ORIENTEERING AUSTRALIA
High Performance Mike Dowling, OA Director, High Performance
W
HILE I was getting ready to start at the Australian Long Distance Championships back in July I once again overheard that hoary old mantra often pedalled about in Orienteering decrying the so-called advantages that the “runners” would have on the day at the expense of the so-called “navigators”. In my 32 years as an orienteer in a conventional competition setting there has never been a time when the winner was not the person who gets around in the fastest time. It would seem self evident that fitness is a major component of the capacity to be a successful orienteer; be it at a low key club event, a national championship or representing Australia in international competition. The fitness factor is one of my three core tenets of what it takes to be a successful internationally competitive orienteer in combination with strong technical skills and a never-give-up, calm & positively focused mindset. The simple fact is that when it comes to World Championships you might have the technical skills to orienteer at that standard but without the high level fitness to back it up you will simply not be in the race. Readers may wonder where all this is leading. One my goals over the next 12 months is to work with our national junior coaching team to improve the level of fitness and race readiness of our top junior athletes and to inculcate a culture of high level physical fitness as a necessary pre-requisite to national representation. I have to be brutally honest and say our Kiwi cousins from over the Tasman often leave us behind in my observations of junior competition when it comes down to this factor. Our worthy junior Aussie representatives at JWOC in Dubbo would also have keenly observed the capacities of the top European juniors. As Director, High Performance my role is all about aiming to win the premiership. The premiership in our sport is medals at World Championships. While we don’t have the financial resources and suffer from the tyranny of distance when it comes to accessing high level international competition we need to be smarter about how we can use creative means to get more of our talented and best young athletes super race-ready to perform on the international stage. This will only happen with greater depth in our best young orienteers. The obvious spinoff with greater depth is that it will push the overall standard as these juniors move into senior ranks. The key starting point in my view is high level physical fitness.
New National Coaching Teams The OA Board in partnership with the high performance management groups is finalising the appointment of our national coaching teams. We are delighted that Hilary Wood and Nick Dent will continue their involvement by heading up our national junior coach/management team. It is also very gratifying to see long time national team representative Dave Shepherd offer his services to assist Nick and Hilary prepare the team for JWOC 2008 in Gothenburg, Sweden. And we are close to making similar appointments for our WOC and MTB WOC teams. It is very important to acknowledge that in orienteering people take on these vital roles in a purely voluntary capacity. It is a huge ask of individuals to give up their time to do these jobs and we should all make a point of particularly thanking such people for their commitment and dedication to our country’s international teams. 46 THE AUSTRALIAN ORIENTEER DECEMBER 2007
Thanks Brett National men’s coach Brett Weihart advised that due to work and family commitments he could no longer offer his services to our sport in this role. Brett’s presence will be sorely missed by our men’s team who found him to be a most professional coach and he had the highest respect of the athletes for his insight, organisation and understanding of the intricacies of international competition. From my own personal perspective I would like to pay particular tribute to Brett for his work.
The High Performance Strategic Plan We are now in the middle of our three-year Plan for our high performance program. As has been mentioned before in this column, the plan is the guiding document of our HP program and as such belongs to all our stakeholders; the member States of OA, athletes, coaches and the wider community of orienteers. The document is a dynamic one and continuously undergoes changes and refinements as circumstances change and evolve. Reviewing the Plan was one of the focus tasks at the 2007 Annual Conference of Orienteering Australia. Got an idea on how to make a positive contribution to developing our High Performance program? Our door is always open! Please contact me: Mike Dowling, 17 High St., Bellerive 7018. Ph 6244 71773. Email mdowling@tassie.net.au
Executive Matters Kay Grzadka Board Meeting
The Board took the opportunity to meet during the recent Oceania Championships Carnival in Canberra. The Manager, High Performance, Rob Preston and Manager, Coaching & Officiating Development, Bert Elson also attended the meeting.
IOF Event Advisor’s Workshop
An IOF Event Advisor’s Workshop was also held during the Carnival. The workshop was very successful and produced some new eligible IOF Event Advisors for Orienteering Australia.
Orienteering Federation 2007 World Cup questionnaire. OA is seeking a return to biennial World Championships in odd years and the World Cup in even years.
National Fixtures
The 2008 National Fixtures on the Orienteering Australia website will be finalised once all States have determined dates for their Championship and Badge events.
Results Database
A set of international flags is now being stored at the Orienteering Australia office and are available for hire for $100 by State associations for World Championship events.
The Results Database on the Orienteering Australia website continues to expand with the ability to include relay results. Upcoming work will include the completion of statistical data, enabling competitor and badge scheme credits searching and allowing the export of data to an OE archive.
World Cup
Annual Conference
International Flags
The International Orienteering Federation is currently performing an evaluation of the 2007 World Cup aimed at capturing needs for minor adjustments in the short term and discussing the World Cup program model in a larger context in the longer term. Orienteering Australia’s views have been outlined in its response to the International
A draft agenda has been circulated and a call for papers made to Orienteering Australia Board members and Committee Chairs.
Clothing Sale
Orienteering Australia is seeking to dispose of its stocks of redundant clothing. More information is available on the website.
