HP plan

ONZ has a HP strategic plan, with a new plan for the years ahead to be released soon. This plan is applicable nation-wide and aligns athletes, coaches, team managers and regional coordinators on the same set of goals.

The key points in the HP plan have been summarised on this page and the full plan will be available here once it is finalised.

The HP plan has a different emphasis on the two types of orienteering:

Sprint orienteering is a big focus in the HP plan due to its strong potential for international success without the need to travel internationally to access appropriate training. Sprint aligns well with the terrain available for training in New Zealand and as a result, we have a strong history of top performance in this disciple, even with athletes training predominantly in New Zealand.

Forest orienteering remains an important component HP plan and is an area of focus in training and racing. It is acknowledged that to perform at the highest level in forest disciplines, having access to terrain similar to that of the targeted international competitions is a major advantage and a reason many top orienteers move to Europe. While it’s great that New Zealand has world-class terrain to use (mostly sand dunes with plantation forest), it is unfortunately uncommon that major international championship are held in such terrain.

Goals

ONZ has specific performance goals that we will support our athletes to achieve at major international events. The plan covers events as far out as 2028 and includes goals for World Orienteering Championships (WOC), World Cup (WC), Junior World Orienteering Championships (JWOC), World Games, and Oceania Championships.

ONZ also has development goals that are used to measure progress towards its performance goals. These include world rankings, WC results, and Trans-Tasman Test Match results.

Regional squads

ONZ aims to capture emerging talent first at a regional level through regional development squads. These regional squads are lead by regional development coordinators who seek promising athletes who place highly at domestic competitions or have been selected in major representative teams.

Squad inclusion is not by way of formal selection or against specific criteria. Typically, talent will be identified towards the end of secondary school, but athletes who show immense promise and interest training may be included at a younger age. Conversely, those who find their way to high performance at older ages will also be included in these regional squads.

All athletes performing well at 20E and 21E grades should be actively supported by ONZ through a regional squad.

The Regional Development Coordinators maintain direct relationships with the members of their squad to ensure that the support provided meets the specific needs of its athletes and specific barriers to local training activities are addressed.

National squads

In addition to the above mentioned Regional Development Squads, ONZ names an Under 23 Squad (U23) and a National Squad under the HP umbrella.

Athletes in these squads will receive the following support:

• Monthly online meetings to discuss training and racing.
• Ensure access to coaching and technical analysis.
• Ensure access to specialist support such as sports science, nutrition and psychology.
• Annual performance reviews.
• Invitation to training camps (typically shorter training camps during the competition season and a the week-long training camp in December).

Those interested in HP should be attending competitive events in New Zealand, prioritising those in the National Orienteering League (NOL) and National Sprint Orienteering League (NSL).