Lagganlia 2017

Generic information about Lagganlia

Team Manager's Report

Lagganlia Staff

Don McKerrow (SLOW) Senior Coach

Mark Saunders (BOK/SWOC) Senior Coach

Ella Gilbert (NOR) Forest Team

Matthew Fellbaum (MDOC/EUOC) Forest Team

Fiona Bunn (TVOC/SNO) Junior Coach

Nev Myers (EBOR) Lead Coach

Ian Maxwell (RR) Senior Coach

Nick Jarvis (SO/LUOC) Junior Coach

Jenny Ricketts (EUOC) Junior Coach

Pip McKerrow Chef

Jonny Hooton (EBOR) Senior Coach

Pippa Dakin (SYO/CUOC) Junior Coach

Julie Emmerson (OD) Senior Coach

Richard Tiley (LOC) Senior Coach

Karen Clark (EBOR) Senior Coach

Sasha Chepelin (EUOC) Junior Coach

Lecky-Thompson (LOC) Senior Coach

Tony Carlyle (AIRE) Tour Manager, Safeguarding

Lesley Dentry Chef

Wendy Carlyle (AIRE) Pastoral, Safeguarding

The coaching team for 2017 was very experienced and the mix proved very successful. I offer thanks to all concerned on the juniors’ behalf for all the work that was done to ensure a successful week. The experience of the senior coaches and enthusiasm of the younger ones ensured that logistics went smoothly and exercises were ready when athletes arrived at the areas.

Lagganlia Athletes

Adam Conway GO

Frank Townley SN

Aimee Darley GO

Hannah Freeman HH

Alex Elliot SYO

Harry Thomas MWOC

Alex Fielding HH

Hazel Williams SN

Alex Wetherill WAOC

Jim Bailey BOK

Amber Graham MAROC

Joe Hudd WCOC

Anna Harris DEE

Joe Sunley WCOC

Caitlin Irving WCOC

Oliver Tonge BOK

Carys Thomas WCOC

Pippa Carcas INT

Charlie Rennie LEI

Rachel Brown ESOC

Elizabeth Horsler WIM

Rachel Duckworth DVO

Ellie Simmonds LOC

Rebecca Ward NGOC

Ellis Hunter ECKO

Scarlet Heap SO

This was a good year for athletes reaching the selection criteria and I received a request from the selectors re. the numbers we could take. Space was available so we took an extra two athletes, 26 in total. Even though numbers increased the ability of the group was not as wide as in previous tours and the extra athletes fit nicely into coaching groups. Coaching groups and the level of staffing enabled all athletes to have relevant input from the coaching team. A week at Lagganlia did much to develop athlete basic skills and confidence and this was reflected in the excellent results obtained during the following Scottish Six Days.

All athletes came well prepared in terms of appropriate clothing and attitude towards training, they were highly motivated and well organized.

Travel and Transport

Organisation of transport arrangements to and from Lagganlia was left to parents. Most athletes were met at Aviemore station and transferred to Lagganlia by minibus. Five athletes were picked up from Inverness airport.

The 16.19 arrival time at Aviemore Station was again popular and enabled us to get the athletes settled in, fed and then make good use of the time on Saturday evening.

At the end of the week a bus was hired from Allan and Black Coaches of Ballater to transfer twenty of the athletes and six coaches to the Six Days Camp site. Spare places on the bus were offered to athletes on the BO Cairngorm Camp.

Two athletes were dropped off at Inverness Airport by Don McKerrow and three at Aviemore Station. The remaining athlete was picked up by parents.

This year Focus Vehicle Rental were unable to offer two minibuses. Other providers were also unable to offer vehicles for the week so I contacted Nationwide Hire who were able to secure two 17 seat minibuses from the Thrifty branch at Inverness. The basic hire cost was competitive with Focus but overall cost worked out more expensive when the Nationwide Hire fee was added. One benefit of the hire was that the minibuses were delivered to, and collected from Lagganlia by Thrifty. As both buses were very new they were in pristine condition and served us well.

We had 5 designated drivers for the week who were covered to drive any of the buses. This gave flexibility for the organisation of forest sessions and ensured that there were at least 2 adults in each bus for every journey. The forest team used one car each session. At least one other car was used each day to ensure a spare vehicle for use in case of an emergency.

Accommodation and Catering

I was contacted by Lagganlia during May to see if we would change our Lodges as they had an extended booking pending by the BBC who were using the Centre as a base for filming a new series of Raven and needed a fully accessible lodge for the duration of the shoot.

I agreed a change from using Hillend Lodge in exchange for Caerketton and Ptarmigon Lodges. We were given a discount for agreeing to the change.

We had three lodges allocated:

Sgorans (16 beds); cooking and eating, girls and coaches dormitory.

