The league of blackjacks
Although many will remember the 2015 camp as blackjacks and more blackjacks and continual itchiness, there were actually a lot of O skills being discovered, practised and perfected by all participants. The Newbies started off with an introduction to their arsenal of O techniques known as the 'toolbox', expertly presented by coach Ant Stott. The more senior athletes had an in-depth discussion about what to expect at WOC and JWOC in Scotland and Norway respectively.
Then it was out into the forest where we discovered how muddy and rocky the roads of Lakenvlei can get and tested the 4 by 4 capabilities of different cars and drivers. The forests were lovely but the aforementioned blackjacks greatly affected morale and physical comfort.
Nonetheless, Emma got the hang of contours for the first time andEphraim tackled the rocky outcrops with great gusto. Rory's enthusiasm was catching among the younger athletes and (even in the dark) they all ventured forth into the forests and learnt anything from exit angles to distance judgement to parallel errors on contour features.
The sessions on relocation, map memory and map interpretation had the athletes scratching their heads - and the route choice and attack points sessions helped to restore confidence and awareness of personal strengths and weaknesses.
During the camp many learned skills they would not have expected, such as how to deal with navigation when the paths are missing, what clothes are most appealing to blackjacks and what sports are considered more dangerous than orienteering.
The last day brought out a more competitive side where there were races in the interval session and the star relay, where we all learnt a thing or two about how easy it is to place a control in the wrong place. Young Sarah W (who had helped her dad Paul put out ALL of the controls used in the exercises) came back from her first start relay control resembling a hedgehog from top to toe.
While the other Sarah got her head around how much concentration is needed, James learnt how useful a handrail can be and others learnt either to trust themselves more (or sometimes less) in a complicated navigational situation.
Many litres of sweat and a few injuries later (for example punctures in both cars and athletes) we all returned home safely to consider the main theme of the camp: Focus points, how they differ in different exercises, and how helpful they can be.
Brads tracking from the corridor exercise
Avoiding blackjacks and venturing off the correct exit angle proved fatal on the map memory exercise!
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Squad members attending:
Brad, Christie, Dylan, Emma, Ephraim, Eugene, Heather, James, Jess, Joshua, Kirsten, Lesedi, Lindo, Durban Matthew,Cape Matthew, Mike, Nic, Rory, Sarah, Tebatso and Tim.
Club members from all 4 provinces were represented!
Coaches:
Ant, Garry, Margaret, Tania and Zoe