ORIENTEERING FOUNDATION

JROS coach development at Lagganlia 2015

Coaching at Lagganlia 2015
Coaching at Lagganlia 2015
Credit: Wendy Carlyle

In 2015 the Junior Regional Orienteering Squads (JROS) received a grant to help with coach development at their Lagganlia junior training camp.

Quote from an athlete on the camp:

The week I had training at Lagganlia was the best orienteering training I have ever had and provided plenty of fitness and terrain running as well. The skill I found helped me the most was using contours as attack points and catching features. This was a technique I put to very good use over the Scottish Six Days of orienteering the following week.

Another quote, highlighting the impact that the Orienteering Foundation's support of coaches has:

Lagganlia is a great opportunity to get to know your rivals and coaches as well as a taster of the quality coaching available from the British Squads..... We also had almost as many coaches as juniors, meaning that we could be shadowed on most exercises and receive tips and advice whilst on our course.

In the week prior to the Lagganlia junior training camp, JROS also organised and ran a training course for aspirant coaches.  The course attracted the maximum possible number of candidates – 8. It was a UKCC Level 2 Coaching course with Iain Embrey as course Tutor assisted by Tony Carlyle who also did the management duties. 

Of the 8 candidates, 6 went on to coach on the Lagganlia camp following the course. All attendees at the course have now found mentors as a step to completing their 6 coaching sessions prior to final assessment.

A quote from one of the course participants:

I’ve always been interested in coaching; from introducing beginners to the sport of orienteering, to exploring thoughts and ideas with athletes at higher levels to help them improve their performance. Before the course, I’d never had any formal instruction on “how to coach”, just used past personal experience; so I was excited to see what was involved and how it could be applied in practise.

The level 2 course covered technical coaching up to TD5 level, but also aspects of the physical and psychological side of the sport which can often be neglected. We also examined the interpersonal communication skills required for successful coaching.

The organisation and delivery of the course was superb – informative and engaging; the enthusiasm of all the participants made the tasks always a lot of fun. Being situated at Lagganlia outdoor centre was ideal, as we could easily implement the practise sessions and test ideas in the beautiful forests on the doorstep. It was also great that the majority of the participants stayed on to help coach at the Lagganlia coaching camp the following week, as this meant we could put the fresh learning into action.

I felt that I learnt a lot from the course and very much look forward to coaching in the future, both with my club and with JROS tours. Many thanks to those who made it happen, especially Tony and Iain, and JROS for subsidising the cost of the course.

Last updated: Mon 19 Dec 2022