Discussion: Under 21

I'm a junior concerned for the juniors in the future. So i was pondering when i thought back on an idea a few months ago ( http://thewaterstop.org/Forums/viewtopic/t=143.htm... ) and revised what i was thinking a little bit based on what i have read in different places.

I think there should be 2 or 3 camps for juniors that seniors are welcome to participate in. If there are two i think that it should be two one week camps, one in summer (before JWOC), and the other in the winter (Preferbably in Bastrop, Tx cause it is warmer there). If there is three i think there should be two that are three days (fri, sat, sun), one vernal, the other autumnal, and one week long camp in the summer.
some may heard of tjoc it is a week long junior camp in texas, but it is about to weaken because the orienteering trainning commander is not going to be able to do much for texas when he moves to oregon. any ways i was putting that out because some say week long camps are immpossible but they are not.

any ways whatdo y'all think of having Usof sponsered camps forJuniors

Dylan, good points! Very interesting how your thoughts mirror some ideas floating at the Boris log (see the discussion under his ranking observations).

Just want to repost here:
Unfortunately there is no SYSTEM in raising elite athletes in the USA. There is no network of qualified coaches and training centers. Best chance for a hopeful is to move to Scandinavia right now.

First step as a team we can do is to establish training centers that would bring prospective juniors together at least for couple-three weekends per year. Hopefully it can be done with some USOF backing. Northwest including BAOC area, Northeast, and may be Texas? Unless we do something nothing would change.

These should be prolonged efforts with established schedules and places not one time deals. These should be part of the SYSTEM.

Hopefully, this kind of camps would bring elites and juniors together and allow transition of experience and know-how from seniors to juniors, as well as motivate juniors (and seniors) to train more and compete at the higher level.

From my side I would commit to organizing training camp this summer for juniors (and seniors alike) at Northwest. Most probably it would be Cle Elum, WA or Bend, OR. Dates will be around July 1-4. Anyone interested, please, contact me directly (savelichko at yahoo dot com). I would like to establish this camp as an annual event.

Did I just read that someone is moving to Oregon? Please make sure that they contact either CROC or ORCA. We are interested in doing some junior stuff!

I agree that the junior training is better done by regions.

Especially the advanced juniors need attention. White and yellow can be easily taught by almost anyone with some basic understanding.

I do have to state the obvious, that there is the Junior Camp at Blue Mountain this weekend. So something is happening, at least in the east.

The problem with having a camp in july is that it is too close to Jwoc, unless you were to make it the week before and have everybody leave from the camp to Jwoc. The Best Time would be around X-mas Holidays or Right after school gets out. that way you can have the juniors for more than a weekend.
What would be neat would be an A-meet one weekend a camp during the work week and then another A-meet at the end. that would make a lot of juniors intrested because then they can get the necassary A-Days and it will also draw the seniors in and make it like a vacation.

Brainstorming..............

JWOC always provides good in-country training the week or so before JWOC which is ideal for them, but misses all the 'other' juniors. One year, I believe they offered perhaps 3 days in Northeast prior to departure. That was inclusive (but then makes the JWOC comitment a week longer).

Role within USOF convention.

At some A-meets, would 1-2 hours of scheduled light 'junior training' have appeal? Perhaps one hour Saturday afternoon to rerun a couple legs or do 1-2 training exercises. Then one 'organized' hour of course discussion in the evening.

1000-Day - Through discussion and camaraderie, much informal training occurs. Would a bit of structure have appeal? What would be appealing versus boring or tiring?

The two latter ideas might bring 'new juniors' into the 'regular junior' group.

JF: Might this be a Water Stop discussion?

We had a success with junior training camp during PNWOF last year. It was done mid-week and co-insided with mid-week events (sprints and relays). Thus it was done between Western Champs and USA Champs weekends. Takes planning and involvement of many seniors. Many thanks go to Eileen, Eric, Leif, and others who organized it! By the way, all income was donated to the junior team. We, undoubtedly, will repeat similar camp next PNWOF.

Would be so nice if someone took a lead to organaze something similar during 1000 Days this year per Ricka's call above!

RickA wrote: "JF: Might this be a Water Stop discussion?"

This has definitely been discussed on TheWaterStop at some point, but it is always good to hear from the Attackpoint crowd on Junior matters as well since most of them don't frequent TheWaterStop. This discussion was particulary interesting.

Hopefully it can be done with some USOF backing.

The USOF board is presently kicking around what initiatives to take, and priorities to set. For my part, as a board member representing competitve interests, I feel USOF should take a single, focused initative in the competitive arena (as opposed to a handful of different goals in different arenas, for example). This thread obviously qualifies under my definition.

USOF board meetings are open to any USOF member. At the next meeting (at the team trials meet in St. Louis), the entire meeting will be dedicated to working on this initiative/goal business.

Anyone is free to draft up a proposal in this space in advance of the meeting for board consideration (e-mail it to me and it will get to the board). Anyone is free to ask USOF president Chuck Ferguson for some time on the adjenda to present their proposal to the board in person and field questions. You're not free to ignore this opportunity and whine on these web sites about what USOF is not doing 2 months after the meeting :-)

This may be a historic opportunity for USOF to consider and act on specific proposals in this space. Perhaps the board isn't in touch with the right thing to do in this space. Perhaps the board wants to do the right thing, but doesn't have the time or the skill to sort it out (I know this applies to me -- I've already presented a couple initiatives under my definition, perhaps they are the wrong ones).

So, if you have reasonable, specific proposals, I assure you the board will consider them. I can't assure you that the board will agree with it, or agree with my notion of a single focused competitive initiative, but I will at least go to bat for it, or you will be able to do so yourself.

Here are portraits of some of our juniors at the Peekskill orienteering camp this past weekend, run by J Saeger. (Dave's cat was named Creature.)

In addition to working on their orienteering, they made friends, played games, and had such a good time that I suspect they're more into orienteering than ever.

I have 200 photos of the activities at the training camp.

There is junior training happening in the US now; it would be good to build on that.

There is an accreditation system for coaches, isn't there? I feel that I've seen it somewhere. My housemate K took an exam in Italy to get certified at one coaching level, so obviously it exists elsewhere.

Lots more could be done. The most powerful tool we have is the USOF (and Attackpoint) membership. By means of volunteering (like Sergey), focusing USOF (as Randy suggests), and sharing information about what's being done and what works, I feel sure we can make it possible for many more juniors to enjoy, and excel at, orienteering.

Various of us might have different goals around this. Some of you would like to see the very top elite US orienteers do better in international competitions. My own selfish goals are that the sport in this country thrive over the next 5 decades so that I can continue orienteering that whole time, and I want my family and friends to be into it also. But conveniently, there are many actions we can take that would contribute toward all these different goals.