Discussion: USOF seeks course consultants

Peter Goodwin posts to Clubnet:

Course consultants are valuable in the process of creating good courses for A-Meets. Course consultants generally have set a number of days worth of A-meet courses and are also comfortable working with others in the design of courses. They also must be willing to spend quite a bit of time looking over and making suggestions to course setters, realizing that the course setter has spent lots of time working with the map and may know much more about a particular area. Obviously, the consultants are not able to run in the meet so there is some sacrifice in the job.

There is a need to find some more course consultants so that they can be assigned to work with future A-meet courses. If you or anyone you know would make a good A-Meet course consultant, please contact me, Peter Goodwin at [an email address made by putting Peter Goodwin's initials then wolfe66 at gmail.com (no dot between the initials and wolfe66)].

Peter Goodwin

USOF Board Member

I am reposting it here because it is a good idea. Peter recently took over this task for USOF; event and course quality is something we are slowly trying to work constructively to improve, but we need some experienced orienteers to volunteer to help A meet courses be as good as they can be.

I agree - increasing the pool of course consultants is a great idea.

That said, the "ad" describes the "duties" of the course consultants, but not the qualifications needed to become one - other than "experienced orienteers". What are the specific requirements, and is there "training" to help a candidate meet those requirements if s/he does not already do so?

Having worked previously with an expert course consultant should be one of the main qualifications to enter this pool.

My experience of collaborating with Eric Weyman and Vladimir Gusiatnikov on the US Team Trials was an invaluable educational experience. Both were able to convey their deep insights into the theory and practice of course design.

At one time, prospective course consultants were required to submit a complete set of "A" meet course designs for review -- 7 courses, from beginner (white) thru M elite (blue). I'm not sure if this is still the case, but now that we have sprint, middle and long as different formats, the consultant's necessary knowledge has expanded and changed. While many of the old classic course setting principles still apply, consultants now also need to be familiar with the unique aspects of course setting for Sprint and Middle Distance events.

I don't know if USOF's Course Consulting Committee has developed a new set of guidelines or standards for prospective consultants, but certainly familiarity with these newer event formats should be considered.

I will periodically check this discussion and use the comments in helping to formulate policy. If you have ideas that you want to discuss in a non-public format, you can contact me directly at the email address given in the first post.

Having had both Vlad and Eric as course consultants, I must fully agree with George. I don't know that it qualifies me to be a course consultant myself, but it certainly was an edifying experience. Good course consulting is much more than just pointing out what you don't like. Done right, the course designer still makes all the decisions, the consultant just gets them to think about things in a way they might not have otherwise.