Discussion: the wonders of youth

Hi Virginia - I am the OIC you spoke to after your course on Sunday. Thank you for the kind words and encouragement you gave to our cadet on his course. He did the white, then the yellow, and went to do an orange, but was told they were out of orange maps. So he asked for "whatever was closest to the orange". That's how he ended up on the brown course. If I had known he was doing as well as he was, we probably would have let him complete it. I think we were a little concerned for him after running two courses already (in heavy khakis I might add) and thought he might have been in a little over his head. But Justin's enthusiasm is very exciting, and we think we have a great orienteer in the making. Thanks again, and if you ever need a carpool to a QOC event and can tolerate a car full of smelly teenagers, we're right across the bridge! :-)

Ha! I was already sweating by the time I saw him, and watching him run in those heavy khakis was almost painful :) Glad I told him to take a moment at 4 and drink some water. I'd love to talk with you more about training opportunities for the cadets. I got my start in orienteering through NJROTC more than 20 years ago, so I'm happy to do whatever I can to encourage and help the next generation of orienteers!

That is wonderful to hear! I have basically become the de facto orienteering coach since CMDR Dvorsky’s retirement. The current instructors are not exactly “orienteering team minded”, but allow me to help as much as I can. So the prospect of you helping with some training opportunities is a fantastic idea! We have a great team of very enthusiastic orienteers. Thank you for your generous offer. I look forward to seeing you soon. I cannot make the SVO stumble because we have an O event at Annapolis HS the day before. And then I will be in NH for Boulderdash. But we plan to be at every QOC event after that, so I am sure I will see you at one of those sooner rather than later.