1. INTRODUCTION
One of the key elements in any junior development programme is a sport's competition structure. At the heart of orienteering's structure are colour coded and badge events. The main aim of all of the following proposals is to enable young people to enjoy and progress in the sport, and to remove many of the barriers that are currently inherent in the structure. Fundamental to that enjoyment and progression is enabling all youngsters to compete at their own ability level and to be appropriately challenged physically, mentally and competitively. Too many youngsters are being effectively excluded, particularly at badge event level, because they either exceed or do not reach predetermined expectations for their age group. At the same time, it is important that we do not exclude those who are currently included. I believe that this balance will be achieved by adopting the following proposals to merge colour and badge standards for all under 21s.
2. COLOUR CODED EVENTS and the problem of the over-long Green course.
Colour coded courses have been one of the successes in British competition development over the past couple of decades. These enable competitors to select courses at an appropriate physical and technical level, are reasonably straightforward to understand, and provide a reasonable level of consistency across the country.
In many areas, Technical Difficulty (TD) 4 is the maximum technical level achieved. In these areas, the Light Green course should provide for those who require a short course at the maximum level of difficulty for that area. However, on those areas reaching TD5, the shortest course with maximum technical difficulty is currently Green. This is often set at the longer end of its range even in difficult terrain, at between 4.5 and 5k (and occasionally even longer!). The result is that there is no course available for those who want a technically challenging short course. This is not only a junior issue, but also one regularly bemoaned by older Vets.
The situation is exacerbated by the common perception amongst planners, and contrary to the guidelines, that Light Green must be a simpler course than Green (even when the area is barely TD4), a perception reinforced by its rather clumsy nomenclature. With the TD3 Orange level covering a wide range of skill levels, what commonly then happens is that the Orange course is planned at the bottom end of its range, and Light Green is planned at the top end of Orange, with just an occasional nod to TD4. The result is that even on many TD4 areas, there is no short course at the maximum technical level for the area.
The following proposals are therefore made
a. Rename the Light Green course. It is suggested that the colours are simply moved down, bringing Black into play more often.
b. Shorten the distances of the top level colours. The following is suggested, with the emphasis that the longer end of the ranges should only be used on physically easy areas. If more than one Black course is required, course distances can be used, e.g. Black 8k, Black 10k
Colour Current range (K) Proposed colour Proposed range (K) Orange 2.5-3.5 Orange 3.0+/- 15% Lt Green 2.5-3.5 Green 3.5+/- 15% Green 3.5-5.0 Blue 4.0+/- 15% Blue 5.0-7.5 Brown 6.0+/-15% Brown 7.5-10.0 Black >7.5k Black 10.0+3. BADGE EVENTS: it is proposed that Juniors should run Colour courses at these.
a. NUMBERS of Juniors running Badge courses are very small.
b. The QUALITY OF COMPETITION is being diluted by too many Badge classes.
Even were numbers to increase, there would still be far too many classes (24 age classes plus colour courses) for too few juniors, and juniors of similar ability are frequently competing on different courses and in different classes. Badge events should be bringing juniors of similar ability together in meaningful competition, not separating them...
c. Current recommended distances for Badge classes are TOO LONG.
For instance, at 15 years old, even a good standard boy is expected to be racing hard for more than an hour, and 19 year-olds for almost 90 minutes, let alone middle of the road orienteers and below. Given that orienteering is actually tougher than most sports, these times are excessive. There is not a great deal of difference for the women. The only alternative to doing these long distances is to run B courses (S for 20s) which is not proving attractive.
d. Courses are NOT PROVIDING APPROPRIATE CHALLENGES.
The current badge classes presuppose a certain technical and physical standard of juniors before they can compete, consigning the rest to 'B' or colour coded courses, both of which have already been identified as being unacceptable to the juniors themselves. This also forces technically competent youngsters to run physically over-tough courses if they wish to be technically challenged. The shortest TD5 courses are M/W 16, which are too long to be either attractive or beneficial to technically competent 12 or 14 year olds, and we should certainly not be encouraging them to run them.
e. SKILLS AT SPEED, NOT ENDURANCE, should be the emphasis
Orienteering is a technical sport, and the emphasis in earlier years should be on technical development. Shorter courses enable all youngsters to develop those skills without making excessive physical demands. They also enable the early physical maturers to learn how to perform those skills fast!
f. Progression should be AT THE JUNIOR'S PACE.
Juniors mature at different rates. They should be encouraged to progress at a pace appropriate to themselves, rather than at one dictated by the system, which then loses those who are either don't achieve those expectations, or who are burned out by them. There is plenty of evidence to show that a high proportion of late developers make strong runners.
PROPOSAL to integrate the Colour Coded and Badge schemes for Juniors.
1. To replace under-21 age classes at Badge events with colour coded based structure, from White to new Black. The courses from new Blue to new Black, plus new Green will usually be combined with Vets courses.
2. On these courses to provide separate Junior Men's and Women's classes on all courses, except new Black, where there will just be an Open junior class.
3. Introduce the rule that those who have achieved the equivalent of Gold (3-star - see below), can only continue to be competitive on that course if under a certain age, or if it's more than 12 months since they last achieved an equivalent or higher Gold standard.
4. All courses to be organisationally treated like current age classes, e.g. premarking etc.
5. Summary of proposed junior structure is thus:
Current colour New colour km Junior Classes competitive 3-star holders +/-15% White White 2.0 Men, Women M/W10 and under Yellow Yellow 2.5 Men, Women M/W10 and under Orange Orange 3.0 Men, Women M/W12 and under Light Green Green 3.5 Men, Women M/WI4 and under Green Blue 4.0 Men, Women M16/W18 and under Blue Brown 6.0 Men, Women any Brown Black 8.0 Open any4. SUMMARY
At each colour level there will be 1-star, 2-star and 3-star awards: all three star standards to be available at Badge events, 1- and 2-star standards at Colour Coded events and 1-star standards at suitable school events. Times to be calculated separately for Junior Men and Junior Women in each colour class. (For simplicity I have omitted Andrew's explanation of the calculation of 1, 2 and 3-star standards, and also his accompanying statistics: all the highlighting is mine - with a friend like this who needs enemies? Ed.)
EDITOR'S TWO PENN'ORTH
I have decided to print Andrew's proposal in considerable detail because I am personally very enthusiastic about it, and I hope to stimulate many of you into careful consideration and comment. Sorry to have cut it somewhat, Andrew, in order add my own thoughts!
We none of us know exactly why numbers participating in O are falling off, and different clubs are adopting different strategies to try to attract more members. As current chairman of my club, I am particularly anxious to hang on to the juniors we have, as at the moment they seem to drop out at a worrying rate.
The important point, I think, of Andrew's proposal is that it is for a robust competitive structure that will suit ALL juniors, of all abilities, not just the future Yvette Baker's and Steve Hale's, although they can be well accommodated in a flexible scheme like this. How much more satisfactory to be a White, Orange or Blue standard Junior and to know that you are going to achieve a good personal standard at that colour before moving on to the next one instead of a M10, W14, M18 or whatever and struggling to keep up. As Andrew says, the emphasis should be on SKILLS AT SPEED and not on endurance. Kids mature at very different rates at different times (don't we all?), they come into the sport with very different physical and mental skills; why not develop a competitive structure for them which recognises this?
On a not entirely unrelated matter, Andrew addresses an issue very dear to the heart of an ageing geriatric and produces a most elegant solution. I refer to the matter of the over-long Green. There are some planners and controllers around who have been invited to share my concerns about this! I will not detract from the impact of a really important proposal by boring you with them on this occasion, but watch this space. (Ed.)