Discussion: NAOC - Thank you on behalf of OUSA's Juniors and JTESC

I would like to thank all who have contributed in any form or shape to the OUSA juniors' great performance at NAOC 2016:

- fellow JTESC members and coach Erin, who have helped in the planning and logistics, as well as execution of the plans;
- all who pre-bought sandwiches for the US Classic Champs the weekend prior to NAOC;
- all who helped at the food table at the US Classic Champs;
- the generous parents, who saw their happy kids enjoying fun children's activities;
- Navigation Games instructor Ethan Childs, a former junior, for providing the String-O activities;
- all who helped with setup and tear-down of the children's activities
- the juniors who helped with the raffle ticket sales;
- and those who bought raffle tickets;
- and Joe and Pavlina for matching the sales;
- and all who created the support team for the juniors, by providing rides to and from the junior accommodations to the races or event dinner, who shopped for breakfast, snacks and dinner, who cooked dinner, all in all, who made it possible for the team to coalesce and focus on their races and team meetings
- all who participated in Peter Gagarin's Marathon fundraiser well over a year ago, enabling enhanced junior participation at NAOC 2016
THANK YOU ALL!

Thanks also to the juniors for rewarding their supporters and fans with great races and team spirit! Current JNT* juniors and hopefully future ones, giving their best performances and scoring for team OUSA (some scoring for the Senior team, too):

Brigitte Bordelon*
Evalin Brautigam*
Isabel Bryant*
Julia Doubson*
Katie Petersen*
Siri Christopherson*
Tyra Christopherson*
Sarah Petersen
Carolin Sandbo
Deirdre Young
Margaret Samuel Jones
Jessica Johnson

AJ Riley*
Anton Salmenkyla*
Austin Fowler*
Michael Laraia*
Thomas Laraia*
Will Hubsch*
Peter Zakrevski*
Ethan Hall
Aidan Minto
Kestrel Owens
Todd Park
Turner Leigh
Justin Augustine
Luke Eckstein
Saiyang Zhang

On a personal: Thank you to all who hosted me on my extended trip from the Midwest: Liisa and Bernie, Guy, Barb and Dave!

I put this on my own log yesterday, but it seems appropriate to add it here:

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Very nice to see our juniors do well this past weekend.

Actually, not just that, but also to see the good team vibes under the leadership of Coach Erin.

Orienteering is usually an individual sport, but having a good team can make a huge difference in attitude, morale, and training consistency, and all that usually translates into better results.

Congrats to the whole group for showing up, for being prepared, and for racing well. It's a good group of kids.

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And for those who donated to the marathon fundraiser last year, a modest part of that money was used this past weekend -- some travel support as needed, renting a home for them to all stay together (instead of camping), a van (or two?), and entry fees. These things make a difference. And it also makes a difference knowing that people in the orienteering community are supporting you.


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And there were several nice comments here.

Woo, Juniors! There's some good energy in the young ones coming up, too - what a great example our older Juniors set for the younger ones! Regional junior teams help. Let's keep building on this!