OA is organising two very significant events as part of our plan to increase the number of qualified coaches within each state and also to develop a greater knowledge of how successful orienteering countries structure their coaching pathways and how this can be applied to the FTEM pathways structure recently implemented by OA.

1. Coaching Seminar to be held in St Helens (St Helens High School) on Friday 9th January- 2:00pm-5:00pm.

Special guest speakers will be the current Danish and Swedish National Team Coaches: Lars Lindstrom and Hakan Carlsson.

Both these very experienced orienteering coaches will be talking about the pathways structure- from junior level to world champion that currently exists in two of the most successful orienteering countries in recent years- Denmark and Sweden.

This seminar is open to all orienteers (senior and junior) who are interested in learning more about how the successful countries achieve the level they have. Especially any orienteer who is planning on attending the Coaching Conference in January will benefit from attending the seminar.

2. Coaching Conference- January 24th-25th AIS, Canberra.

A Coaching Conference is being planned by the Orienteering Australia High Performance Coaches. This conference is aimed at any orienteer who is interested in gaining  Level 1 Coaching Accreditation, or wants to update their current Coaching Accreditation at Level 1, 2 or 3. This conference will enable currently accredited coaches to gain points towards increasing the level of their coaching accreditation.

Given the introduction of the FTEM Athlete Development Pathway into orienteering and also the restructuring of the National Squads there is a clear need to increase the number of active coaches within orienteering in Australia at all levels- club, state and national.

Current Australian National Coaches- Nick Dent, Wendy Read, Hanny Allston , Jim Russell and Russell Blatchford will be the co-odinators of the Conference. Current Level 2 and Level 1 coaches will have the opportunity to present a session during the conference.

Main areas of the conference will be

• Understanding the FTEM- Athlete Development Pathway– especially as it applies to each level of coaching.
• Establishing clearly defined benchmarks for each level within the FTEM framework.
• Coaching the physical, technical and mental aspects of orienteering at each level.
• Skill development at each level of the pathway and practical methods for coaching these.
• An understanding of the different orienteering disciplines.
• How to become an elite orienteer.
• For Level 2 and 3 Coaches- using AMP.

The conference will take place the AIS in Canberra, where full board accommodation will be available.

Each state association and also clubs are encouraged to send their currently qualified coaches or anyone interested in gaining coaching accreditation.

Enquiries about either Seminar or Conference and expressions of interest in attending Coaching Conference

Nick Dent- OA Head Coach, Foot Orienteering

nickdent7@gmail.com

Nick Dent