HIGH PERFORMANCE

Mike Dowling, OA Director, High Performance

Looking back through my out-of-control inbox of email and my high performance files on my computer I’ve realised it is now over six years since I took on the voluntary role of Director, High Performance on the Board of Orienteering Australia. The time has come for me to pass on the baton of this role to someone else and it is my intention to retire from the Board of Orienteering Australia in the very near future. As such this will be my penultimate column for The Australian Orienteer. It is my intention to summarise some of our achievements over the last six years in this issue and to focus on the challenges ahead in my final column for the next issue. Over the last six years we have made some significant progress across a number of areas in the development of more coherent structures for the OA High Performance program. We now have a more structured development pathway with our national squads from the National Junior Development Squad to the National Junior Squad and then to the National Senior Squad, with a high performance group within the National Senior Squad, and a separate National Squad for MTBO. We have seen international breakthroughs for our sport with Hanny Allston (TAS) and Adrian Jackson (VIC) both becoming two time World Champions. We have had a significant number of benchmark performances (top-16 individual and top-8 relay) in World Championships. We have hosted two World Championships with the 2004 MTBO World Championships at Ballarat (VIC) and the 2007 Junior World Championships at Dubbo (NSW) which were both highly successful events and a tribute to the many volunteers who put in so much time to make them that success. We have seen the establishment of a National Training Centre though our partnership with the fine people at the ACT Academy of Sport. We have seen the establishment of regular high quality competition with our New Zealand friends from across the Tasman for our emerging senior elite orienteers through the Bushrangers team. We have seen the development of MTBO as a more significant aspect of our sport that has culminated in the commencement of a MTBO National Series this year. We have seen continued development of our National League with both senior and junior divisions for teams with an associated National Series for individual competition in these senior and junior divisions. And most importantly, we have seen in an incredible number of voluntary hours put into all aspects of our high performance programs by a number of extremely dedicated and wonderful people as competitors, coaches, managers, selectors, mappers and organisers, to name just a few groups, without which a high performance program, and the sport in general for that matter, could not exist.

The SILVA National Orienteering League

and HP Manager Rob Preston in securing sponsorship by Fiskars Brands through their SILVA brand for our National Orienteering League. I want to again express my sincere thanks through this column for their work in achieving this sponsorship and to particularly thank Nic Naes of Fiskars Brands for his personal support and assistance though their SILVA brand. Congratulations as well to all the various State winners of the SILVA National Orienteering League divisions and the individual winners of the National Series divisions.

Level 2 National Coaching Workshop

By the time this issue hits your kitchen table Dave Meyer, our Manager Coaching & Officiating Development, will be putting the icing on the cake for our planned national level 2 coaching workshop to be held early next year over the weekend of Jan 31/Feb1. As a part of OA’s commitment to improving the standard of coaching we have put aside financial resources to support and encourage attendance of key coaches both from a National and State standpoint who wish to improve their quality and understanding of coaching. As I have said previously on many occasions though this column good coaching is an essential aspect of sporting success and enjoyment at all levels of any sport.

Selection Procedures Review

A group of OA Board members has been conducting a review of our selection procedures and will be presenting a final set of recommendations to the 2008 OA National Conference for adoption by member States as an outcome of this review. The review group received some very worthy and thoughtful submissions on how to improve our selection procedures and have taken on board a number of those suggestions in order to improve both the clarify and transparency of this very emotional aspect of any sport.

The High Performance Strategic Plan For 20092012

Another important aspect of the 2008 National Conference will be the adoption of the new High Performance Strategic Plan for the period 2009-2012. As has been mentioned many times 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. In my final column I will discuss some of the challenges facing us as a sport in implementing this Plan over the next fouryear period. What do you think are the challenges facing us? Contact me at oa_highperformance@netspeed.com.au with your musings! Go on, I just know you want to!