Discussion: JWOC 2021 - moving to September - info for US athletes

JWOC 2021 - moving to September - US team selection deadline to be moved, more info here:
https://orienteeringusa.org/2021/04/jwoc-2021-movi...

JWOC in September. Is there any team that schedule actually works for, in any country?

Turkey?

There are some countries for which JWOC in July has never 'worked' - ie July is not school holidays.

That's why I asked. Which countries are those, and is Sept better for them?

Depends which part of September. Aus has school holidays at the end of September but coincidentally that's also our National and School Champs. I think we've already scrapped our attendance at JWOC this year though.

July contains two weeks of school holidays here. You're never going to align holiday dates with the entire world.

I go

If we are strictly talking about the JWOC competitors I don't think that school holidays would place any weight on a decision. Examinations possibly - but not school holidays. At that level of performance a person will have prioritised and juggled study and training and competition previously.

A typical JWOC competitor is probably out of school too (although not uni/college).

tinytoes and tRicky, thoes are both safe assumptions for many countries but definitely not for all! There are plenty of countries that regularly send high school students
send athletes that are prioritizing school at least as much as orienteering.

I generalised school as being any form of "junior" education and there are plenty of studies to show the benefits to education of a focused sporting training program, particularly at elite level.
In Aus our high school students get bonus points (for real) during their final exams for having represented their country and there are arrangements made for examination alternatives.

I cannot imagine there would be a school district or a college anywhere that would not be proud to have one of their students representing their country in a world championships or junior worlds. It is the stuff that makes their PR department drool.
And if Covid has taught us anything it is that remote learning is do-able in many circumstances and many places.

Not true when I was in high school. My XC coach forbid me from missing one (very unimportant) race in order to attend an A-meet I needed to go to in order to get enough ranking days to qualify for JWOC. He only relented when my Dad explained that if I had to choose, I would choose orienteering over XC. And the coach pulled me aside at practice to ask if I would actually quit XC if I wasn’t allowed to go to the orienteering race (evidently believing that my Dad was making things up)...it was scary to say “yes” to my coach. Eventually the coach decided losing his #2 runner for the season was not worth it.

This is a year of compromises, and it makes sense that the organizers would push JWOC back. But, it’s also worth recognizing that everyone’s situation is different, and some hs / college students might have hard choices to make. For those who decide that it makes sense to go given their situation (and if they’re allowed to travel there and back), great! For those that don’t, it doesn’t mean they are not committed to orienteering. It just might mean that JWOC wasn’t the right thing for them this year.

As a parent with a reasonable interest in Australia’s JWOC team (2/12), it’s probably more of a question of whether our borders will be open and, if so, will each member be up for $3000 to stay in hotel quarantine for two weeks on their return. Educational institutions in Australia are usually supportive of their students representing Australia.