Now events have restarted, I've noticed, due to covid/social distancing, a trend for entry details to discourage newcomers... with sentences along the lines of 'we unfortunately won't be able to offer help to newcomers and non members due to covid' (easily interpreted as 'please don't go'), or banning non BO members entirely.
We could be in for a long period of this, and that's a lot of potential new business we could be losing....
Are any clubs offering or thinking of offering a more enlightened approach - perhaps offering help electronically before the event or on the day? If so what's your plan/how did it go?
Newcomers meet and greet in the time of Covid
Moderators: [nope] cartel, team nopesport
3 posts
• Page 1 of 1
Re: Newcomers meet and greet in the time of Covid
WAOC are encouraging newcomers for our monthly Park-O events (that's the purpose, even if a lot of the entry slots are being taken up by keen orienteers at the moment!). We have a 'COVID Tsar' responsible for stopping people clustering. The rear of the maps have an introduction guide. We have quite a lot of volunteers to meet and greet in a rule-of-6 compliant way away from the start. Pre-entries are through http://oentry.uk/ which is designed to be really easy to use.
- sborrill
- off string
- Posts: 46
- Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2018 6:40 pm
Re: Newcomers meet and greet in the time of Covid
I entered organised O in the middle of the pandemic when events were allowed to restart last August and generally found the experience quite welcoming, if not having to be done at a distance for obvious reasons. Though I hadn't run in over 20 years (And made a few massive howlers whilst finding my feet again!) I found the events were very well organised, entirely COVID-safe, and it didn't seem to take long for me to find my running feet again!SeanC wrote:Now events have restarted, I've noticed, due to covid/social distancing, a trend for entry details to discourage newcomers... with sentences along the lines of 'we unfortunately won't be able to offer help to newcomers and non members due to covid' (easily interpreted as 'please don't go'), or banning non BO members entirely.
We could be in for a long period of this, and that's a lot of potential new business we could be losing....
I think for me (Having quite strong ASD) returning under COVID practice helped a lot in that social distancing rules were clear and well understood, contactless punching (Emit Pro) was in use, and though we obviously had to keep our distance a number of BAOC and SN folks were very welcoming and happy to set me straight on a few things I wasn't familiar with at the start!
Since then - And following the latest lockdown - Even as a beginner/novice I've felt very welcome at the events and have been attending as many as I can get to. My experience might be different to others, but now that entry limits have been withdrawn (From Emit/BAOC events, at least) my advice to others in my position would be "Find an event you can make with a Score course, book yourself a place, get some practice in if you can (Always know where your nearest POC is!), turn up, run, and enjoy yourself!"
In my case I didn't take any formal/organised training, beyond watching the BO/TVOC videos on YouTube to (re)learn the basics and update what I'd learned when Orienteering in school (Late 90s) particularly regards electronic punching. That said, navigation is something I've always kept close to my heart over the years (Who needs Google Maps? ) so perhaps the basics stayed with me even with two decades away from the sport!SeanC wrote:Are any clubs offering or thinking of offering a more enlightened approach - perhaps offering help electronically before the event or on the day? If so what's your plan/how did it go?
Over the first few events I did need some steering from others (On my first event I tried running a Score in numbered order, as well as running 0,5km off the map because I'd oriented it badly!) but after those first few runs I found myself getting back into the swing of things and improving over time. I'm still on Oranges for the moment, but hoping I can get myself running Greens in respectable times by the end of this year!
For new/returning runners video tuition might help at first, and (COVID rules permitting) running with a friend or fellow club member could be a good option to consider if formal training isn't available. Scores seem to me to be a good way to get started off (The only restriction being time) and for getting the basics in - Navigating between controls, attack points and route selection - They offer greater flexibility compared with line courses. For me, re-starting via Scores seemed to help me a lot.
The best thing about UDP jokes? Nobody cares if you get them!
-
DieselDragon - string
- Posts: 3
- Joined: Fri May 28, 2021 3:52 pm
- Location: Hampshire
3 posts
• Page 1 of 1
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: Google Adsense [Bot] and 41 guests