Participation and Funding

[awk]

mind you they are way off the beam about beginners wanting a non-competitive environment - my MADO families and adult beginners are crazy for it )

And as for my primary age beginners.......!!

[Jon Brooke]

I thought competiton was OK again now and to be encouraged? I'm sure my wife (Primary assistant head) said that there was talk of re-instating egg and spoon races again instead of collaborative, everyone wins, you're all special, here's your sticker for waiting most patiently for a sticker, we've taken failure out of the dictionary, lets see if we can all hold this yoga pose together type fun, games and celebrating diversity (but not nasty sports) days.

[greywolf]

Over the last few years I've organised events for primary & secondary schools and other youth groups and almost all the participants have been absolutely mad for the competitive side of it, early finishers counting down the seconds as other pairs arrive...

Unfortunately it's the ones who are crap at sport who end up in charge of education policy...

[kedge]

Unfortunately it's the ones who are crap at sport who end up in charge of education policy...

"Those who can do, those who can't teach."..surely not?

[Mrs H]

Well we're all agreed on that then

But what do you think about the rest of my ideas? BOF's MP3 Vision was More People, More Places, More Podiums (sic).

We all know the MP3 is already out of date and the MP4 is the new things - let's get ahead of the game and have an MP5 Vision for the sport.
Mine reads: More People, More Places, More Prizes, More Picnics, More Pubs

My MADO hats and whistles have been hotly contested this year

[SeanC]

Mrs H, I think you need to consider a strategic alignment of your vision with the official BOF vision.

Bring your podium to the pub (or picnic).

[Nottinghamshire outlaw]

Competition in sport is definitely back on the funding agenda with the existence of School Competition Managers coming into various counties round the country and more to follow. Many sports (including orienteering) have developed school competition frameworks with simple, fast and furious sprint and relay formats for orienteering following on from skills learning in curriculum time. Teachers doing the basic 1 day training course will be introduced to these competitive formats and parents are also encouraged to have a go at schools' festivals so that they can see that the sport is not just for the school children.

There are examples of clubs gaining new members (juniors and their families) following on from excellent development programmes in schools e.g CLOK, WCOC, SOC etc.

Bridging the gap into mainstream sport will not happen unless clubs put on more frequent localised activities / series which are well publicised. It may be necessary to pay for someone to do the organising and perhaps the funding bodies will help with the cash. We have some pilots in the pipeline as well as other examples of good practice.

We cannot expect new participants to drive all over the place to try the sport and they may be far more likely to return again and again if they are comfortable with the venue - shock/horror I can hear people saying 'we couldn't possibly use X area again for at least 12 months' or ' but this isn't orienteering as I know it'. Well if I was a beginner and I went to a jungle of nettles, hawthorn etc I'm not sure whether I would come again! Do we only want outdoory head-bangers or do we really want to increase numbers?

[Gnitworp]

Bridging the gap into mainstream sport will not happen unless clubs put on more frequent localised activities / series which are well publicised.

Why isn't 'More Publicity' one of the 'MPs'?

[RJ]

Why isn't 'More Publicity' one of the 'MPs'?

Press reporting is probably the most effective way of getting exposure. It generally ends up in the sports pages of the local press of the local club.... this is one of the most effective routes to your own club's target audience.

There have been many major articles that have appeared in the national quality press, and I'm sure they will have had some effect.... maybe not quantifyable in terms of new participants, but it does push the sport in front of a very wide readership.

I feel that 'More Publicity' is very much a club initiative. Advertise and educate your target audience. Formulate a policy about your publicity and then put it into action. Even if it is only 10cm column insertions every week it will have an effect. Acquaintances often tell me that they read our 'O' reports and are interested in how various people do.... but seldom if ever do they orienteer themselves. Show that your sport is ACTIVE and people will start to take you seriously. Demonstrate your sport in a local park so that people can see what you do and then they definitely will be interested.

[SeanC]

I think most people will agree with you RJ. There are a couple of barriers though.

1) This is ideally done by one club publicity officer rather than adding to the organiser's burden. Some clubs already have gaps on the committee so finding a volunteer to be publicity officer could be tricky.
2) Some will be put off volunteering as a publicity officer as they feel they don't know how to do it, or may volunteer and do the job ineffectively due to lack of training.

Maybe one person could be paid to be publicity officer for several clubs. They would then build up journalism expertise and do a more effective job, clubs could then get on with other tasks (like organising a post event pub or picnic ). Maybe this could be a part time post within a region or part of a BOF officer's job. If we were to get our wallets out...

Alternatively, or additionally, BOF could provide publicity officers courses to explain how to do it effectively and generate some enthusiasm. Again wallets are needed...

[candyman]

Publicity is great but is unlikely to be very effective unless it is backed up with a product which is designed specifically for newcomers and their needs.

We cannot expect new participants to drive all over the place to try the sport and they may be far more likely to return again and again if they are comfortable with the venue - shock/horror I can hear people saying 'we couldn't possibly use X area again for at least 12 months' or ' but this isn't orienteering as I know it'. Well if I was a beginner and I went to a jungle of nettles, hawthorn etc I'm not sure whether I would come again! Do we only want outdoory head-bangers or do we really want to increase numbers?

Finding an appropriate venue (easy to get to, changerooms, coffee shop/cafe, public transport, friendly terrain) and holding regular (weekly, fortnightly) newcomers events using a variety of formats and with lots of friendly, easy to approach, easily identifiable coaches/helpers might be a better way of doing it then trying to get newcomers along to events predominantly designed to suit experienced competitors.

Beginners are likely to enjoy competition as much as the rest of us but at a level appropriate for their experience and skill level.

[Adventure Racer]

Beginners are likely to enjoy competition as much as the rest of us but at a level appropriate for their experience and skill level.

Apologies for bringing it up once again...

That's one of the reasons MADO has worked so well. The first few events were aimed only at them, and whilst events nowadays have a blue and green course, the essential point of the most important thing being to welcome beginners hasn't been lost. Whilst I agree totally that blindly copying such an initiative probably wouldn't work so well somewhere else, there are certainly a lot of lessons which can be learnt...

...one of which of course is effective use of publicity. Not only ads in the local paper, but also placement of articles with results etc. which you don't have to pay for - the secret here is that most local papers are only too happy to publish stuff you send them if it is written in such a way that all they have to do is cut and paste it in. And of course there were (are) the events to back up the publicity.

Though talking of effective use of pulicity and local papers, where on earth is Mrs H.?

Mrs H. - the publicity topic is calling you...