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The Current State of High performance Orienteering in NZ

Tane Cambridge Posted: 4 April 2014, 4:20 AM   So I have been doing some thinking... probably spent too much time thinking during these long training and racing sessions over the summer... but anyway...here are some thoughts and questions I have come up with. To make it clear, my intention is not to upset anyone, there has been a lot of people that have put a lot of time and effort into orienteering over the past few years, I myself have spent a shitload of my own time and money on Orienteering, probably in and around the region of $50,000 in the past 5 years...No joke! There just seems to be a lot of unknowns at the moment... National Squad. Does it still exist and what purpose does it serve? I have been told/understand that it is/could be for funding purposes... but haven't seen any funding benefits from it in a long time...if ever Is there a National Squad Coach and Manager? Who is in the National Squad? Where can I find any information on High performance Orienteering in NZ? Is there a NZ orienteering Website that is functional yet? Is there a High performance director? Super Series/ NZ elite O-tour When/why did the name change? When/why did the points scoring criteria change? Is facebook the best way to communicate information? Should the results be more formally published rather than just a post on facebook... Surprisingly the whole world is not on facebook... When is the NZ elite O tour and what events are included? What is the NZ elite O-tour? The Southerly Storm has a fairly loyal sponsor with Bivouac/Outdoor, how do I explain to them what the Southerly Storm is and how we operate and what exactly is the NZ Elite O-tour? World Cup in Tasmania Is there going to be some trials? Should I book flights? Is there accommodation booked? Is there a Coach and or Manager? When are the trials? Should I even bother worrying about it and see what happens??   Bryn Posted: 4 April 2014, 12:32 PM   Well said Tane!!   Jamie Posted: 4 April 2014, 2:33 PM   Some answers below from a previous volunteer National Squad Coach and volunteer orienteering communicator. National Squad, does it still exist....(yes it is still named see old NZOF website, latest update last year) What purpose does it serve? ...(it was formed as a training squad for people preparing for WOC, it was originally called the WOC squad. It also used to be that membership was a precondition for World Cup selection. The only time it has ever had any association with funding purposes was for the short time super series flights were subsidised with grant money. In my observation the National Squad exists to create a standard and an elite community from a geographically disparate group, and has generally served this purpose. Is there a National Squad Coach and Manager? (Jean and Al are nominally in this role with the understanding that they don't have time to contribute as they would like) Who is in the National Squad? (see old NZOF website) Where can I find any information on High performance Orienteering in NZ? (see old NZOF website) Is there a NZ orienteering Website that is functional yet? (I think it went live on April 1st;-) Is there a High performance director?...( No. This job has not been advertised since Duncan Morrison resigned. I am aware of work Simon Addison has been doing behind the scenes to partially fill this gap.) Super Series/ NZ elite O-tour When/why did the name change?...(It changed prior to TONIC. I assume it was a MattOgden/Michael Croxford initiative. The problem with having no formalised leadership and 95% of relevant people not communicating or sometimes not contributing is that people will take vigilante actions to try to make things happen...you at least have to respect the initiative. The Super Series was a National Squad driven concept right from the start.I also understand that some steps are been taken to bring the Super Series planning under a reinvigorated fixtures committee, which would be great. When/why did the points scoring criteria change? Pass Is facebook the best way to communicate information? (Yep, if people are motivated for orienteering they will get the information however they can. Its pretty easy to get it on facebook, and in my view preferable to lots of emails. I took it upon myself to email the squad re TONIC/Nationals etc and got one negative response. At least with facebook I know the info is there and people can come and get it if they want it. Same applies to the Osquad blog.) Should the results be more formally published rather than just a post on facebook...(pass) When is the NZ elite O tour and what events are included? (pass) What is the NZ elite O-tour? (pass) The Southerly Storm has a fairly loyal sponsor with Bivouac/Outdoor, how do I explain to them what the Southerly Storm is and how we operate and what exactly is the NZ Elite O-tour? (pass) World Cup in Tasmania. Is there going to be some trials? (Of course) Should I book flights? (Yes) Is there accommodation booked? (pass. I am making sure I have my accomodation sorted I suggest you do the same) Is there a Coach and or Manager? (No) When are the trials? (I would be guessing spring. I know some people are talking/thinking about it).   