Training Log Archive: barb

Today I am leading another orienteering field trip. It is an extremely lovely day, weather-wise, which makes me happy to have the excuse to be outside!

setting, orienteering, picking up controls for outing with 5th graders. Or 6th graders. I can never remember what grade they are. The daughter of a friend of mine from undergrad days is in the class, and her mom chaperoned, so it was a great opportunity to catch up. Gorgeous weather; the best possible. Makes you feel alive. Windy, clear, mostly sunny, not too hot.

5 teams of 4 instead of 7 of 3.
Shorter epunch course.
Divon (sp?) was really good at reading the map and strong physically. His dad was along. I enjoyed talking to his dad. His dad seemed to enjoy it. They would be quite the coup for NEOC to rope in.
I guess the dad was along b/c kid maybe is somewhat out of control in class. I found him pretty delightful. All the kids need to be a little more considerate, but beyond that they are pretty engageable.
I felt like an agent, a sports agent, talking to the dad at the end. Certainly not a role I'd ever have imagined I would play.
The kid plays basketball, football, baseball, I think. All good training for orienteering capture the flag.

Back wheel is wobbling too much. Another biker commented on it.

In the evening my friend Lisa came over for dinner; she has been living in Singapore the last half dozen years and I don't think I've seen her for 4 years now. So nice to reconnect.

Yesterday's Menotomy meet went well. There were 60-80 people. And the (first ever?) orienteering Capture the Flags game went really well. David & Isabel's friends Alex & Becca were visiting from Pennsylvania. They had gone orienteering once before. Alex won the white course with a time of 4:20, beating Ethan Hall by 34 seconds. All four kids helped out with running the meet. Isabel, afterward: "We should put on meets more often - that was fun."

I sent notices about orienteering meets to the parents list at my kids' school pretty regularly, usually with not a lot of effect. However, this time there were at least 3 families from Graham and Parks who came.

Becca running the Finish:



The Capture the Flags map:



Keegan and Ethan conferring about team strategy:



Team 1 returning from setting out the five flags in their territory:



Chasing the enemy:









Waiting for rescue from jail:



Rescuing a teammate from jail:



At the finish - you can see the captured flags along the line in the back.



And a few photos of some of the competitors:

C • Capture the flag 4

Rules for tomorrow's NEOC Capture the Flag orienteering game:

Flag hanging

• Flag locations are marked on the map and have clothespins for easy flag hanging.
  
• The event director assigns teams and captains.
  
• Teams hang controls and come back to the start.
  

Preparation period

• The event director will tell the teams how long they have for preparation.
  
• Teams meet to discuss strategy.
  
• All team members must come to the start triangle at the end of the preparation period.
  
• Captains must ensure that their strategy accommodates all players’ skills and comfort. Younger players with little orienteering experience may prefer to be part of a pair or group of players who travel together.
  

Game play

• When the event director says “go”, play begins.
  
• To win, a team must bring all the flags from the enemy territory, and all of their team members, to the start triangle. Teams should line up to be counted by the judges when they finish.
  
• Any player in enemy territory can be tagged by a member of the opposing team.
  
  • When tagged, the player must immediately go to the Jail for that territory and wait for rescue.
    
  • If the player was carrying a flag when tagged, the player must first return the flag to its original location, and then go to jail.
    
  • Jails are marked on the map. Prisoners must be touching the jail feature at the time they are tagged by a teammate in order to gain freedom.
    
  • Prison chains are allowed (prisoners join hands; one end is in contact with the bench; if a teammate touches anywhere along the chain, all prisoners in the chain are free).
    
  • We may impose an additional 1-1 rule: any team member who tags an opposing player must accompany them to return the flag and go to jail.
    
  • No hovering really close to flags you are defending. Defenders should stay outside the control circle.
    
  
  
• You may not go out of bounds. Out of bounds is marked on the map. You may not leave the park.
  
• You may travel on the border trails. If a trail borders both territories, it is considered part of both territories; players may tag members of the other team. If a trail borders one territory, it is considered to be part of that territory.