Stockholm 2025 young coach report
We made an award this year to the Junior Regional Orienteering Squads (JROS) to support expenses for young developing coaches at thevarious JROS summer camps (see award). Here we bring you a report with quotes from various coaches at the Stockholm tour. Also see the report from Lagganlia 2025.
Stockholm tour manager Nick Barrable writes:
Coaches are the engine of any tour. They set the tone, lead by example, listen, drive forward the activities, hang, shadow, observe, brief, de-brief, feedback, encourage, inspire, help, suggest, question, and more. Getting a good mix of personalities, experience and backgrounds is optimal for a successful tour. Orienteers do not all think alike, and it takes a variety of coaches to optimise learning and development across the athletes – of which we had 21 this year. Getting younger coaches involved is vital to ensuring we have coaches for the future, and getting our twenty somethings active in coaching is the way forward. They will learn in spades on tours like this. It is very pleasing to see the forward thinking Orienteering Foundation supporting such a progressive grant which will no doubt pay dividends to the wider orienteering community in future, and not just the Junior Summer Tour programme JROS provides.
Comments from the coaches
Adam: Before coming to the Stockholm camp, I had only ever coached orienteering in my local club and in the South East Junior Squad. The experience of coaching older juniors at Stockholm was fascinating and completely different to what I had experienced Stockholm to be like as a junior!
To run alongside and coach the juniors in such amazing Swedish terrain was a pleasure to say the least. Each junior gave a unique perspective on orienteering, and learning about everyone's approach to the sport was extremely interesting. It made me reflect on my own orienteering styles and techniques and helped me to enjoy the sport even more!
Being able to travel to Sweden to experience very different and challenging terrain is such a valuable opportunity that leads to significant orienteering learning & development for every junior that attends Stockholm. Having seen the JROS tours in action from a coaches point of view, going forward I'm extremely grateful for the support given to the juniors, and confident in the significant progress made by each junior on the camp.
Chloe: This is my third year coaching on the Stockholm tour. Having attended many JROS camps as a junior, as well as BOF senior camps, it feels good to give back and contribute from the coaching side. The camp gave me another valuable opportunity to develop my coaching, as I was able to learn a lot from the other coaches and observe the different approaches they used. With a busy camp full of juniors in beautiful forests, there was always the chance to support athletes, share my own coaching tips, and listen to their perspectives on their orienteering. This in turn made me reflect on my own orienteering. I am very grateful to the Orienteering Foundation for supporting this opportunity.
Dom: This was my first time coaching on the Stockholm tour, having previously coached at Lagganlia. It’s been a brilliant opportunity, not only to experience Sweden’s world-class terrain, but also to give back to the junior system that I myself benefited from growing up.
I’ve always found coaching deeply rewarding. Teaching and watching others improve is incredibly fulfilling, and it’s also given me the chance to reflect on my own orienteering and hopefully improve in turn. Observing more experienced coaches in action was especially inspiring, and a great learning opportunity to further develop my own coaching skills.
I’m also hugely grateful to the Orienteering Foundation for their support in helping young coaches cover costs. Without their contribution, this unforgettable experience wouldn’t have been possible.
Emma: This was my first time attending the Stockholm tour as a junior or a coach, and it was a brilliant experience. It was one of my first opportunities to coach orienteering as well, and it was great to see both how the juniors improved over the camp but also how my coaching skills got better. It has definitely opened up the coaching side of orienteering to me which is really exciting! I learned a lot from everyone on the tour and I’m very grateful to the Orienteering Foundation for making this possible.
Joe: I first attended the Stockholm tour as a junior in 2019, and it was one of the highlights of my time as a junior athlete. Coming back for the past two years as a coach has been a privilege, and this year I felt much more confident in my role after gaining experience last summer. The athlete's age group (16/17) is at such an important stage, with many beginning to look towards international competitions such as JWOC, EYOC and JEC, and the chance to train in varied and technical Swedish terrain is, as such, invaluable for their progression.
It was inspiring to see how quickly the juniors adapted and built confidence during the week, and being part of that journey is hugely rewarding. A real strength of the camp is the range of coaches involved - from younger ones like me to those with years of experience. The sport is changing, but many lessons stay the same, and that mix ensures the juniors benefit from the best of both perspectives. For the athletes, having younger coaches alongside them also makes the advice more relatable, and it feels easier for them to connect and share their challenges. The camp also gave me the kind of hands-on experience and mentoring that young coaches really need at the start of their pathway, helping me to build confidence and develop further. I am especially grateful to the Orienteering Foundation for reducing the financial barriers that can make opportunities like this difficult for students or early-career coaches. Bringing through new coaches is vital to ensure the sport continues to thrive in the future, maintaining a strong base of people ready to lead camps and support juniors. These tours not only give juniors world-class training, but also grow the pool of coaches who will sustain the sport in the years ahead.