A PRESIDENT’S PERSPECTIVE

A Final Tetralogy

Bob Mouatt

As I will be standing down from all official positions in Orienteering Australia and Orienteering ACT after Easter 2008, this will be the fourth last article I will write for The Australian Orienteer. Given I have been involved in the management of both organisations for over 10 years I thought I should close my last year with a Tetralogy on the four key areas which have changed significantly during the last decade, starting with High Performance.

A High Performance Program – It didn’t exist in 1997

Before I was introduced to Orienteering I had been a very successful Rugby administrator and coach. I consider my main attribute as a coach was an ability to teach people: • how to train, and • how to win. I started Orienteering in 1977 and like most orienteers I had little connection with the elite aspect of the sport before I joined the management team under the then title, National Development Director, some 20 years later. Given my background in Rugby, I was surprised in 1997 to find how little structure, sophistication and science was applied to the preparation of elites for national and international competitions. The scene in 1997 was: • an orienteering league of four teams with little or no team identification and no overseer to manage and promote it; • biennial World Championships (odd years), biennial World

Cup series (even years), and annual Junior World Orienteering

Championships; • national senior and junior squads; • a national and junior coach who conducted one or two training camps a year; • a few athletes with scholarships to the ACT Academy of Sport,

South Australia Sports Institute, and Tasmanian Institute of

Sport. but there was no overall structure for the development of elite orienteers. As for results at World Championships, the best by individuals before 1997 was in Australia in 1985, when Madeleine Sevior was 17th and Rob Vincent 21st. Both Australian teams had finished 6th in the Relays in Switzerland in 1981. However, a group of young orienteers with ACTAS scholarships were showing a lot of promise at JWOC with Tom Quayle achieving 4th in consecutive years (1994-95), Grant Bluett 15th in 1992, Cassie Trewin 13th in 1995 and Jo Allison 15th in both events in1996. While I had no direct authority to be involved in the ‘elite’ program I considered that if I didn’t do something, nobody else would, and I needed successful elite athletes if I was going to raise the profile of Orienteering, so that I threw most of my energies, behind the scenes, working in providing the necessary structure and support.

The first step towards a High Performance Program

My first step was to convince the then Orienteering Federation of Australia at the 1997 Annual Conference that there should be a part-time paid National Coaching Director, with responsibility for the national coaching program and a high performance coaching program and to convince the then A.C.T. Orienteering Association Inc that the same person should be the Head Coach at ACTAS. Nev Bleakley was appointed to both positions in early 1998. Together we developed into a reasonably successful team in implementing a High Performance program. And after a few early misunderstandings with the national coach, Warren Key, we were able to start Australian elite orienteering on the road to success.

The ASC Sets New Benchmarks

In 1999, Orienteering made an unsuccessful bid for an AIS program. In the feedback, the ASC advised Orienteering that it needed to establish a national training centre at a State/Territory academy/institute of sport. So the next step was to strengthen Orienteering’s relationship with ACTAS and this lead to the formation of an Orienteering squad at ACTAS in around 2000. This relationship developed into ACTAS becoming the national training centre for Orienteering in Australia. In January 2001, the ASC moved to a more formal process for assessing the level of support it would provide national sporting organisations. Apart from having to have a HP program, NSOs had to have a High Performance Strategic Plan, and sports were given about three weeks notice to submit their plans. Orienteering did not have one on 2 January, but we did by 23 January, thanks to plagiarism and a lot of dedicated effort. That first Plan has been the basis of Orienteering Australia’s ongoing HP program and the basis on which the ASC funds Orienteering HP activities.

PERFORMANCES OF AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEERS AT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS SINCE 1991

1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2002 2003 2004 2004 2005 2005 2006 2006 MTB MTB MTB MTB CZE USA GER NOR GBR FIN FRA SUI SWE AUS JPN SVK FIN DEN

Top 3 Top 8 Top 16 Top 30 [2] 1 1 2 1 3 1

1 8 2 4 2 1 1 1 2 5 2 2 10 3 6 2 2 2 3 6 6 7 12 16 9 8 3 6

Top 45 [3] Top 51

5 3 5 6 7 12 10 12 16 19 15 8 7 11 5 4 7 9 11 14 15 15 20 8 7 Top 60 5 4 9 12 10 16 15 23 8 8 DNQ [4] 9 12 7 4 6 2 1 3 2 1 3 4 4 6 Total Starts [5] 14 16 16 16 16 18 16 18 18 24 18 12 12 17 Men’s Relay 17 11 13 11 10 6 8 9 10 3 15 7 dsq 20 Women’s Relay 10 12 12 6 7 11 5 14 16 3 8 dsq dns 4

[1] All totals are cumulative and include the totals above [2] At least top third of initial field, ie before qualifying heats, and top 2/3 of foot finals from 2004. [3] Number in final reduced from 60 to 51 in 2003 and to 45 in 2004. [4] Includes MTB-O riders not in top 60 in Middle

Distance final [5] Total number of competitors who started in a qualifying heat or a final, when there was no qualifying heat

Finally A High Performance Program

With a HP program in place, the need arose for it to be managed properly and the 2001 OA Annual Conference agreed the need for a Director (High Performance) and a part-time paid Manager High Performance. Mike Dowling was encouraged to take on the role of Director and Jason McCrae was subsequently recruited as the Manager. While the program could do with an injection of more money, it is nonetheless now fairly well structured and providing as much support as the OA budget can provide.

