Planning for juniors

[graeme]

I have always wondered why they are never used in GB.

1/ They are... Uncle Jon's Streamer Course, Flying Pig Wood, OUOC Shotover 1987.

2/ Like anything else, they can be screwed up. James (6) tried one in France last year - track to 1 then track to 2 -streamers from 2 to 1 - track to 2 streamers to 1 and repeat to point of tears. Unlike a continuous string, a single missing streamer can send you away with the fairies... Also, if you arrive by navigating, there are two streamer routes leading away from the control - which do you follow?

[Gross]

In Lietuva they tape used isn't streamers it's continous tape.

[EddieH]

I have reported on the old style Czechoslovak youngest (14- I think) courses before. A whole route is streamered and this is overprinted on the map. Boys and girls have the same streamer but different controls with descriptions. The controls do not have codes. The streamers are not the optimum route. At the end time is deducted for any missing controls or for any extra controls (those for the other sex) punched.

It means that the whole age range has the same longish distance, and takes quite a bit of planning / taping etc, but on the plus side there there are not all the other short courses.

It was fantastic to watch, and the kids of all ages obviously loved it. Would it work here, and would anyone wish to put it on? I don't know.

[MikeWinter]

Going back to the white/yellow standards, it may be obvious, but taking your own or someone elses 7-10 year old with you when you are on one of your planning trips is worthwhile. Firstly, they see things from the height of a 7-10 year old and secondly, they have no problem telling you things straight!

Example - I am planning an informal event next year and took my son with me on my first 'look around'. I already had an idea of where I might take the short course, but realised when I got there that some paths were more indistinct than on the map and were going to be a problem. My son was only to happy to confirm this by "you can't bring us along here, we'd all get lost!". He also had lots of suggestions of what we could do instead.. It may also encourage young orienteers to be more interested in how courses are put together and improve mapping skills etc...

[MarkM]

I'm not sure when the rule about seeing the map beforehand was made but it's since I ran white-orange so I never had this benefit. I was never put of by hard courses as a junior.
Also I wasn't aware of the rules about positioning flags on junctions. Either I correctly read the map or I made irational choices such as at 6-day 2001 day 2 M10b where i ran south onto open moor when the leg was along a large fence running East-West.
On the subject of TD3 courses I was severely bored by controls on the nearside of features which were clearly visible from the path. this prompted me to run up to Lt Green when still a 12 which was too hard and too long

[jab]

The ease by which a junior can be put off by a badly planned course varies enormously. I know because we have two opposite (and somewhat extreme) approaches in our own family. Yes some children are bored by easy courses and some are more than capable of running up - oldest child got the last green standard he needed for his green badge on his 11th birthday. Yes some orange courses are only a slightly darker shade of yellow and that's bad planning and I'm sympathetic if older child moans, but it's when youngest comes back saying that she never wants to orienteer again having struggled round a white that was really only a slightly paler shade of yellow that I get really annoyed. Either the rule about control placement and the "should" about seeing the map before hand are good and shall (not should!) be enforced or we shoudl totally revisit the guidelines for TD1 courses and start from scratch. There's no point in having a set of worthy guidelines for planners and controllers to ignore.

And I think that in our orienteering this year I've actually come across fewer bad TD1 courses, so that's very encouraging.

[NeilC]

On the whole the rules and guidelines seem pretty clear - the problems come when officials are either ignorant of them or choose to ignore them. Next year a number of regions will be trialling an event feedback system whereby event officials and selected competitors will be asked to feedback examples of good and bad practice at various event. How best though to ensure that these practices are passed on? For example this thread started with a comment about a specific event - an event held last Saturday by the same club also had the start at a junction and only released the TD2 course maps after the start punch. Should feedback be sent to the clubs or should it just go to the controllers? The latter may seem the most appropriate recipient but then many clubs now put on local events without a qualified controller and it would seem sensible to get things right at these events.