ORIENTEERING AUSTRALIA
Kay Grzadka
My first four months in the position of Executive Officer for Orienteering Australia have been busy and the time has passed very quickly. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their support, encouragement and patience as I continue to learn the ropes.
Board Meeting, Dubbo The Board of Orienteering Australia met recently in Dubbo during the very successful Junior World Orienteering Championships carnival. Orienteering Australia’s newly appointed officers, Rob Preston (Manager, High Performance) and Bert Elson (Manager, Coaching & Officiating Development), were welcomed to the meeting. Their positions were created as a result of the restructure of the Head Coach position, formerly occupied by Tom Quayle. The following matters are currently under action by the Board and were discussed at the meeting: •A rranging the provision of public liability insurance for directors and officers of Orienteering Australia; •C hanging the Constitution and Member Protection policy as foreshadowed in the previous edition of The Australian Orienteer; •D eveloping guidelines for the distribution of functions across national, state and club levels when holding major orienteering events; •C ontinuing discussion with the International Orienteering Federation over the World Cup qualification process; •P reparing a discussion paper for the Annual Conference on continuing Orienteering Australia’s support for the position of Vice President, International Orienteering Federation; •U pgrading the Orienteering Australia website in general and in particular: posting the 2008 National Fixtures List; furthering the capabilities of the Results database; and developing an adventure racing portal; •D ocumenting strategies for the reporting of injuries and other incidents to the national body by State associations, and for the resolution of conflict; •P reparing a submission to the International Conference on Orienteering Mapping being held in Kiev during the World Orienteering Championships; •D eveloping guidelines for organising major orienteering carnivals; •A ssessing and updating the Sponsorship policy and the Junior Sports policy; •P lanning for the sponsorship and promotion of the 2008 season and teams; •D efining the criteria for selection into the ACT Academy of Sport squad; •A ssisting State Associations to develop plans for improving National Orienteering League development and participation; •S eeking Council approval for the 2008 Mountain Bike Orienteering National League events; and
•P reparing for the Australia – New Zealand Challenge being held as part of the Oceania Championships to be held around Canberra in October. Preparation includes the provision of uniform tops and badges.
Annual Conference The Board is also preparing various other items and papers for the Annual Conference which will be held at the Australian National University on the first weekend in December. A major item for this year’s conference is the re-appointment of the coaching panel.
Bushrangers Team for Oceania Championships The 2007 Oceania Carnival based in Canberra in October will see the New Zealand Pinestars battle with the Australian Bushrangers for the Key/Aspin Trophy. The Pinestars were victorious in the first series at the Waitangi Weekend in New Zealand in February. The Bushrangers are Australia’s Development Team, with emphasis based on giving athletes valuable experience in quality competition and team environments. THE BUSHRANGERS TEAM (and the races they will contest): Women: Vanessa Round (all) Jasmine Neve (all) Tracy Bluett (all) Briohny Davey (sprint, mid, long) Men: Kerrin Rattray (all) Reuben Smith (all) Simon Uppill (sprint, long, relay) Chris Naunton (sprint, mid, long) Ryan Smyth (sprint, middle, long) Julian Dent (middle, sprint) David Shepherd (middle) NEW ZEALAND PINESTARS TEAM Women: Jenni Adams Penny Kane Lise Moen Lara Prince Men: James Bradshaw Greg Flynn Neil Kerrison Ross Morrison Jamie Stewart The test match will take place at the Oceania Middle, Sprint, Long and Relay Championships. Rob Preston
Executive Matters
SEPTEMBER 2007 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER 47
