Training Log Archive: iansmith

Central park run. It was frigid - about -10 C with some wind. I donned the balaclava for the first time this season.

Hi, everyone! Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas. I'm in NYC for the holiday visiting Katie and her family, and I've been doing a wee bit of running. December (and 2017) were a bit of a wash for me, but I'm resolved to get back into competitive shape for NAOC.

On the OUSA side of things, we're in the midst of preparing a budget for 2017. A draft budget by our frugal VP Finance, Pat Meehan, allotted $75k for discretionary spending after about $100k of "Operations" - basically mandatory spending. That $100k includes:

• $25k for insurance premiums
• about $21k for accounting and membership management
• $19k for ONA
• $4.1k + $3.2k for dues (IOF, WRE, etc) and charter
• $2.4k for website
• $5k for NEON, our membership database
• $3k for Athlete of the year and Medals
• $2k for Eventreg and
• $25k for various Board, meeting, and fundraising expenses and a discretionary reserve.

I think there may be some areas of operations that are being double counted, and I'm frustrated with how high a fraction of OUSA funds are used for management - simply continuing to exist.

Whatever the precise breakdown, we're working on the assumption that we'll have $75k for programming, which seems a reasonable conservative budget that will leave OUSA comfortably in the black by the end of the year and avoid repeats of the fiscal crisis of 2016. I generally am on board with the priorities the board has emphasized - a rework of our technology infrastructure, increasing club services, youth development programming, and team allocations chief among them. In general, I think these are good avenues - the club services and youth development in particular are "growth" programming, and the technology programming will hopefully facilitate and simplify activities for both OUSA members and clubs. I am disconcerted by our lack of overall strategy and vision; we can't simply write a $100k check per year to grow orienteering, but need a clear plan for the future that people will buy into.

My term expires at the 2018 AGM, and I haven't yet decided if I want to run again. At times, there is great positive energy in the OUSA leadership, but at times it feels like a Sisyphean task to try to change the direction of the federation. The leadership is cloistered and we aren't doing a good job engaging the community. I'm really excited about all the things Bob Forgrave and Barb are doing for clubs and youth development respectively. For me personally, my biggest priorities for 2018 are improving communication and transparency of the organization, advancing youth development (under the Long Term Athlete Development model), and helping the teams improve and grow. I will try to come up with a plan for myself for this coming year, as there isn't enough accountability.

My biggest achievements 15 months in are contributing to the restoration of financial clarity and balance to the organization, pivoting from our ED strategy, and (very roughly) organizing the 2017 Convention. I haven't finished uploading the materials from the convention to the OUSA website, which I need to address pronto. Finally, I need to reconvene the website template group of Philip Westover and Boris to expand our rollout to more clubs. Philip has done a great job, and Boris and I need to make sure he gets the audience and engagement to move forward.

Finally, some commentary: I don't like how much emphasis is put on fundraising by the teams by themselves, the ESCs, and the OUSA Board. Rather than encouraging our athletes to fundraise, we should be encouraging them to train. Money is limiting - I think for the senior WOC team, it's typical for team money (from donors, fundraisers, and OUSA) to cover WOC entry, accommodation, and meals at the event, while athletes themselves must cover flights and transportation. In other words, you have to pay a not inconsiderable amount to be on the WOC team, not even counting all the money spent on training and travel to competitions and team trials. This is true of the other teams as well. But if we as a community want our athletes to be competitive, we should incentivize training, preparation, and competition. I would rather have a WOC team in which everyone gets 500 hours of quality training but doesn't fundraise a dime than the current state. Many clubs and individuals have been fantastically generous in their support of the WOC athletes, and I am hugely grateful for that. Perhaps the senior WOC team can rely more on their alumni network for fundraising; if we can find people with the commitment of Ali, Sam, GSwede, Ross, and Boris - who adjust their lifestyles to focus on competition, the elite team will prosper.

To that end, I am thinking of organizing a national meet in the fall with proceeds to benefit the senior WOC team, much like Peter Gagarin's Mass 5-Day in 2012. While organizing a national meet may not be the most cost effective way of raising funds - I could just get a part time job and recoup more funds for less time, it's a great way of interfacing with the community and providing the product we crave more of. I would need help to make such an event a reality, but I will start putting a plan together. The team alumni are among the most veteran orienteers and would have in abundance the technical know-how to put on a quality event. Maps like Blue Mountain, Ward Pound Ridge, Harriman, the Water Gap, and others along the East coast would probably have the largest audience.

C • Interesting idea 5