High Performance Committee - AGM Report for 2013

  1. Committee purpose

The High Performance Committee (HPC) leads and manages the programs of Orienteering Canada that exist to develop, train and provide competitive opportunities for elite foot orienteering athletes.

  1. Committee members

Alison Price - Interim Chairperson and Communications

Jeff Teutsch - Athlete’s Representative

Emily Ross - Representative for Junior Athlete interests

Adrian Zissos - Member at Large

Charlotte MacNaughton - Executive Director; advisor to the committee

Former committee members

Eric Kemp - Member at Large (until March 2013)

Brent Langbakk - National HPP Junior Coach (until August 2013)

Magnus Johansson - National HPP Senior Coach (until Fall 2012)

  1. Number of meetings in last year

5 committee meetings in 2013, plus 2 strategic planning meetings.

  1. Highlights of last year's accomplishments
  • The HPC engaged Toni Louhisola in a volunteer capacity as the senior Team Canada coach. Toni worked mainly with the WOC athletes; however he did also work with some HPP athletes on a one-on-one basis.
  • Toni Louhisola visited Canada for 5 weeks in May/June; beginning in New York for the Team Trials before heading to Ottawa, Calgary, Cranbrook, and Vancouver. Toni worked with HPP athletes and local club members. He held training sessions and presented his theory of “Orienteering Thinking”.
  • The HPC engaged Brent Langbakk as the National HPP Junior Coach for another year. Brent worked in an advisory role this year, successfully finding local coaches for each of the junior HPP athletes. Brent worked with the coaches to assist them in developing physical and technical training plans for the athletes.
  • Both WOC and JWOC were a success this year, with some solid results from our athletes. Brian Graham was able to step in as JWOC coach, as Brent was unable to attend JWOC. From a logistics standpoint, Stefan Bergstrom and Meghan Rance did excellent work as team leaders for JWOC and WOC respectively. Both have agreed to take on the role again for 2014.
  • The HPC attended to two appeals; both of which were dismissed by external arbitrators.
  • The HPC is engaged in a strategic planning process, for both short and long term planning. The HPC will be including athletes and other community members in this process over the coming months.
  • The HPC is conducting major reviews of several of its key policies and documents including the Athlete Handbook, Athlete Agreement, Selection Policies, and the Orienteering Canada Appeal Policy.
  • The HPC continued to keep the orienteering and Canadian sports community up to date with HPP news via the Team Canada blog, social media, O-Canada newsletter, and press releases.
  1. What obstacles need to be overcome

The biggest obstacle facing the HPC is volunteer capacity to support all programming.

  1. Goals/activities for the next year

The HPC is looking for ways to improve long-term support and development of athletes. With this in mind, the HPC is reviewing programs, budget, and volunteer capacity to ensure we maximize athlete support.

The HPC would like to acknowledge those individuals who assisted with JWOC and WOC selection. Our thanks to Brent Langbakk, Nina Wallace, Katarina Smith, Brian May, Mike Waddington, and Magali Robert.