NEW COACHING FRAMEWORK

OA Publishes New Coaching Framework

Orienteering Australia is excited to announce that after 1.5 years of conceptualisation, stakeholder engagement and thorough review, the new OA Coaching Framework has been published. Lead by OA’s Manager of Coaching Development, Brodie Nankervis, the project team included representatives from all State/Territory organisations as well as external input from Sport Australia. The framework aligns with OA’s strategic plan, and outlines a guide to foot orienteering coaching education, development and support in Australia. The following diagram represents the key areas that OA believes contribute to exceptional coaching practice. OA strives to work with State/Territory organisations to continue to develop these areas in the future.

Coach Education, Development and Support

Coaching Accreditation:

Coaching accreditation is integral to overarching coaching framework. As part of the development of the new framework outlined above, the four accreditation courses in the Australian coaching pathway have been updated. The coaching pathway is intended to track athlete development, commencing with “Orienteering Instructor”, and then leading into three parallel courses that match coaches with the participants they work with. Note that these three courses are not progressive in nature, highlighting the fact that an Orienteering coach can practice and become an expert with one level of participants, not having to work with higher level participants to become more experienced.

Orienteering Instructor

The Orienteering Instructor accreditation course replaces the previous Level 0. It aims to provide “instructors” with the skills and knowledge required to deliver basic instruction of orienteering navigation, from beginners all the way through to high performing participants (e.g. helping an orienteer analyse their navigation after an event). Orienteering instructors will often support Orienteering coaches with their coaching activities. The course has been designed to meet the needs of both school teachers and community members.

Learn and Play Orienteering Coach

Replacing the old level 1 course, this accreditation aims to provide coaches with the skills and knowledge required to support beginner orienteering participants learn orienteering and develop basic skills. Coaches will be capable of delivering group coaching activities which assist participants to positively engage with Orienteering, developing confidence to be able to complete very easy, easy and moderate navigation orienteering.

Competition Orienteering Coach

Replacing the old level 2 course, this accreditation aims to provide coaches with the skills and knowledge required to support orienteering participants to develop their orienteering and achieve their personal best. These coaches will work with orienteers at different life stages and levels of competition who are completing moderate and hard navigation orienteering. These coaches will help add depth to competitive Orienteering events in Australia, strengthening the link from social participation to high performance.

Performance Orienteering Coach

Replacing the old level 3 course, this accreditation aims to provide coaches with the skills and knowledge required to support orienteering participants striving for the highest level of performance in the sport. These coaches will help create more champions in our sport at the international level, inspire new talent and improve the profile of Orienteering in Australia. The OA Coaching Framework and each accreditation courses syllabus document, as well as other information about Orienteering coaching, can be found on the coaching page of

the OA website.

Next Steps:

Over the coming months OA and its member organisations will be working on: • Transitioning current coaches into the new framework; • Developing delivery materials and building online delivery capacity; • Delivering the first courses using the new framework. Please feel free to contact your State/Territory coaching coordinator or the OA Manager of Coaching Development, Brodie Nankervis, coaching@orienteering.asn.au for more information about coaching!