Training Log Archive: barb

THANK YOU so much to those who have donated to our fundraiser, getting Cambridge kids to the Interscholastics. It is a crazy dream but you know, I think they are actually going to do well. I really do. When I see contributions from my orienteering friends, it makes me feel supported and is really motivating.

Yesterday we trained at Danehy on courses set by Isak. Keegan was a little disappointed that he did not beat the high school track guys.

Tomorrow we go to the woods again, during the time that a winter storm is supposed to be starting. I think we'll do a hard yellow course at speed and do some work on distance and compass.

A lot has been happening! Tuesday, Isak led the entire CRLS team through a tough course designed by Ian Smith. They met at each control and discussed strategy for the next leg. It was rainy and a little cold.

Thursday, the CRLS team sold baked goods and talked about orienteering to parents at the high school, as part of the teacher conferences night. Very successful - we brought in $129, and recruited a girl to come to orienteering training.

Friday, both the CSUS and CRLS teams (plus the girl) trained at Danehy Park - first with a longer streamered course (with lots of route choice around uncrossabel fences) and then an electronic punch course. Navigation Games provided loaner thumb compasses and the epunch equipment. Isak designed the courses. It got cold and rainy toward the end.

I spent yesterday baking and "working".
I spen today hanging streamers, and driving frantically back and forth to work for meetings, and then driving the kids there and back and coaching.

Here is a photo from Sunday's grid-O exercise; we learned this exercise from Erin at the Arizona training camp:

Isak, Pilli, Ethan and Jeffrey conducted a bake sale and orienteering consciousness awareness yesterday at parent-teacher night. Isak's idea, from a suggestion by Elizabeth. I baked all day, including a highly successful new recipe for choc chip cookies (in the past I have always made Toll House version but was told no nuts, and some research led to a new recipe). I didn't attend the bake sale (instead going to a CSU/hang-with-Diego meeting), but did drop-off and pick-up of stuff. They wore the hats. They prOselytized. It was good. It was gratifying to have this happen without me needing to be there. Isak is awesome.

Jeffrey was talking about going door to door for donations, and asked me if I thought one person alone or two people would be more successful. I mentioned this to Isak later, and Isak said he managed to convince Jeffrey that going door to door was his (Jeffrey's) idea.

We are up to $94 + $555 toward our goal of $3600.



Dave took this photo - the maps were for the star / attackpoint-to-control exercise from last weekend and Monday.

C • Goal 2

Yesterday Isak took the CRLS team to experience Ian's training course at Prospect Hill. They met up at each control. Sometimes some of them executed the leg reasonably cleanly. Isak mopped up the rest of them. Ethan was best in the beginning, but faded; ran out of steam - they had also done a 4-mile run for track before starting, and the woods were wet and cold. Walter improved and was the best during the last half.
This picture is not from yesterday; rather, it was from the much nicer (weather wise) training on Sunday at Boojum.

Navigation Games news:

Dave and I met with the director of Community Schools in Cambridge. We need teachers for spring after-school classes, so if you're interested let me know! If you know anyone in the Cambridge area you think might be good - again, let me know!

Also, we want to run a 6-week summer camp, 20 hours/week, July 7-Aug 15. Need people to work that. For teens, to teach them (1) how to orienteer (2) how to teach other kids and (3) how to put on an event.

We have a 19-year-old coming for the summer; she is not an orienteer or a teacher but she likes maps and is willing to work for us. She'll stay with me and Dave.

And, we are training two teams for IS champs! :-)

C • 6 weeks 6

I convinced a bunch of Cambridge kids and their parents to go to the IS champs and said I was confident that we could raise a lot of the money so they didn't have to pay $500 each for the trip. So far we've got about half of the hotel bill covered, and donations of $145 on our fundraising page. NEOC agreed to handle the money to reduce fees by allowing us to use Generosity.com, which is awesome.
Anyway, if you can donate cash or loan us a thumb compass through April 4th, that would be awesome.

As incentive, here is a photo of two of the athletes on the Intermediate Schools team.

C • Map 2

Today I took the 4 7th graders to Boojum. There was some light rain, which cleared up partway through. I worked with Alex and Nic on distance estimation, orienting the map, route planning. I sent Keegan and Harlan to do the star exercise (practice going from attackpoint to control), and asked them to pick up the controls (placed yesterday). Everyone did better than yesterday. I was happy. Yesterday was interesting - seeing the group being 7th graders. I had kind of forgotten about 7th graders, and assumed I would just have 4 Keegans, or two pairs of Keegan+Harlan. Alex and Nic injected a sassy vibe, you could say.
I love how focused they can be, while still easily slipping back into random patter when there is space for it. They were completely engaged with the training. They went through an armchair course with me on the Ohio map afterward, that went great.

Dave and I hung controls in the morning.
We spent the afternoon in the woods with the team, training.