A Plan for a Junior Training Camp hosted by an Orienteering Club

In the Fall of 2000, the Georgia Orienteering Club developed this plan for hosting a weekend training camp in Orienteering for Juniors. The plan was refined by using it for two training camp weekends and both were highly successful.

We found the ideal size for the training camp to be 8 trainers to 60 participants. The participants include both juniors and their adult coaches. The ideal ratio is one coach to 4-6 members of his team, 8-12 teams. None of the participants should be basic beginners, you are not teaching orienteering, you are improving existing skills. Make sure the coach has the Suggestions attached to use with the USOF Coaching Manual ahead of time and the coaches understand the lowest level of ability that is required for camp participation. Judge levels based on map reading ability, not compass ability.

It is also ideal to have separate persons handle the camp administrative duties and technical duties. The trainers should not have to deal with registration, assigning accommodations, transport, meals, etc. Make sure the coaches understand that they are responsible for their charges' behavior and compliance with the training camp plan. Juniors who come on their own should be formed into groups with their own assigned adults as their weekend coaches, usually a parent or club member who agrees to monitor and assist them. There should be a female chaperone for the female juniors.

The courses set out to practice the exercise skills must be set carefully. Since there are so many exercise skills in the plan, each course should be only 1-1.5km in length with minimal climb and emphasize only one new navigational skill each exercise. All should drink water and have 5-10 minutes rest between skill exercises. It is not necessary that they complete all the skill exercises. Be prepared for adverse weather conditions.

Trainers should be orienteers with both a relatively high degree of orienteering navigational skills and previous experience giving orienteering instruction to juniors. The ideal person is the orienteer who normally gives beginner instruction at local club events but can also help intermediate orienteers understand what it takes to navigate up thru the Orange level. Simplify explanations whenever possible.

Maps -- The Friday night classroom sessions uses leftover maps from A-meets. A-meet maps should have well planned courses designed according to the USOF standards and thus illustrate good route choice alternatives, collecting/catching features, attack points, etc. Exercise skills on Saturday require 2-3 clean maps. We found that pre-printed courses on the exercise skills did not sufficiently give the juniors the opportunity to ask questions of trainers as did the process of master map copying. Sunday courses also require a clean map but those courses may be pre-printed if desired.

Cost -- The cost of the training camp will vary depending on the accommodations provided. The club cost probably will be in the $10-12 per participant range for maps and supplies. The trainers meals and accommodations should be provided at no charge. Ideally, the camp should take place at a park group camp with cabins or bunkhouses and dining hall for meals and classroom exercises. Parents and/or volunteers should be recruited for kitchen duties and juniors organized for camp cleanup duties.

 

Welcome to our Junior Training Camp in Orienteering!

We hope you enjoy the weekend and learn a lot of new orienteering skills.

Friday Night

1. Divide into ability levels:

*     Yellow -- new to using O-map

*     Orange -- some O-map experience, courses on non-standard maps

*     Brown -- experienced at Orange or above at O-club events

2. classroom exercises:

*     Yellow -- basic map reading skills, clue sheet intro, thumbing, folding map

*     Orange -- attack points, catching features, aiming off, simple relocation, clue sheet symbols

*     Brown -- map simplification, route choice strategies, make up a clue sheet

3. safety briefing (time limits, check out/in, dehydration, first aid, road safety,

whistle use, weather problems)

4. general announcements

 

Saturday Morning Sessions

Session 1 is a mandatory 1st exercise. Skill exercises may be done in any order during session period. If one exercise is crowded, go to another exercise and return later.

Session 1. Map reading skills (mandatory 1st) 30-45 minutes

*     Yellow -- Map walk for basic map reading lead by trainer

*     Orange -- Map walk for advanced map reading skills lead by trainer

*     Brown -- Talk-O in pairs without trainer. Exercise: Go out in pairs. One takes the map and the other listens to directions for locating the control and leads the way to the control site. Pair should alternate map reading and leading. Lesson: Learn to verbalize the route choice and give the features needed to navigate one leg to another. If communication is good, the talker will not have to give more than 3 instructions per leg. Example: "Follow the ridge line Southeast for 250 meters, Go down the reentrant to your left. Control is on the 2nd boulder on your right."

Session 2. Round robin skill exercises (any order)

*     Yellow:

  1. Line-O #1 (on/off handrails). Exercise: A line is drawn on the map. Follow the route of the line accurately and maintain close contact with the map. Draw a circle around the location of the control flags on the lined route. Lesson: Learn to associate map to terrain in order to know exactly where you are on the map at all times and be able to stay on your intended route. % controls sites circled indicates accuracy.
  2. Memory-O #1 (off handrails but easy). Exercise: The start and each control has a map of the next leg. "Simplify" the map, memorize the route, then navigate using what you remember. Return to memorize more if unsuccessful. Lesson: Learn to identify the route choice and the minimum features needed to navigate the leg.
  3. Draw-O #1 (draw sketch map, on/off handrails). Exercise: The orienteer draws his own map on blank paper from the master map at the Start as fast as possible. The drawn map is used to navigate. Lesson: Learn to quickly identify & represent the mapped features needed to find a control site.

