ORIENTEERING AUSTRALIA REPORTS

High Performance

Mike Dowling, OA Director, High Performance

WHILE 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.

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.

International Flags

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. 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

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

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 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.

Annual Conference

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.

The Fourth Instalment of the Final Tetralogy

Bob Mouatt

THE fourth and final instalment of my tetralogy is about administration. Administration is one of the most frustrating, time-consuming and yet essential activities of any sporting organisation. In her first couple of weeks in the job, our new Executive Officer Kay Grzadka said to me, “Is it always this busy?” as she attempted to come to terms with the plethora of emails flooding into her Inbox. Like most orienteers who have never been involved with the upper echelons of Orienteering Australia, Kay was surprised by just how many matters were referred to Orienteering Australia for information or action. In this article I will try to answer the question, “What does Orienteering Australia really do?” with just a few examples of administrative activities.

Constitution, Policies and Competition Rules

Where do I begin? Let’s start with the Constitution and the Operational Manual, including Competition Rules. These are all on the Orienteering Australia website at http://www.orienteering. asn.au/administration/ . Few orienteers would bother looking at these documents unless something occurred with which they were not happy and they were searching for ways and means of redressing their concerns. Orienteering Australia provides the umbrella for all orienteering activities within Australia and like other national sporting organisations it has to be a legal entity. Now days that means having a constitution, being incorporated, having an Australian Business Number, an Australian Registered Business Number, etc and having a wide range of detailed policies, as well as competition rules to regulate the sport. Keeping all of these documents current is almost a full-time job, as triggers for change come from many sources, the government, the ASC, the IOF, internally, etc. Failure to maintain policies current could lead to loss of ASC funding. Hence that is one reason to keep on top these activities, but there are many others. A typical example came to light during the recent Oceania Championships. While the 2005 and 2007 Championships included Sprint and Middle Distance Championships, the current version of the rules, last revised in 2003 does not mention either. Obviously the rules will have to be amended.

Planning, Budgeting and Consulting with Constituents

Orienteering Australia maintains four-year rolling Strategic Plans, Operational Plans and Budgets which are reviewed and revised each year at its two-day Annual Conference, held on the first weekend in December. In addition to reviewing and revising Plans and Budgets, the Annual Conference considers major changes in direction and major shifts in policy, including new policies. It is also an opportunity for Orienteering Australia to consult with its constituents, the State & Territory associations. The Plans, Budgets and major changes in policy are ratified at the Annual General Meeting, held on Easter Sunday. When all of the business of the outgoing Board is completed at the AGM, a new Board is elected.

Insurances

Insurances became a hot topic a few years ago and for a while there was a possibility that small enterprises such as small sports might be priced out of the market, but fortunately sanity prevailed and premiums stabilised. However, insurance has remained an active item. At the start of 2007, Orienteering Australia was obliged to increase the Public Liability Insurance cover to $20 million to meet the demands of many landholders. Professional Indemnity for coaches, etc remains at $2 million. It was increased a few years ago and might have to be increased again in the near future. Following pressure from both within and outside Orienteering, Orienteering Australia was obliged to arrange Directors & Officers Insurance for itself, State & Territory associations and clubs. The issue of indemnifying landholders has risen again lately and given the reluctance of OA’s insurer to indemnify landholders against negligence on their part, Orienteering might lose access to some existing venues and not gain access to some new venues, if some landholders continue to seek indemnity before permitting access.

International Orienteering Federation

Being a member of an International Federation brings with it a range of ongoing activities and responsibilities. Australia is not only the strongest nation outside of Europe, it is also one of the most influential outside of Europe, hence it has to be initiator and champion of many causes relevant to nations like us. This means being across all of the international issues and engaging in the activities of both the IOF Council and its Commissions.

International Competitions

The increase in international competitions has increased the administrative workload for Orienteering Australia: budgeting funds to support teams, selecting coaches, managers and teams, maintaining communications with coaches and team members, acquiring uniforms, providing letters of support for people to obtain leave, etc. Even the AUS-NZL Challenge consumes a lot of time and effort to ensure Australia has a well-presented team.

National Competitions

The National Fixtures List is growing each year as we struggle to cope with the expansion of the national carnivals and national competitions through new formats and disciplines. How Australian Orienteering will cope with the growth in major events on the National Fixtures List will be one of the two major topics for discussion at the 2007 Annual Conference. The discussion will also consider whether Australia should be bidding for foot World Championships and/or a series of the World Cup in the near future, given that the IOF wishes to see both held out of Europe on a more regular basis.

The Tip of the Iceberg

What I have mentioned above is only the tip of the iceberg. There are many other activities that occupy the time and resources of the OA Board and its paid officers. For example I have not mentioned the High Performance program, including Anti-Doping policy and activities, Development & Promotion, Media & Marketing, Sponsorship, The Australian Orienteer, the OA website, results and participation databases, statistical data, Curricula and Accreditation of Coaches and Officials, Member Protection issues, etc. I trust that in my four articles I have been able to help ‘grass roots’ orienteers have a better understanding of the activities of Orienteering Australia and the issues that the sport is facing at all levels.