President’s Rant – October 2015

It’s been a busy period with an overseas trip to Australia to take in their Australian Championships and two trips back to Wellington on orienteering business.

Whilst over in Ballarat, I had several rounds of informal talks with our Australian counterparts largely around increasing opportunities for more competition between the two nations especially at junior level.  Recognising the quality of our junior teams performances and the fact that overseas team travel fosters team spirit, friendships and support for each other, Orienteering Australia are keen to send over a junior representative side to NZ with the aim of offering them a similar experience. With ONZ’s continued support of the Australian State Schools Competition which is held in conjunction with the Aus Champs, it is envisaged that a regular home and away fixtures would be established. Of course, we would look for similar opportunities for additional Pinestars v Bushrangers clashes, elite events  and ANZ Challenges.

I have forwarded an invitation to Orienteering Australia to bring over a junior representative side for Queens Birthday 2016 and if accepted will leave this to our High Performance Leader and Junior Development Committee to sort out the final format. Within the letter, I also mentioned that we would like to get more junior regional sides to future Aus Champs. It is really encouraging to see this will from both sides of the Tasman to increase the number of events and offer increased exposure to orienteering for juniors. Congrats to our age class winners and especially our Secondary Schools Team who performed so strongly in defending the Southern Cross Trophy.

During early September, I attended the Wellington Controllers Clinic which attracted an audience of 24 including representatives of Hutt Valley, Taranaki, Hawkes Bay and Wellington. This was the first of our Volunteer Co-ordinator’s initiatives (Neil Kerrison) and was presented by Marquita Gelderman.  Everyone took something away from the clinic and the continual barrage of questions was testimony to the interest generated by Marquita.

On 9-10 October Council met in Wellington for a face to face meeting. Still dominating our agenda is the Constitution and I intend to produce an update detailing feedback to our initial discussion document around possible changes to the structure of Council. This includes clarification and answers to questions included in the responses. We also made a start on our Strategic Plan out to 2019 and had an excellent presentation from our High Performance Leader (Malcolm Ingham) around his proposed squad structures, and his plans to provide coaching and training opportunities.

I look forward to catching up with many more of you at the South Island Champs over Labour Weekend.

David Turner
President

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Constitution Review

Thank you to everyone who forwarded feedback on the Discussion Paper on the options for the Council structure.

We received feedback on a range of different areas in the constitution as well, so we are preparing a response on those which you should have received this week.

We are also asking for further feedback on the Council structure, specifically whether clubs or individual members should elect the Council. We invite you to review the options again and provide us with your opinion.

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NZ Schools Team Results

Congratulations to the NZ School Team who recently competed at the Australian Championships in Ballarat.

The team successfully defended the Southern Cross Challenge.

NZ 89, Tasmania 63, ACT 63, Victoria 56, Queensland 55, NSW 41, SA 39, WA 22

Check out some interesting performance analysis from the Champs including commentary on our NZ orienteers [on the Australian Orienteering site]

The success of the team was also noted in the SportNZ weekly update.

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Years 5 – 8 Training Camp

PAPO invites Year 5-8 Orienteers to a training camp at Spencer Beach Holiday Park, 19th -21st December. Cost for accommodation, food and maps $120.

Travel to Christchurch is extra, and some activities may have an additional cost – these will be optional and costs will be advised to participants closer to the camp. We can arrange transport to and from Christchurch airport.

Closing date for registering is 1st November 2015 – late registrations may be possible but as we need to confirm accommodation requirements we cannot guarantee accommodation for late registrants.

We will require some adult support – if possible please provide one adult for every four children from your area.

For some information and the link to register go to http://papo.org.nz/?p=4580

Enquiries to Jenni Adams jennia.home@gmail.com

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Orienteering NZ Vacancies

Manager applications for WOC and JWOC, and JWOC Coach are now being invited.

We are asking potential applicants for a 1 year + 1 year renewal tenure for these two roles.

Applications close on Sunday 18 November.

We also still have vacancies for the following panels and committees:

• Rogaine Committee – 1 member
• Selection Panel – Senior – 1 member
• Technical Committee – 1 member

Full position descriptions for all these roles are available on the Orienteering NZ website.

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Controller for National Champs 2016

Nelson Orienteering Club is calling for expressions of interest in the position of Controller for the Long Distance event at the 2016 NZ Orienteering Champs on Easter Sunday.

The event map is by Nick Hann of WOC on the new Big Bush Forest map beside the town of St Arnaud. The event Planner is Michael Croxford from NOC and the event organizer is Jan Harrison from PAPO. Please email Sally Lattimore on horoeka [@] gmail.com.

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Top 10 Tips for Parents

Prepared by Dr Juanita Weissensteiner, Athlete Pathways & Development, AIS
All parents want to make the right decisions for and with their child. In this web page we have collated our top 10 tips for parents to nurture and support their child’s sporting development.  Click here for more information

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2015 Junior Camp

If clubs are seeking funding for members attending this year’s Junior Camp, ONZ is happy to provide quotes to assist with your application.

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JWOC Policy Repealed

On 20 October 2015 the ONZ Council repealed the JWOC Policy (dated October 2013).

All JWOC Team Selections and Staff Appointments will now be made under the ONZ Policies – G1 Selection Policy and G4 International Team Representation.

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Upcoming Events

• Labour Weekend South Island Champs
• 31 Oct – 1 Nov National Rogaine Champs – POSTPONED

For more events check out the Orienteering NZ website

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Controllers Clinics

Thanks to Marquita and Neil who pulled together two controllers clinics in Wellington and Christchurch recently. Feedback from those who attended the clinics has been very positive and most are keen to put their newly found skills into practice.

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We welcome your feedback at any time.

Our mailing address is:
gm@orienteering.org.nz