BOF becomes English Again

[Gross]

Interesting to see the geographic spread of BOF's Talent ID Days as posted on the website:

Bracknell, Bristol, Loughbourough & Leeds......

Good luck on all those holders of UK passports looking to become World Class GB orienteers out there....

[DIDSCO]

If I was BOF I'd be looking for talent in Scandinavia and areas of Scotland /Lake District closs to top class terrain, where o-tech can be finely tuned on a daily basis from a young age. You'd be suprised how many kids in Scandinavia have a British passport or the possibility of having one. BOF could then support these youngsters through the established club system in Scandinavia
The British handball team have been scouting in Scandinavia over the last few years for young players with a British passport ready for the 2012 olympics, quite alot have been on the various camps/teams including a fair few from here in Göteborg

[King Penguin]

A start has to be made somewhere, and I guess they have gone for population centres (Loughborough ?) rather than the middle of nowhere, to try to get more in at the top of the funnel.
I presume / trust this is being effectively and proactively advertised in and around the 4 venues. No use just posting it on BO website where only the already-coverted will see it. Similarly little use just putting up posters in the venues themselves, as 3 of the 4 are universities where by definition the vast majority of users who may see a poster will be too old.

[Becks]

Loughborough? I know it's a mecca for sport performance but can you really inspire someone to orienteer who's based there? The other three don't exactly have the best areas but are at least surrounded by highly active clubs with plenty of fun events for young orienteers. Weird. I am sceptical.

[IanD]

Seems really odd to me. I can't see anyone not already orienteering being interested, it's not as if the sport was a passport to riches. For those juniors who are already orienteering, I would have thought working through the existing Regional junior squads was the way to go - by all means invite some of them to a 'talent identification' day.

And maybe going through the junior squads is the real plan? It's entirely conceivable that a pot of grant money has become available, on condition that a general invite is issued. And if it were English money, that would help explain the locations.

[Scott]

I'm not sure who is funding this project - it may be Sport England rather than UK Sport, in which case having the days in England would be kind of understandable.

[distracted]

Not too bothered about the locations - there's a fairly decent spread around the country, and if they got into Scotland at another time it would be even better, especially with the current setup in Edinburgh (as it is talent-related presuming it is UK Sport funded). Agree that this will have to be advertised really well to as wide a (targeted) audience as possible; I'm intrigued to see what the uptake is like.

It's the concept that I don't quite get. I understand why they do this for other sports like rowing and cycling as these have good media exposure and are strong sports for GB. For more minor/less traditional sports, the Olympics can still be a good motivating factor e.g. for those who have tried out/been scouted for GB handball. There's good reason, good motivation for talented athletes to take up these sports with the aim of performing on the elite/world stage.

But what does orienteering have to offer? What will attract these talented athletes, most of whom will have had no exposure to the sport, with the sole aim of getting them to succeed as elite competitors? I can understand those already involved and immersed in the sport wanting to get as good as they possibly can, with British and ultimately World Championships to aim for. Maybe there are some who just have the right mentality and will say "I want to take up this sport and become World Champion" and don't need any other motivating factor. I guess we'll find out at the beginning of June.

[Big Jon]

"especially with the current setup in Edinburgh (as it is talent-related presuming it is UK Sport funded)"

My understanding is that it is joint funded by Sport Scotland, Edinburgh University (always has been very supportive of orienteering) and BOF (possibly UK Sport money?).

[Marco Polo]

Loughborough? I know it's a mecca for sport performance but can you really inspire someone to orienteer who's based there? The other three don't exactly have the best areas but are at least surrounded by highly active clubs with plenty of fun events for young orienteers. Weird. I am sceptical.

Sorry?
I'm not sure that this BOF initiative will really work and there may not be an abundance of good areas around Loughborough, but there is hardly a lack of active clubs.

And as has been said, the junior squads are likely to be involved in development of anyone coming into the sport this way.

[Becks]

I guess you might hook a few that really enjoy it, a la Scotia. But you're entirely right Ian, in that orienteering has very little to offer in face value to the outsider. Of course, those of us that grew up doing it, taking tours and zooming round European multidays know otherwise.

[greywolf]

oh FFS, it's a sad day when keen orienteers can't understand why anybody else might want to join in
will this initiative unearth future champions? or even bring in some future mid-race punters? who knows...but it has to be worth a try.
And I know there's this belief in some quarters that orienteering ability is genetically transmitted and you'll never be any good if you weren't orienteering in the womb, but I know i'm not the only one here who started out as a runner and got into orienteering later in life

[edit: although tbf i was motivated by lust not glory ]

[DIDSCO]

Its a good initiative but you've got to think about how you maximise your chances of producing a future champion in orienteering. In sport kids are often a product of their local environment, and whats on offer just there, and their parents/family interests.
So looking for talent in areas of the U.K with excellent terrain and active clubs, where it would be realistically possible for a young athlete to train 10000+ hours of quality orienteering technique would be a good place to start, as well as identifying extra special talent within the existing group of young junior orienteers in the UK.

[Becks]

Greywolf....I don't know if you're referring to me in saying that established orienteers can't think it has much to offer. I was just saying that a relatively inactive area of the Midlands is probably not the kind of place that will result in inspiration and getting them hooked. I do think the other three may have a chance, but only because of the highly active clubs around them.

I think we'd have to struggle to find an argument for the runners/athletes will never be orienteers idea in the face of Pippa, Scotia and Ali C (USA, ex of Oxford). But the sport has to hook them somehow to give them something worth fighting for in it.

[AndyC]

Becks - Loughborough is in Leicestershire; LEIOC are Club of the Year and being very active -their limitation is that they don't have great land to use but they do what they can with what they have got.
The Midlands has three active midweek leagues -in fact between HOC, OD and LEIOC my Summer evenings are pretty well filled.
With a healthy number of weekend events as well (unfortunately I'm back in the NE then so I don't do many in the Midlands so I can't comment on them) there are enough opportunities there.
I'll also point out that Sheffield( SYO & SHUOC) is straight up the M1 from Loughborough about an hour away adding to the mix

[Gross]

LEIOC are Club of the Year and being very active -their limitation is that they don't have great land to use but they do what they can with what they have got.

But how can you develope as a World Class orienteer with crap terrain? Running round a gym on Tuesday night & a school ground on Thursday isn't going to give a great deal of experience... These Talent ID days might turn up some pretty fit and talented juniors... but where is an 18 year old in LEIOC going to get elite experience... is LEIOC geared up for it's juniors to travel the country and Europe... who's going to cover the costs? Or are these all part of the Talent ID scheme.... of course it is possible to zip up the road to Doncaster airport... jump onto a Wizzair flight to Vilnius & get to some superfast technical orienteering for a lot less cost than a weekend in the green grot of the Scottish Champs