EYOC Hungary 2007

[Lard]

Thanks to John and GG for their positive comments.

A trip like EYOC is there to make athletes aware of what's required to compete at the top level. It's not there for us to produce top results at necessarily. I was pleased to know that the group learnt a hell of a lot from the weekend. If half of them are not in the JWOC team in two years time I will be surprised. If a quarter get into the senior squad at the end of their junior careers I will be pleased too.

If our 16s could go to such a competition and see the divide between top Brits and top Europeans then maybe we could see first year 18s training harder and more focused than they currently are. And, maybe, 20s going to JWOc will be even better prepared than they currently are.

But, at the end of it all, it's about where juniors go afterwards - if we can continue to feed the seniors with a small number of hard working, committed athletes then the system will have achieved its objectives.

We constantly review the system and processes and with a new Start Manager I'm sure there'll be a further review in the near future.

Lard

[ruth]

no matter what your opinion is please try and think before you type...at eyoc and jwoc amoungst other races i have read nopesport imbetween races and its not entirely encouraging reading. perhaps thats my fault and i shouldn't have read it, but many athletes out there running for GB do. it doesn't take long to realise you should take absolutely no notice of what people say on here so by all means say what you like in threads about senior races and even jwoc, but remember that the athletes at eyoc are very young and in their first international. for a first shot there were some great performances and as jase said definitely much to look forward to in the future.

[awk]

Thanks to John and GG for their positive comments.

no matter what your opinion is please try and think before you type...at eyoc and jwoc amoungst other races i have read nopesport imbetween races and its not entirely encouraging reading

I am really sorry if any comment I made in my post was seen as negative - it certainly wasn't intended to be. Far from it: I was more concerned with not putting too much emphasis on the raw results. GG mentions his early efforts - I'm sure I remember a certain Jaime Stevenson coming outside the top 100 at JWOC. So....

If our 16s could go to such a competition and see the divide between top Brits and top Europeans then maybe we could see first year 18s training harder and more focused than they currently are.

That's what worries me. First year 18s can be only 16, and many haven't finished growing. What analysis has been done on the early years training of those who make it to the top against those who hit the front early, but don't make it all the way? How important is success as a junior for success as a senior? What sort of early years training leads to success later on? These are, by the way, not rhetorical questions. If anybody can point me to some answers, or summarise them here, I'd be very grateful.

[greywolf]

How important is success as a junior for success as a senior?

Not exactly a scientific answer, but a scan thru http://www.gbrathletics.com/uk/ukotdage.htm
suggests that there's not a direct correlation, especally for middle and long distances.

I remember when Johan Boakes, a 16 yo from my club, ran 2.20 for 1000m (that's gob-smackingly quick, non-track fans, world age best then, and maybe still is), and everyone was sure that Brighton had another Steve Ovett...he got a bronze at the World Juniors 2 years later, and never made it as a senior...

[Toni]

First year 18s can be only 16, and many haven't finished growing.

With this group I was really surprised to find that the earliest birthday was June... I'm sure that goes against all the statistics -definitely those born early in the year have an advantage as a junior - but not as a senior....

[graeme]

Actually, late-year bias is normal for school sports (on account of being older in the academic year). Maybe people decide first that they're "sporty" and then to do orienteering?

Graeme (youngest in class, rubbish at sports 67-79)

[Tessa]

i had to learn about this for my exam this summer! its called something like the 'within age group phenomenon' or something equally obvious.

research has shown that in many sports such as football, there is a very significantly higher percentage of people selected who are born in the first quarter of the selection year. and it decreases through each of the quarters. you can see why when kids are young due to physical, mental advances and greater experience, but the problem is that this then leads to greater drop out in the relatively younger ones. There is also research to show that more footballers are selected at high junior/senior (not exactly sure) level that are born in the first half of the selection period so the problem doesnt disappear.

wow! i actually remember something! you would have thought this might apply to orienteering, but maybe not... possibly factors such as being 'born into orienteering', where you live and the smaller numbers of participants in comparison with football may be the difference...

[awk]

I found that in fact the same thing did happen in O when researching age related issues at uni about 15 years ago. I also remember reading that early developers tend to be the broad muscular types, the late developers the longer leaner running types, and that we therefore handicap ourselves as a sport if we put too much emphasis on age-based junior results by losing/putting off the very ones who are likely to succeed later. How accurate that is, I don't know.

[Jene]

Just to drag this back to the EYOC for a minute..

The results this year seem very similar to last years, i don't know how this goes back - i havent looked for results past 2006, apart from the boys relay. However, last year there was almost no results back to nopesport, until people had heard the boys had got a medal (i ran and got almost the same result as Haze in the classic). However this year, because of the boys last year - people seem to have high expectations.

Every year there is potential to do as well as the boys, as results were similar between the sprint / classic.


When i went i was reserve, only going because of exams or similar, but that was def an experience of a lifetime, and even if a slightly weaker team is sent, all the girls have the ability to perform as well as those who withdrew (there isnt that much difference between the top 8 girls). I'd never run abroad, never been anywhere with such different terrain, never seen start procedure like that. All of which encouraged me to continue training to try and make selections for JWOC or similar. Up until making the EYOC team i'd decided i'd never make a JWOC / senior team - this was def good motivationally and i think shouldnt be dropped as many who go to JWOC will have had a chance to see what racing internationally is like here first.

Well done everyone who went, there were some good results. x