Discussion: USA youth orienteering

The OUSA Board will be reviewing our current youth programs and thinking about how to build on them to grow orienteering over the next few years. the future. To that end, we are pulling together a document summarizing youth programs in the USA. Please help me fill in the gaps. I'd like to have this completed Tuesday or Wednesday.

Thanks!

hi

How about this?

Greetings!

There are more than 70 JROTC instructors and orienteering coaches addressed in this message. I contacted most of you in October 2016 to announce Texas Junior Orienteering Camp (TJOC) WILL BE BACK in Summer 2017! I appreciate all the feedback and great suggestions so many of you sent after that initial announcement. Based on your input, the team from North Texas Orienteering Association (NTOA) and Longhorn Council have planned an incredible training experience for TJOC 2017.

When: Sunday, June 4, through Friday, June 9, 2017. (Depart Saturday morning, June 10, 2017.)
Where: Sid Richardson Scout Ranch, Lake Bridgeport, Texas.
Who: Junior orienteers (13-19-year-olds) ALREADY COMPETING on Orange, Brown, and Green Courses in Texas and throughout the United States. For every 4 junior orienteers, 1 adult coach/driver/chaperone and 1 vehicle large enough to transport at least 4 junior orienteers.
How much: $300 per junior orienteer and $100 per adult coach/driver/chaperone.

WHY THE PRICE INCREASE? Formerly, Army JROTC recognized TJOC as a Junior Cadet Leadership Challenge (JCLC), and contributed virtually all of the costs for lodging and feeding cadet orienteers. In 2014, Army JROTC decided it would no longer provide funding support for TJOC.

Though more expensive, TJOC 2017 is STILL going to be an incredible value, focused on making your BEST ORIENTEERS more competitive next fall! TJOC 2017 will feature more ORIENTEERING TRAINING in Sid’s challenging terrain than ever before.

Instructors and Coaches, I need your help:

1. If TJOC 2017 is not for you or your orienteers… PLEASE forward this message to others you think might be interested, and THANK YOU for your time.
2. If you and/or your orienteers WILL PARTICIPATE in TJOC 2017, PLEASE REPLY to wmalpass@pasadenaisd.org with your BEST ESTIMATE of number of juniors and adults planning to attend from your program. Please be conservative--don’t inflate your estimate!
3. If you and/or your orienteers want to participate in TJOC 2017…but have questions, can’t afford to pay THAT much, have a special situation, etc....PLEASE REPLY to wmalpass@pasadenaisd.org, so I can try to answer your questions, or work with you on your situation. And at a minimum, I’ll know to keep sending you updates as we begin the registration process for TJOC 2017.

Finally, I hope to see many of you with your junior orienteers at the Lone Star Armadill-O // 2017 U.S. Interscholastic & Intercollegiate Orienteering Championships this weekend, March 3-5, 2017.

Respectfully,

William Malpass
Lieutenant Colonel, USAF, Retired
Senior Aerospace Science Instructor
AFJROTC TX-20104, Dobie High School

email: wmalpass@pasadenaisd.org

Hi Barb, I can add some things about the Mid-Atlantic Regional Junior Team that I started up with Erin's encouragement two years ago. It is much less formal than some of the other programs you describe, and is aimed at existing junior orienteers, but might be a helpful thing to have in the document.

Hello!
How about north of the border? There is a lot of development in Junior Orienteering.
Of note, the Sass Peepre junior training camp in Laurentians near Montreal on July 30-Aug. 1st, between Eastern Canadian and Canadian Championships. All ages and levels including very advanced. Contact me for info: anna_fichman@hotmail.com
Good luck to all junior coaches and parents!

String O has always worked well for the youngest kids. The kids really like the stickers and patches and the courses only take a few minutes to set up. It also delivers a positive message to families and keeps them coming to meets. The next logical step for the 6 + group is a streamer O which has the kids follow a solid streamer through regular orienteering terrain carrying a small map and e-punching.

The streamer O course is designed with apparent short cuts that kids recognize and can use after doing it a few times. From the beginning they associate running fast and going through regular orienteering terrain with the sport. The courses are generally around 1K and the maps are 1:2500 and printed on smaller sheets of paper to make them easy to handle. We observed this in Finland where hundreds of young kids often wearing club suits competed on these courses before they were ready for regular competition courses.
The courses do take a little extra effort to design and set out, but the kids learn to run fast in the woods with no fear of failure right from the start. These course also work well for camps and school groups. Everyone runs hard and experiences success. The kids eventually see that the ones who read the map and take the short cuts do the best so it gives them incentive to learn to read the map better and run faster.