rob.g Posted: 5 April 2014, 1:30 AM   Regarding Tasmania, I wouldn't be waiting to see if you make the team, which could be picked as late as November, as airfares, car hire and accomodation will all be exorbitant or non existent by then. My suggestion would be to use nationals to get together, decide flight times, who might be travelling and staying with who, book cars etc, and just go. If you make the team all good. I have booked Bicheno By The Bay for the period from 6-12th January, which is very central for the period from day 4-8. I am planning to fill this with orienteers, with most beds $40-50 per person per night. For Launceston and Hobart there will be a lot more options.   thomasr Posted: 5 April 2014, 2:20 AM   I reckon managers should be the priority. Split the squads (nat and d)into tiers. 2 nation wide squads: Top level = Pinestars (pinestars come from here) Next = will be Pinestars level in next 5 years and JWOC (like d squad but includes people over 20 who are not quite pinestars level but still keen to learn) Then regional squads at next level down: - Northern, Central, South - Focussed on juniors Each squad has a co-ordinator. Coaches for the lower squads are not fixed and instead members of the squad above are shoulder taped to coach at training. e.g. Tane is in top squad, he is shoulder taped to coach at a d squad weekend. e.g. 2 Cam Tier is 2nd squad. He is shoulder taped to coach at northern squad weekend. Idea is that each level has an annual minimum of trainings events. Then depending on numbers etc events from different tiers can be combined to get necessary numbers.   mcroxford Posted: 5 April 2014, 2:20 PM   Hi Tane. Some good questions in there. I'll try to respond in detail tomorrow. Cheers Michael. (the one responsible for trying to resuscitate the SuperSeries - perhaps I should have let it die a quiet death).   mcroxford Posted: 6 April 2014, 2:24 AM   Actually having reread your post Tane. I realise I can't respond civilly. Perhaps after the nationals. Have fun training and best of luck for the races ahead :-)   nick Posted: 6 April 2014, 6:41 AM   How does stuff get done in NZ O? Someone gets off their ass and does it for free so that Tane can enjoy himself ;-)   magnus Posted: 6 April 2014, 8:47 AM   Tane, Surely the first step one must be to enter Nationals...   Tane Cambridge Posted: 6 April 2014, 4:35 PM   Thanks Jamie and Rob for your answers, that clears up a lot of loose ends! Michael, Yep I am well aware that you have done a huge amount for allowing the Super Series / NZ Elite O-Tour to save itself from dying a horrible death. Thanks for your work in reviving it! If you have a chance to re-read my post (removing any emotion, cause that's how I wrote it, without emotion) and are able to come up with some answers to some of these questions that would be great. I think my point has been slightly missed on the SS/NZ O-tour. There has been a huge amount of internal work done on the promotion and keeping the chatter going on Facebook. and thanks again Michael for your work! But if its only on Facebook and you have to go looking for it that's great if you are part of the conversation but how about on an external front? if you asked any random member of say the Waikato or the Dunedin Club, do they know what the NZ O-tour 2014 is and who is winning currently, and how many points Chris is away from Tim? and where and when the final round is? can I read about it on Sportzhub? can anyone in the general public read and appreciate what is going on in the NZ orienteering world? Thanks Nick, although I am a little offended at the implication from your comment...but never mind cause I enjoyed picking up all those controls from all those events over the years that North West has organised, never mind the work I have done planning controlling events in both Dunedin and PAPO, along with a NZ-Aus Secondary Schools challenge, organising orienteering tops for PAPO and the Southerly Storm...plus the countless other tasks planning training, organising maps for every second European that comes traveling around the South Island, also the coaching/teaching people how to navigate that I end up doing etc etc. Im not about to complain that I never get any recongition for the unpaid stuff I do for orienteering so others can enjoy themselves. I understand just as much as the next person that its a volunteer driven sport and we all do our bit. Oh yep Thanks Magnus, and thanks daylight saving! Ive just made it in time to enter   mcroxford Posted: 7 April 2014, 12:21 AM   Will do Tane.   Marquita G Posted: 7 April 2014, 3:29 AM   I would like to think I am sort of up with the play in the NZ orienteering world, and my better half, Rob, follows the elite scene with probably more enthusiasm than anyone. But neither of us had heard about this thing called the NZ O-Tour until we read about it on Tane's post. OK, neither of us "do facebook", but why should we have to? Apparently a huge amount of internal work has been done on promotion - perhaps this should be externalised so those of us who aren't in the clique get to find out too and can lend our support.   nick Posted: 7 April 2014, 3:31 AM   Tane - just jokes mate (hence the lame emoticon). I thought your original post came across a bit harsh. Not your intention, as you have subsequently clarified. Maybe my joke wasn't funny but the point of it was to show how easy it is to offend people on maptalk. You've done heaps for your sport... both in volunteering and competing... and you took the bait. Hopefully you can appreciate how someone else might react the same way to a simple implication. Basically everyone on here volunteers their time to orienteering, and deserve a level of respect for that. I guess I'd hope we can all respect the contributions made by our mates, and if there is a question you could answer using google, or by asking someone directly, that we do that before we post a gripe on maptalk. I am aware that my gag doesn't live up to those expectations. FWIW I can see some valid questions in your original post, amidst the negative implications and the questions you could easily have answered another way... so... to engage with those I'll post again.   