Featured

An update on the amazing work being done by our Development team Karen and Richard:

Two years ago trail runner Warnell Engelbrecht asked on Facebook when we would be bringing Orienteering to Namaqualand? Soon after we got the ball rolling by meeting up in Cape Town and doing some basic Orienteering training in his uncle’s dining room. Warnell was determined to share his navigational skills knowledge with local school children, especially after having heard about a group of teachers and children getting terribly lost on a camp and having to spend the night on the mountain.

After a challenging year of trying unsuccessfully to get schools to introduce Orienteering, Warnell teamed up with teacher /adventure programme organizer Elvin Saal and they have become a pair of passionate hardworking Orienteering ambassadors who are clearly making their mark. Last April Timothy and I travelled up to Sprinkbok to do coaching and mapping training with them as well as initiate the project with work in Dr Isak Van Niekerk Primary. Taking part in the Western Cape Champs made the pair realize how much they had to learn but also reinforced how vital skills could be taught to children through Orienteering activities.

In the past 6 months Elvin and Warnell have mapped and visited 7 different schools in the Springbok, Okiep, Concordia and Nababeep areas. The children have thoroughly enjoyed the activities and teachers they have worked with have clearly seen the benefits of introducing Orienteering into their schools.

This year Warnell and Elvin hope to also be able to reach out to areas like the Khaima, Kamiesberg and Richtersveld regions. They also hope to get pupils competing in events at neighbouring schools as well as take some children to participate in the Western Cape Champs.

Well done Elvin and Warnell. We look forward to working with you to keep growing Orienteering in Namaqualand.

-Karen Chambers

The inaugural SAOF Coaching Conference was held at Bryanston High School on Saturday 11 July 2015. Thirteen coaches and perspective coaches gathered to share coaching ideas and expand their knowledge in various areas. The main theme for the conference was the sprint orienteering discipline.

The morning started with an adaption of presentation given by one of the top British Sprint Orienteers at a BOF coaching conference earlier in the year. The delegates spend some time practicing route choices and doing analysis, and were left with tools of how to do this with their athletes. In the next session, the delegates were given an overview of the Long Term Coaching Development framework, and its implication for orienteering coaching in SA.

The longest session of the day (held between tea and lunch) involved trying seven different warm up/ training exercises. 

These were presented by difference coaches. Delegates did the exercises themselves and then discussed the pros and cons of the exercises, making suggestions regarding improvements or variations for them.

One of the coaching cards given to delegates on the day.

After lunch a guest speaker and registered biokineticist discussed running gaits and common running injuries. Delegates were left with some tools on how to identify potential muscle weaknesses in their athletes. In the next session three different coaches shared ideas of how to use different computer packages to prepare maps for their training sessions. In the final session of the day the delegates were introduced to an exercise on how to re-use a small area. They ended up running a 3km course in a very small area and had to pay careful attention to their control descriptions and one way arrows!

Everyone agreed that it was a beneficial and fun day.

The Maccabiah Games, which are organised every four years in Israel under the auspices of the Maccabi Federation, is an international Jewish multi-sport event. In the next Maccabiah Games in 2017 orienteering will be organised as a competitive sport for the first time.  (more…)