Where Are We Now?

The scene at the end of 2006 was: • a well-structured HP program under the direction of a D/HP and Head Coach; • a national orienteering league of seven State/Territory teams with clear team identification through names and uniforms;

Orienteering Retains ACTAS Squad Status with a new Head Coach

Bob Mouatt – President, Orienteering Australia

While most people were relaxing during the ChristmasNew Year period the Board of Orienteering Australia was busy dealing with some important and urgent issues. ACTAS. The ACT Academy of Sport has been Orienteering Australia’s national training centre for a few years and has become a key component of OA’s High Performance program. The recent budget cuts by the ACT government meant that ACTAS had to review and cut a number of squad sports from its program. Sports were invited to submit applications and to justify their continuance. The exclusion of Orienteering from ACTAS would have been a major setback. A key plank in OA/ OACT’s submission was that together they funded a full-time coach. On 24 Jan ‘07, Orienteering received the good news that the ACT Minister for Sport had approved the inclusion of Orienteering as a squad sport. Head Coach. Grant Bluett was the Head Coach who prepared Orienteering’s submission, but during December Grant advised the OA Board that he had decided on a career change and would resign on 14 Jan. Since having a fully funded Head Coach is a key factor in Orienteering retaining Squad status, OA had to move quickly to appoint a new Head Coach. The Board decided to transfer Gareth Candy to the position on the basis that Gareth was the next ranked applicant to the vacancy advertised 12 months previously. Executive Officer. The Board then decided to advertise for an EO located in a National Office in Canberra funded by OA and employed on a conventional basis for casual employees. OA needs a proper national office to be a repository for its archives and equipment. It would be inefficient to keep moving the National Office around Australia, thus it should be located where the EO could be most effective. OA’s major sponsor is the ASC and OA should continue to have its key administrator based in Canberra to maintain good liaison with the ASC. Having OA’s two paid officers in the same city has significant benefits. The vacancy has been advertised through State e-bulletins and in The Canberra Times.

Orienteering Australia – National Training Centre

• a well-respected elite ranking system (thanks to Bruce Arthur’s energy and enthusiasm); • strong international competitiveness in both foot and mountain bike orienteering (introduced since 1997) with Australian orienteers winning medals, including gold, at WOC, WMTBOC, and JWOC; • strong expectations of good results at all international competitions (see table). While I cannot claim any credit for the excellent results achieved by our athletes, I can derive some satisfaction from identifying and doing something about creating the environment that enables them to fulfill their potential. I have also had the pleasure of witnessing nearly all of the breakthrough benchmark performances since 1999, when Troy de Haas won a bronze medal at JWOC in Bulgaria and Tracy Bluett became the first woman to finish in the top-16, at WOC in Scotland.

POSITION VACANT Australian National Junior Development Squad Coach

Period: April 2007 - end 2009

Job Requirements:

• Coach the Australian Junior Development Squad. This includes conducting and leading training and coaching of the squad, liaise and provide technical assistance to the individual coaches of squad members to assist in their development as orienteers. Note:

The squad will be formed following the Australian Long Distance

Championships in July. • Provide leadership nationally on the development of competition, training and infrastructure to support and guide the development of

Australia’s best junior orienteers in the 15 –17 years age group. • Be a member of the High Performance Management Group and a leader in decision making related to the development of junior orienteering in Australia. • Organise the conduct of at least one national training camp for the squad each year. • Work with stakeholders in identifying junior orienteers who demonstrate both orienteering and physical ability to be future high performance orienteers.

Desired Skills/Experience:

• Ideally a record of successful coaching of junior orienteers and/or junior orienteering teams/squads • Appropriate Coaching qualifications. • Relevant experience in leading, managing and/or administering sporting groups. • Proven high-level communication skills working in both group environments and in one-on-one situations.

Remuneration:

The position is voluntary. Funding is available to support squad activities and coach expenses in the conduct of the squad.

Application Requirements

If you are interested in this position please respond with two items: 1. A brief outline of your skills and experience that will help you meet the job requirements. No more than two A4 pages. 2. An outline of your plans for the development of Junior orienteering and the Junior Development Squad in Australia for the years 2007-09. Please Note: The provision of a police check to show you are a person of good character as outlined in the Orienteering Australia Member Protection Policy will be required by the successful applicant. Applications and questions can be directed to Mike Dowling, Director (High Performance) - e-mail: oa_highperformance@netspeed.com.au ; Tel: 03 6244 7173 ; Address: 17 High Street, Bellerive, Tasmania 7018 Applications close Friday March 23, 2007.