School Camp success and O School League wraps

After six weeks of school orienteering events the 2013 League is over and done. I'll see some of the children at the Gauteng Orienteering Clubs (GOC) relay on the 17th but aside from that, the League is done for the year.

The camp this weekend went really well and the 15 boys and 17 girls were really superb. I'm guessing that the children are around 13/14/15 years old. Maybe 16 for the oldest?

With Garry away I was the 'responsible adult' for the weekend and I was very fortunate to have an excellent team of coaches with Sarah, Zoe and Nico. We also had four young orienteering assistants: Christie, Kyle, KG and Peter. We use our assistants to set up activities, put out and collect cones and controls.

We asked the children to be in bed by 22h30 on Friday night but there was evidently too much excitement and they were out and about, scaring each other in the dark, and then chatting in the dorms until after midnight. And of course there are those who wake up before the crack of dawn... They were all a bit sleep deprived on Saturday morning. But, with a long day on Saturday (and cooking heat) it was no surprise that on Saturday night they were all in bed by 21h30! Us too!

We split the kids into groups and they rotated between the coaches during the day to learn specific navigation skills. I did some nice new activities that will work sooooo well for adventure racers when I finally get my A into G (after Forest Run) to put together the new AR navigation practical course that I've been cooking up in my mind for six months!

On Sunday morning we took the group to a 'real' orienteering event at Protea Ridge. Definitely more challenging terrain for them. Some were all over the place; others did really well. I didn't run but instead ran the schools starts and then roamed around looking for lost puppies.

I didn't take a single photo during the camp weekend! 

Yesterday we had the School O Final at Kloofendal. Tricker terrain but relatively 'easy' controls IF maps are kept orientated, thumbs are always on where you are on the map and paths are followed to the T. I did take some photos here and got some nice ones.

That's the O Schools League wrapped for the year. From now I can focus on some one-on-one interaction with schools and teachers to introduce them to the new 'O in a Box' Level 2 activities, which they can coach at their schools.