mcroxford Posted: 7 April 2014, 7:50 AM   Hi All, When I first tried to pick up the SuperSeries i talked with a few elites and the main aim was to get a buzz/vibe going within the elites and make a sense of community for them, so that no matter where they were in NZ they could feel that others were out there to chasing the same dream. I think with the efforts of many over the past years we're doing that. This takes a lot of time and effort. I think Tane's post comes from a frustration that this is not now being externalised to the wider orienteering community and then beyond. Which is a fair call and one that needs to be talked through during some fire side chats at the Nationals. I think Tom's idea has been lost in this post but is a great concept. Also, I'll post here a comment made by Mike Adams a year ago. Angela Simpson asked: From a team of three at the Orienteering World Champs down to one next year, what happens to the team spirit and the chance for our amazing junior level to develop into senior elites? Mike Adams responded: I think it means we have to increase our international competitiveness. We could look at this as an opportunity to galvinise all the elites in NZ to action a properly developed high performance programme. We're not funded to have a professional administration supporting our international efforts. Unless I am totally out of the loop it appears we don't have an up to date, realistic, relevant and documented strategy for high performance. In lieu of professional administration, we need to work collectively create and implement a strategy to improve our standard of orienteering. I say collectively because without an effective management infrastructure in place we need to adopt an attitude of collective responsibility and support, so that regardless of whether or not we as individuals are representing the country on the day, we have athletes who are and who are achieving higher places. Back to me: So I guess that's the challenge. The buzz is there now lets work out our way forward. I am very excited about our junior and young elites. And I think they can achieve the ambitious goal of NZ having three places in Mens and Womens Middle and Long and finishers on the podium at World Champs. PS. i'll still respond to your questions after the Nationals, Tane. Happy trail running, everyone.   nick Posted: 7 April 2014, 9:07 AM   Tane, Your underlying observation seems to be that high performance O in NZ seems a little disorganised. There appears to be general absence of top-down high performance direction from NZOF. We might ask why this is the case, but I think we can all guess the answer. I believe NZOF pushes a fair bit of important paper for the HP athletes (amongst other things), but thats about where its realistic capabilities end (By all means, NZOF/Catriona, prove me wrong!). Confusion about the National Squad. Possibly symptomatic of a broader loss of coherence and cohesion amongst NZ elites? Without ever having been a member, it seems to me that the Nat Squad has always struggled to maintain cohesion & communication. I've seen many efforts in the last 10 years to rekindle a sense of unity, none of which appear to have been sustained. I don't know why... one guess is that the National Squad and the Super Series belong to a generation that is moving on from elite competition, or at least the pointy end. There is a changing of the guard, a quite natural process, as one bunch gets older, has kids, gets real jobs and mortgages and the rest of it... another bunch is coming in. Maybe its time to reassess the Nat Squad to ensure its value to the new crop of athletes? Ditto the Super-Series? Correct me if I'm wrong, but both of them pre-date Facebook? Which brings me to two very pertinent point you've raised. Can we improve the "external front" of SS/NZEOT? And, how do we attract/retain sponsors in the absence of external exposure? We (eventually) benefit from elite orienteering getting coverage outside our own walls... (its a bit like insurance, you kinda resent having to pay for it until the day you cash in). Facebook is opt-in. Can it therefore meet our requirements? I can see three layers of communication required around Super Series/NZEOT (1) to athletes (2) to O community (3) to the outside world. The trouble as always is *who* is going to do the work? And who will be next? At the moment we're lucky to have Michael volunteering his time to do it. If you think he isn't ticking those boxes, then fair enough, speak to him about it. He's probably quite open to constructive feedback. Point out your situation with your sponsor and ask if there are other steps he could take to help you out. To be fair, your sponsorship is not his problem but I'm sure he'd be mortified to think you might lose the relationship with Bivouac/Outdoor for want of a phone call. Last thing is to say "sorry Tane". At the same time as being a highly competitive elite, you do your fair share behind the scenes mate and I'm sorry I implied otherwise.   nick Posted: 7 April 2014, 9:11 AM   Oh, nice post Michael. And excellent quote from Michael.