*     Orange/Brown:

  1. Draw-O #2 (off handrails moderate difficulty). A more difficult course/version of Draw-O #1
  2. Contours only map course. Exercise: Navigate on a map which shows only the contour (land shape) features. Lesson: Learn to read and depend on the contours.
  3. Line-O #2 off handrails. A more difficult course/version of Line-O #1

 

Saturday Afternoon Sessions

Session 3. Round robin of skills

*     Yellow: (same as Orange/Brown morning)

  1. Line-O #2 off handrails
  2. Contours only map course
  3. Draw-O #2 (off handrails moderate difficulty)

*     Orange/Brown:

  1. Hang bag/Pick up bag. Exercise: A feature is circled on the map. Take a control flag and hang it at the feature. Prepare a "clue" description for the control. Return and retrieve a control flag set by partner. Prepare a description for the control flag that was retrieved. Compare your placement and clue with partner. Lesson: Builds confidence in knowing you are at the correct location for a control site. Learn to find the control site without "hunting" for the control flag. Recognize what the clue description of a control site should be. Check and be checked for accuracy, a skill known as vetting.
  2. 1K-O. Exercise: Run a 1K course, then run the same course again. Lesson: On the second run the locations of the control sites are known. The smaller the difference in elapsed time of the 1st and 2nd runs, the greater the orienteering skill demonstrated by the runner.
  3. Memory-O #2 (difficult). A more difficult course/version of Memory-O #1

Session 4.

*     Yellow: (same as Orange/Brown Session 3)

  1. Hang bag/Pick up bag
  2. 1K-O
  3. Memory-O #2 (difficult)

*     Orange/Brown:

Run and Relocate (no controls). Exercise: Small groups follows trainer running without minimal looking at the map. When trainer stops, followers relocate using memory of what they observed on route and in surrounding terrain. Lesson: Learn to follow map roughly and to use relocation skills in order to increase orienteering speed.

Saturday Night

Night-O -- 1.5km course

Sunday Morning

Run standard orienteering courses at local club event.

---------- end of training camp outline -------------

 

USOF Coaching Manual

Suggestions for JROTC Instructors and High School Coaches

This document assumes you are working with students who are currently relatively unskilled in orienteering. You will need to have a copy of the U.S. Orienteering Federation's Coaching Manual. This Coaching Manual was written under a grant from the U.S. Olympic Committee for the use of certified orienteering coaches and assumes the coach is an orienteer, so you may need the glossary of orienteering terminology can be found at http://www.orienteeringunlimited.com/visualglossary.htm

First -- The basics of learning Orienteering skills. USOF Coaching Manual, Chapter 6, pp. 49-64. This chapter will give you an idea of how USOF does orienteering and the skills needed to be competitive in orienteering. For instructors with Military Land Nav experience, this may be a bit of a departure from your own training, as competitive (aka "sport") orienteering is somewhat different. We recommend the instructor familiarizes himself with this chapter and uses it to train his orienteering team.

If you have parents or others helping you with training your orienteering team and they are not experienced teachers or coaches, there is a list of guidelines on how to present orienteering materials and skill exercises on page 68 of the Coaching Manual under "Activities."

Beginner Instruction -- The USOF Coaching Manual, page 70, has a good outline for teaching beginner instruction for the student's first orienteering experience. This is similar to the beginner instruction provided at orienteering club events by orienteers.

On page 77 of the USOF Coaching Manual, there is an outline for teaching orienteering in 6 weekly segments. We recommend you use local orienteering club events as often as possible as training venues for developing these skills. Orienteering clubs can usually provide assistance at events with helping you develop specific skills in your student provided you make prior arrangements with the club officials.

In the USOF Coaching Manual, there is an Appendix (A) of exercises for teaching orienteering skills. In order of importance, here are some recommended beginning training exercises:

Classroom Orienteering Training Exercises

Exercise

Page

Skill

62

146

map orientation

4

88

map reading

7

91

map reading

12

96

visualizing contours

36

120

attack points

42

126

collecting/catching features

46

130

aiming off

44

128

control feature enlargement

31

115

clue description symbols

16

100

pacing flat terrain

17

101

pacing slope and vegetation

18

102

distance estimation

23

107

3-step setting a compass

27

111

compass bearing practice

           

"On-Map" Orienteering Training Exercises

Exercise

Page

Skill

5

89

handrails

9

93

bearings/map to terrain ID

14

98

map ID to terrain features

19

103

size and distance judgement

26

110

running on a rough compass bearing

33

117

using handrails and major features

35

119

fine map reading

 

Finally, before attending any orienteering event, refresh your students on the Goals on page 66 of the Coaching Manual. Emphasize these until they become second nature. More Educational helps can be found on the USOF website http://www.us.orienteering.org    

 

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