of the

Australian sporting community for the wonderful benefits our sport can offer to all Australians.

• Working to host more international competitions to provide highlevel competition for our high performance athletes on home soil.

What do you think should be our future strategic directions? Contact me to put forward your ideas. Mike Dowling, 17 High St., Bellerive, Tasmania 7018. tel 6244 71773 ; e-mail mdowling@tassie.net.au