Coaching Conference

[awk]

I'm told that there's evidence that people prefer activities or coaching organised by people their own age.

A bit hard on the 9 year old beginner

Not just the 9-year old beginner. Pretty much every regional junior squad member too.

I wouldn't be orienteering if that had applied when I was starting up or, indeed, for the first ten years of my taking part in the sport.

[SeanC]

I'm pretty sure the person who said that was talking about adults rather than children, though my post didn't say that.... I also suspect it applies more to the beginner than the ambitious person looking for more technical coaching.

Anyway IMHO the SportEngland bid is definately something that coaches should be talking about at the conference. A club coach could be just the person to help some of the young adults doing "Run Challenge" make the leap to mainstream O. And for the family "product" (can't remember what it was called but the one aimed at families with junior school aged children) then that could be a good way of getting new members to club junior squads - an alternative to the schools route. Some of those juniors will be looking for something more challenging after a few weeks. You probably want to get the keen ones into a club junior squad before they get to senior school when the competition with other sports hots up.

That's if SportEngland say yes to the bid, and obviously comments apply just to England.

[Big Jon]

Not just the 9-year old beginner. Pretty much every regional junior squad member too.

Shouldn't that include club junior squads as well? - or do these not exist in most clubs?

[Big Jon]

And for the family "product" (can't remember what it was called but the one aimed at families with junior school aged children) then that could be a good way of getting new members to club junior squads - an alternative to the schools route. Some of those juniors will be looking for something more challenging after a few weeks. You probably want to get the keen ones into a club junior squad before they get to senior school when the competition with other sports hots up.

You've been looking at some of the Maroc ideas

[SeanC]

Well yes and very impressive they are too.

I'm also wondering if the "club talent squad" isn't quite right for the 9-10 year olds moving on from the family challenge events, clubs might want to think about a "mini talent squad" marketed at these families in addition to the other stuff they are doing. ie based on easy areas where it's safe to orienteer independantly... schools with nice grounds, scout centres etc. Or in the tamer orienteering areas. Just get them into the club through this group, and making friends etc with coaching and a lot of fun games. Maybe MAROC or other clubs are already doing something along these lines? For clubs with hardly any juniors this might be a good place to start... get a mini talent squad going then hopefully some of them will stick with it and form a more technical older junior talent squad later on.

This is one area where I think there is a consensus within clubs that financial investment up front is OK. Eg pay a coach from another club for a year or two until there are a few coaches from the current club to make it sustainable, and enough juniors in their junior squad. As a parent I'd be happy to pay decent money for decent coaching and seeing my son come home happy (ie £10-£15 a time), but I guess others less motivated or with tighter budgets may not ... but still £5 a session seems quite reasonable to me.

Anyway I see from that agenda that Mike Hamilton is presenting early on, so you'll have a chance to quiz directly on these "products" and how coaching fits in.