Orienteering Obsession

The Virtual Binder has moved to the USOF website!

Imagine yourself running through the woods, dressed in clothing designed to slide past the briars and to protect your legs from the brush and bushes. On your feet are special lightweight shoes with cleats on the soles so that your footing is excellent on any surface -- rock, clay or even loose pine straw. You know exactly where you are and where you are going because you’re carrying a compass and a detailed topographical map that shows every ditch and boulder, every trail and stream. You are navigating through a series of check points placed on minor terrain features and circled on your map.  This is a race - a foot race, a thought race, a cross-country running sport for the puzzle-solver, the thinker. This is Orienteering. 

 

Interested in finding more about orienteering or an orienteering event near you?  

Visit the US Orienteering Federation’s web site.

 

Contents

*  Orienteering Lesson Plan

*  Coaching Documents

*  Favorite Links

*  Safety and SAR Plans for Orienteering Events

*  Local Meet Procedures

*  Trail Orienteering

*  USOF Virtual Binder

*  Membership Forms

*  Clubs Documents

*  Financial Reports

 

 

 

Orienteering Lesson Plan

How the Plan Works

The Orienteering Lesson Plan was written with the needs of the high school ROTC instructor in mind.  However, it can be adapted by other teachers and coaches.  The plan consists of 14 classroom session and 3 field trips to local orienteering club events to practice the skills learned.  The format is available in either MS Word or PDF. 

 

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Coaching Documents

*  Principles of Orienteering

*  Course Chart

*  When to use a compass – and when not to …

*  Mistake Proofing for Orienteering

*  NJROTC Orienteering Training Manual – by LCDR Matthew Pheiffer

 

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Favorite Links

*  What is Orienteering?

*  U.S. Orienteering Federation

*  USOF Virtual Binder

*  Georgia Orienteering Club

*  Control Descriptions Quiz

*  Orienteering Map Skills Test

*  USOF Sanctioning Calendar for National Events

*  International Orienteering Federation

*  Orienteering Visual Glossary

*  USOF National Rankings

*  Clue – Control Description program

*  Purple Pen – Course planning software

*  SPORTident

*  Boy Scout Orienteering

*  Mapping Software - OCAD

*  US Geological Survey

*  IRS Information for Tax Exempt Organizations

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Safety and SAR Plans for Orienteering Events

Background

At the Georgia Navigator Cup in January, 2002, the weather on the Saturday, which was expected to be chilly with showers, turned into heavy rain and cold and resulted in several cases of hypothermia, plus numerous cases of very chilled and wet orienteers who were disoriented and required more assistance than the host club was prepared to handle.

 

GAOC was fortunate to have the assistance of a GAOC member with excellent Search and Rescue training who coordinated the efforts to respond to the situation.  After the event, I was asked to be on a committee with the GAOC SAR expert and representatives of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources to study the problem and make recommendations.  Below are the report of this committee and subsequent documents designed to encourage orienteering clubs hosting events to establish Safety Plans for events. 

 

*  Report and Recommendations of the Georgia DNR committee

*  Safety Plan designed by the Columbia River Orienteering Club

*  USOF Requirements for club hosting “A” Events

 

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Local Meet Procedures

*  Local Meet Director’s Workbook

*  GAOC Epunch Procedure

 

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Trail Orienteering

Trail Orienteering is a discipline in which mobility-limited orienteers can compete on equal terms with those that are able-bodied.  The control sites are viewed from a wheelchair-accessible main route. The main skills are interpreting the map and control descriptions, not navigation.

 

*  2005 Trail O Champs – results, photos, maps

*  IOF Trail Orienteering Rules 2009

 

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Membership Forms

*  Membership Application (HTML)

*  Membership Application – 3 across (PDF)

 

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Club Documents

*  A-meet fees Computation Form

 

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Financial Reports

*  2008 USOF Financial Report

*  2008 USOF 990 Package

*  2009 Fund Budgets

*  2010 Fund Budgets

 

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Last revised: 12/29/2009