O-SPY

The Australian Orienteer welcomes letters. Preference will be given to letters which are concise and which make positive points. The editor reserves the right to edit letters, particularly ones which are longer than 300 words.

Senior Age Classes

It seems to me that Orienteering Australia has taken a backward step by reducing the number of senior age classes. The numbers are in the “grey army” and the current policy of having only 45, 55, 65, 75 age classes in State Championships and Badge events must discourage many from entering. I hope that this decision was not made to just save on cloth badges. In my other sport of surfing, there are age classes for every five years, and a class is only dropped if there are less than four starters. I also note that MTBO has age classes at 40, 50, 60. If OA cannot see the wisdom of five‑year age classes and still insists on ten‑year gaps why not have 45, 55, 65, 75 one year and alternate with 40, 50, 60, 70 in the next year, and so on.

Neville de Mestre

Great Photos

Iwrite to congratulate Clive Roper on his excellent photos in the June edition. His very clever “moving pictures” of Hanny and Julian not only look fantastic, they are most illustrative of what I believe we all should be trying to achieve. Note how Hanny is reading her map almost continuously whilst moving through the forest and how clearly Julian is looking at his map, but also looking around. Great stuff, Clive. Well done. Darryl Smith

Coaching

Years ago when I was a very small boy, and very curious, I thought a coach was a bus loaded up with noisy soccer players and the noisiest one was the Coach. I haven’t changed my opinion much about coaching, still deeming it applied training for the witless. With young women coaching seems to be togetherness sessions and for men some surly glaring at a yelling older man who is sacked often and makes news headlines. The coaching we have in Orienteering seems to be performance enhancing physically with some attention being paid to avoiding brain drain and not wasting vast milliseconds at the control site. It is all to do with winning. Navigation is not for the witless to be coached about. It needs lateral thinking, insightful observation, and methods of confirming and checking going on all the time. It is not “point and run like mad” looking for a marker as so many of the witless believe. Any navigator worth calling competent only needs a compass to avoid problems associated with brain drain, and a thumb compass is useless for taking bearings. Each person navigates in their own way and takes notice of methods that work for him or her. Leave people alone and they do rather better than those who are force fed with methods that fit like a small round peg in a massive jagged hole. All courses should have lots of decision making opportunities not just competition in running for longer up steeper hills. When people arrive at the Finish smiling happily, they have had a good navigationally interesting experience. If they arrive hardly able to stand it is endurance racing. We should be more likely to prefer a recreating sport not one which wears us down. Many of us old fogies just enjoy the exercise of our abilities and avoid the main brain drain that many get in old age mainly from overdoing all the getting famous and rich business. Winners may be grinners, but that is the inane grin seen in advertisements for retirement villages, over‑50s insurance and conducted tours to anywhere. Ian Johnson (M80 – Bendigo Orienteers)

John Walker, Red Roos, ACT

ORIENTEERING PUBLICATIONS

IOF Publications

International Specifications for-Orienteering Maps .......... $11.00 Competition rules for IOF events ................. $11.00 Control Descriptions ............ $11.00 Simple Maps for Orienteering .... $11.00 Trail Orienteering (BOF book) ..... $30.00 Trail Orienteering (booklet) ........ $8.25 Trail O (leaflet) ................. $0.70

Australian Publications

Elementary Orienteering Instructors-Manual ............. $13.20 Level 1 Coaching Manual ........ $22.00 Level 1 Coaching Syllabus ........ $3.90 Level 2 Coaching Syllabus ........ $4.40 Level 3 Coaching Syllabus ........ $4.40 Among the Best Orienteers (video) $19.75 Sponsorship & Advertising, 1996 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . available from states Club Guide, available on disc.

Prices include GST and postage within Australia for single copies. Prices for bulk orders available on request. Orders should be addressed to Orienteering Australia, PO Box 284 Mitchell BC 2911, with cheques made payable to Orienteering Australia. Email: orienteering@netspeed.com.au