Coaching minutes

[The Loofa]

On reading them I was struck by the following line

"MH explained that British Orienteering has 75 Community ‘O’ projects that need to be started next year in order to satisfy what British Orienteering is contracted to deliver in England"

The "contracted to deliver" bit was what really struck me. I hadn't realised BOF central had sold its (our?) soul to such an extent - or have I just been asleep?

[SJC]

or have I just been asleep?

You have been asleep.

[MIE]

or have I just been asleep?

You have been asleep.

Yes, you were asleep.

Whilst dreaming of orienteering Utopia you missed the 4 parts of the BO Regional
Development plans ( http://www.britishorienteering.org.uk/p ... onal_plans ).
If you read all 4 and add up all the numbers you get close to the 75 mentioned.

At up to £4,000 for the 1st year that's a reasonable bundle of pennies being put into
non orienteering O activities(per year).

Debate opening up: How would you spend £300,000 in O if you had it available?

[awk]

I hadn't realised BOF central had sold its (our?) soul to such an extent - or have I just been asleep?

Its soul. We don't have to buy into any of it unless we want to. And even if you do, it need not have any negative impact on your other activity, as there's no pull on volunteer resourcing unless you want it to do so.

[distracted]

I thought it was common knowledge that there are Sport England targets to be met in terms of participation numbers - you don't think they'd just give a shed load of money for nothing, do you?

[King Penguin]

And even if you do, it need not have any negative impact on your other activity, as there's no pull on volunteer resourcing unless you want it to do so.

But surely if the local club is not involed to some extent bridges will not be built and those newcomers who turn up (if any) will not know where to go when that Community O project comes to an end of its funding. Hardly the best way to retain them in the sport and grow numbers.
To than extent clubs may be "forced" to choose between supporting these initiatives and some of their other activities, as there is a limit to volunteer time available.

[SeanC]

The trick is to use the £3000 available for coaching to encourage people from within clubs to volunteer who wouldn't have otherwise. There are plenty of people who could use this part time income - students, those that don't have a big income, familes where one parent is looking for part time work, semi-retired types etc etc. Of course they have to get the coaching qualification which is a barrier.

Just to repeat in case anyone still believes this myth - it doesn't have to be from the same location each week and it doesn't have to be from a leisure centre. Clubs can run this on saturdays and therefore make every activity in terrain, and even if in the evening you could get a good 15 or so out of 40 in forest/park areas in the lighter months (that's what we're doing). Our leisure centre evenings will be an experiment but many clubs have running (ie not orienteering) evenings in the darker months so circuit training + some orienteering exercises isn't so revolutionary.

There might be a danger that clubs see this as a panacea and don't look at the other things needed in their development plans, but plenty of healthy cynicism around here.

[Taybank]

Sorry, but I've got to say it.
English orienteering should be organising all this, NOT bof.

[Becks]

Oh for crying out loud. It's not BOF's fault that most of their funding comes from Sport England. Just as it's not SOA's fault that its young athletes get (got?) a ton of monetary support while at Uni in Scotland whilst English athletes at Scottish Unis get crap all.

The funding system is screwed, BOF do the best they can with it. There is no real "English Orienteering" with an infrastructure to deal with that kind of money, and to create it would be a waste of resources. Just deal with it.

[MIE]

Oh for crying out loud. It's not BOF's fault that most of their funding comes from Sport England. Just as it's not SOA's fault that its young athletes get (got?) a ton of monetary support while at Uni in Scotland whilst English athletes at Scottish Unis get crap all.

The funding system is screwed, BOF do the best they can with it. There is no real "English Orienteering" with an infrastructure to deal with that kind of money, and to create it would be a waste of resources. Just deal with it.

You said it much better than I thought it
(and I am an "exile")

[graeme]

it's not SOA's fault that its young athletes get ...

Actually, it is SOA's "fault". They put in a lot of work to make it happen, work which could be spent elsewhere. SOA members pay a substantial regional levy/membership to support this work, in addition to BOF membership. English orienteers get their equivalent from their BOF membership alone.
I don't especially mind paying twice, because I think SOA has its priorities right, and I value having a UK national association, but I can see why some people do object.

whilst English athletes at Scottish Unis get crap all.

And as discussed elsewhere, it seems BOF wont even allow them to join SOA.

[Becks]

Yes, of course you're right Graeme. What I was meaning in my angry way was that some opportunities are only open to a subset of people, and governing bodies shouldn't handicap themselves by not obtaining money because it might upset a number of people who can't get it, when a large number of people can benefit.

You are entirely right about SOA being a good thing in the respects you mention.

[orienteeringUK]

it's not SOA's fault that its young athletes get (got?) a ton of monetary support while at Uni in Scotland whilst English athletes at Scottish Unis get crap all.

What monetary support are you referring to?

[King Penguin]

No tuition fees ....

[Becks]

SEDs athletes got (it's two years since I've been there, no idea what happens now) significant support for training costs and trips abroad.