Junior European Cup 2014

[SeanC]

I know clubs and regions do donate to help promising young athletes, which is great. But this ad hoc system seems less than satisfactory. I imagine it works better for the well connected orienteering families who know who and how to ask, or have the confidence to ask. A better system would be a dedicated young athlete support fund(s) either at club, national or regional level, funded by voluntary contributions from clubs or individuals. That way this fund could be advertised and help junior development/retention. Maybe some clubs/regions do this already?

In terms of making orienteering a less middle class/more affordable sport, stronger local/regional junior competitions/events/coaching seems the way to go to me.

[DIDSCO]

If British orienteering is such a middle class sport and there arn't many international races then the membership can pay with an increase in BO membership fees. If you're representing Britain then British orienteering should pay the costs. Surely all British orienteers should be proud to support their national team, a cost for many of them that would be little more than pocket change.

[PhilJ]

So has the tide changed here, is it being promoted that it is up to the clubs to fund the self funding tours for their juniors? It may have been lost but to re-cap from a junior perspective there are the Talent squad weekend training sessions that must be attended (immediate outlay for bank of mam and dad), then there are the 2 official BO tours (Laganllia and Deeside) plus the Sweden unofficial one (or are there 2 this year), then we come to EYOC, JWOC and JEC. So all in all some juniors may be attending many of these international races and tours, all good for the development and pathway to greater things but without a proper funding mechanism in place e.g. not begging letters to clubs and bank of mam and dad how long is this sustainable?
Sponsorship is an obvious way forward - and something BO and the commercial manager should be seriously looking at to fund ALL the activities to turn our development squad members into world beaters. Or possibly a "donation" that members can make when renewing their membership with the cast iron guarantee that this money is ring fenced for tours/international races at a junior level.

[buzz]

It may have been lost but to re-cap from a junior perspective there are the Talent squad weekend training sessions that must be attended (immediate outlay for bank of mam and dad), then there are the 2 official BO tours (Laganllia and Deeside) plus the Sweden unofficial one (or are there 2 this year), then we come to EYOC, JWOC and JEC.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think Laganllia and Deeside are official tours any more, I believe they are, along with Gothenburg and Stockholm, part of the series of summer camps kindly organised by JROS. The camps are aimed at different age groups so I imagine only one camp per person.

Similarly EYOC, JWOC and JEC are aimed at different age groups and abililities. There are also the World University Champs and home country internationals such as JHI, Interland and the biannual world schools, but again these are aimed at different age groups and abilities.

As a coach I would recommend 2 internationals and one summer tour at most plus as many regional or national weekends as you can manage. Still a lot of money, but there are plenty of sources of individual funds many of which are mentioned here.

From my experience squad coaches (regional or national) are a good source of advice, and perhaps the Team Managers on tours could provide specific and general advice on fund raising for the selected athletes.

I think its also important that the individual athletes and squads earn the support of the wider orienteering community and funding bodies by being seen to work hard at their orienteering and give back wherever they can at club and regional level.

[Spookster]

A better system would be a dedicated young athlete support fund(s) either at club, national or regional level, funded by voluntary contributions from clubs or individuals. That way this fund could be advertised and help junior development/retention. Maybe some clubs/regions do this already?

That's very similar to what the Orienteering Foundation already does (albeit with a broader remit, but donors can specify categories that funds should be ring-fenced for).

[Scott]

It would be great to be in a position where there were no athlete contributions for any of British Orienteering's foreign tours or competitions, but realistically that's a long way away at the moment.

Assuming the £500 per athlete cost is correct, the cost of covering this tour along from British Orienteering funds would be £12,000. To put that in context, that's just under a third of British Orienteering's total income from membership fees in 2013, or very slightly over a tenth of the total income from levies, for one weekend in Belgium for twenty-four juniors. And I'd be willing to bet that JEC will actually make up a pretty small proportion of the total athlete contributions for all the various competitions and camps in 2014.

If British Orienteering were to increase membership fees by a third, how many of the membership would see fully-funding JEC as the top priority for how the extra money should be spent?

Edit: I'd be very interested if anybody has any evidence either way on this, but I also have a strong suspicion that lots of people each raising a relatively small amount of sponsorship money for a specific purpose ("I want to go and represent my country in Belgium") may well be more likely to be successful than a big organisation trying to raise the same total of money for broader aims ("we want to fund our talent and performance programme").

[Vidalos]

Specifically in relation to JEC 2014 the costs as stated in the latest Bulletin are

Cost and registration

Competitors: 190€
Price includes entry fees for the races, accommodation from
Thursday evening tot Sunday (13:00) and all meals during this
period. You can bring your own sheets or sleeping bag.

Sheet package 7,50€
Towel Package 5,75€

Team officials: 170€

Entry fee for races only : 30€

So I guess people are asking what the additional £340 covers in this case if entry, accommodation and meals are covered by 190€ (£160?)

[graeme]

people are asking...

Only the people who didn't bother to read Lard's informative post are still asking that.

[Lard]

Terrain for JEC like this....
http://orientatie.org/sites/default/fil ... cation.pdf

It'd be wise to see Scottish athletes training on places like Tenstmuir & Poms on Formby (?) and Welsh on Broughton or Pembrey style stuff (?) in advance of the weekend...

I have copies of the JEC 2010 classic courses that were on Tenstmuir if groups would like some...

On another note..... It's GBR's turn to host JEC in 2016. Will BO decline to get involved again do you think? Will the Scots consider hosting it again? I'd be up for it and my counterparts from 2010 don't seem too put off from having another go....

[PhilJ]

BO/JROS (?) could always try ERYRI and get a weekend on Newborough, Belgium map looks very Newborough'ish (though there are some restrictions on access dates).

We have the weekend pencilled in with a trip to Ypres etc.

My Belgium mates say that the 2 forest sand dune days (Long and Relay) are amongst the best (if not the best) Belgium has got.

I think the specatator races entry closes at end of August http://www.orienteeringonline.net/CompetitionBasicInfo.aspx?CompetitionID=1226

[DIDSCO]

If you are representing Britain at World Champs, World Cup,JWOC, JEC, EYOC, British Orienteering should pay the bill. If that means charging British orienteers extra membership fees or increasing event prices, or getting sponsorship, so be it. The athletes need to focus on training and preparation, not begging for cash or holding bake sales.
The priority of all British orienteers should be supporting a top quality national team and junior/young senior development program.