Discussion: Technical vs. sociological aspects of sport
in: Orienteering; General
Jun 28, 2012 9:23 AM
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One example why pure very good technical rule should not be the main and the only driven force behind the WRanking. The question is why not all previous races use the same IP factor from 1.1.2012 onwards based on 2012 improvements & changes?
WRE rule: 2.9 IP is a factor which currently equals 1.00 for all races....Removal of weighted points for all races which previously qualified, i.e. the weighting factor (IP) is set to 1.00 for all races.
This decision will not cause just delay of 1 year but will cause another new problem. Formula now calculates points based on much higher 18 months average for runners who still have valid races with IP=1.05 and IP=1.1. This is just a bad seed.
Sociological aspects of the sport tend to be more important than technical aspects when we speak about promoting elite orienteering and WRanking. Technical solutions (new rules) may look very good when they stand alone but without appropriate implementation all work could became Sisyphus work.
As we are very technical sport most views in orienteering are about technical solutions, technology and how to make technical superb rules and events. Our time normaly runs out when we should speak also about sociological part of the sport. We are not very good at that part.
Maybe IOF should do from time to time also a workshop with a similar topic and not just workshops in field of course setting, map specification, etc. It would be good experiment to see 10 technics thinking purely only about sociological aspects of the sport.
WRE rule: 2.9 IP is a factor which currently equals 1.00 for all races....Removal of weighted points for all races which previously qualified, i.e. the weighting factor (IP) is set to 1.00 for all races.
This decision will not cause just delay of 1 year but will cause another new problem. Formula now calculates points based on much higher 18 months average for runners who still have valid races with IP=1.05 and IP=1.1. This is just a bad seed.
Sociological aspects of the sport tend to be more important than technical aspects when we speak about promoting elite orienteering and WRanking. Technical solutions (new rules) may look very good when they stand alone but without appropriate implementation all work could became Sisyphus work.
As we are very technical sport most views in orienteering are about technical solutions, technology and how to make technical superb rules and events. Our time normaly runs out when we should speak also about sociological part of the sport. We are not very good at that part.
Maybe IOF should do from time to time also a workshop with a similar topic and not just workshops in field of course setting, map specification, etc. It would be good experiment to see 10 technics thinking purely only about sociological aspects of the sport.
Jun 29, 2012 8:47 AM
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Going down from IOF to national federation I may present our case. I may say that we as a small federation (Slovenia) have come in last 20 years to the point where our technical level of events is very high but we have lack of knowledge and interest to go forward with development of orienteering as a racing sport.
If we want to come in a position to even start thinking of development of elite orienteering we first need to develop recreational level and come out of orienteering family circle. We are now in a position to decide if we are able to first develop recreational programs to raise number of orienteers at least to 2-3.000 as this number is reachable. Going from family circle to recreational level would mean that people are willing to develop wider interest for sport where they have interest to teach and work also on public programs which are not strictly connected to their family circle or their clubs. Our federation doesn’t have any club programs so it would be nice to see how other federations support their clubs and what kind of club programs federation have. I think I saw somewhere a step by step program for new clubs in Sweden and Norway. How others overcome this obstacle?
OUR SITUATION
We have now more than 230 maps for 350 officially registered orienteers. Our clubs organize more than 50 events per year (mainly FootO events but also some MTBO, TrailO and SkiO events.). Some clubs and volunteers are trying to develop junior squad but federation's competition system stays the same as it was 20 years ago. Federation run mostly by boy scouts and their primary interest is not development of orienteering as an elite racing sport. We are still in most ways family sport and most people like this recreational approach. Number of orienteers have raised in 20 years from 200 to 350 and this is about 0,017% of whole population (2M). More than 90% of people who practice orienteering sooner or later become members of clubs. I compared this number to Scandi countries where number of orienteers are between 0,5%-1% of population. In our case this would mean around 10-20.000 active orienteers but as orienteering is not very popular sport and can’t provide substantial financial support for training, development and racing at international level most people have decided that starting this process is wasting of their time. We have some kind of national development program for juniors (14-20 years) because national federation get some small financial support for this program from the state but this is just one step which should be done in the whole process of developing of orienteering as a sport. Young orienteers somewhere in the middle loose their interest. In our case this is between 16-17 years where young athletes should start with more focused and regular trainings with ambition to become elite orienteer. Here comes a problem with a selection and motivation. This comment well describe also our situation and in 99% the situation is the same.
Slovenia is the 3th largest forested country in Europe (after Finland and Sweden) and conditions and potentials for orienteering are really great. That is way most of people are looking more how to develop orienteering events, maps as a commercial business for interested orienteers around the world. Each year we have Lipica Open (800 entrants), OO.cup (1500 entrants), CC.cup (400 entrants).
Even if development start in the clubs I see very big importance that federation first make the right vision and goals and unite clubs with this vision. Without federation this development can't succeed on national level.
If we want to come in a position to even start thinking of development of elite orienteering we first need to develop recreational level and come out of orienteering family circle. We are now in a position to decide if we are able to first develop recreational programs to raise number of orienteers at least to 2-3.000 as this number is reachable. Going from family circle to recreational level would mean that people are willing to develop wider interest for sport where they have interest to teach and work also on public programs which are not strictly connected to their family circle or their clubs. Our federation doesn’t have any club programs so it would be nice to see how other federations support their clubs and what kind of club programs federation have. I think I saw somewhere a step by step program for new clubs in Sweden and Norway. How others overcome this obstacle?
OUR SITUATION
We have now more than 230 maps for 350 officially registered orienteers. Our clubs organize more than 50 events per year (mainly FootO events but also some MTBO, TrailO and SkiO events.). Some clubs and volunteers are trying to develop junior squad but federation's competition system stays the same as it was 20 years ago. Federation run mostly by boy scouts and their primary interest is not development of orienteering as an elite racing sport. We are still in most ways family sport and most people like this recreational approach. Number of orienteers have raised in 20 years from 200 to 350 and this is about 0,017% of whole population (2M). More than 90% of people who practice orienteering sooner or later become members of clubs. I compared this number to Scandi countries where number of orienteers are between 0,5%-1% of population. In our case this would mean around 10-20.000 active orienteers but as orienteering is not very popular sport and can’t provide substantial financial support for training, development and racing at international level most people have decided that starting this process is wasting of their time. We have some kind of national development program for juniors (14-20 years) because national federation get some small financial support for this program from the state but this is just one step which should be done in the whole process of developing of orienteering as a sport. Young orienteers somewhere in the middle loose their interest. In our case this is between 16-17 years where young athletes should start with more focused and regular trainings with ambition to become elite orienteer. Here comes a problem with a selection and motivation. This comment well describe also our situation and in 99% the situation is the same.
Slovenia is the 3th largest forested country in Europe (after Finland and Sweden) and conditions and potentials for orienteering are really great. That is way most of people are looking more how to develop orienteering events, maps as a commercial business for interested orienteers around the world. Each year we have Lipica Open (800 entrants), OO.cup (1500 entrants), CC.cup (400 entrants).
Even if development start in the clubs I see very big importance that federation first make the right vision and goals and unite clubs with this vision. Without federation this development can't succeed on national level.
This discussion thread is closed.