Caerketton (17 beds); cooking, social and meeting/presentation area, boys and coaches dormitory.

Anderson (11 beds); coaches work and social area, coach dormitory.

Ptarmigan (6 beds); cooking, coaches and chefs dormitory.

The changes to the Lodges presented some reservations re. catering but meant we had flexibility and were able to offer the extra places requested by the selectors.

Pip and Lesley proved to be very efficient and organised and continued with the high standard of catering that Marie and Hazel set in previous years. The quality of meals produced was excellent and empty plates spoke for themselves. The new catering arrangements put in place by Pip and Lesley worked well as Sgorans gave more space making eating arrangements less cramped.

It isn’t easy to ensure that the athletes and coaches are well fed and able to make the most of the days out in the forest so Pip and Lesley have our gratitude for their hard work in keeping us well fed and watered. Not having to worry about the catering side made my job easier so special thanks to Pip and Lesley on my part.

Maps

Maps were sponsored and printed on waterproof paper by BML Printers Ltd.

One map per athlete and coach were provided for all the planned exercises so that all had a copy for their files.

All control maps were printed for logistics and use by the forest teams.

Programme and Logistics

Saturday – Evening

Welcome

Brief introductions

Community building activities

Meals & Food

Rotas

Coaching groups

Sunday, AM; Moor of Alvie. Compass work and pacing. Warm up routines. Star relay.

Sunday, PM; Inshriach, chequerboard area. Fine orienteering, control descriptions and visualisation in the circle.

Monday, AM; Loch Vaa. Simplification, relating map to ground, visualisation. Map walk and map memory.

Monday, PM; North Granish. Sketch maps, 3 person relay.

Tuesday, all day. Culbin. Contour Day. Simplification, contours as line features,

attack points and catching features. Longer legs. Warm up routines. Odds and evens relay.

Wednesday – Sprint racing

Sprint Qualifier Badaguish

Sprint Final Glenmore Lodge

Wednesday – PM/evening; The Rings (Badaguish), Swimming (Loch Morlich) Shops (Aviemore).

Thursday AM;

Roseisle, Athlete centered coaching. Two planned loops, coaches decide on skill/technique focus for athletes in their group. Encourage Talk O. Peg relay and terrain loops.

Friday, AM; Inshriach Tour champs classic race

Friday, PM: Lagganlia Fun relays

Friday – Evening; Dinner, prize giving, entertainment, packing and cleaning rooms.

Saturday – Disperse

Comments

The Lead Coach (Nev Myers) put the programme together.

During the week the coaches worked with groups of athletes as shown below.

Sasha Chepelin had picked up an infection following JWOC but came and joined us for four days. He was not allocated to a group and was unable to spend much time in the forest. However, he did excellent work briefing/debriefing athletes and spent a lot of time interacting with the junior athletes in small groups.

All coaches/helpers were asked to complete log entries for the athletes they worked with. These contained lots of information and most focused on particular skills and coaching points; and related to how the athletes applied them during exercises. Asking all members of the team to complete log entries gave value to their efforts and enabled the younger and less experienced members of the team to develop their own observational and performance analysis skills. Under the guidance of the senior coaches all coaches were responsible for putting together draft reports for athletes in their groups. These were then passed on to Nev Myers as lead coach to ensure consistency across all reports and distribute to athletes and Regional Squads. All athletes left with three areas to work on in the coming months.

Athletes were expected to work with their group coaches but were also encouraged to talk to and work with the other coaches so that they could access the wide experience available from within the coaching team.

The daily coach debrief sessions on the day’s activities provided much useful discussion and encouraged all to contribute as well as providing a useful opportunity for coach development. Nev Myers took notes on the feedback for use when putting together next year’s programme.

Logistics for control hanging were worked out each day in the coaches’ briefing and worked well. Having five named drivers for the minibuses gave flexibility and allowed drivers the opportunity to hang controls.

Coaching group time was factored into each day. Usually this was between 5-00 and

6-00pm, but was kept flexible for days when travel delayed the return time to Lagganlia. This allowed structured time for debrief of the day’s activities, including race analysis. Coaches not only got to know their athletes, but were able to review, build on the day’s activities and set action points for the next day. Being part of the structure for the day it was readily accepted by the athletes. Listening in to the group sessions there was a lot of two-way interaction between the coaches and athletes and often sessions went on longer than planned in response to athlete participation.

We continued operating the First Aid clinic. After training each day anyone with an injury, or who had first aid administered during the day, had to report to Wendy or Karen to ensure all details were recorded and appropriate follow up taken. Next morning all who had attended the evening clinic had to see Wendy and Karen between 8-15 and 8-30 for any treatment, e.g. blister covering, and to get the OK for training that day. Group coaches were informed of any concerns.

This worked very well in maintaining athlete participation and keeping track of injuries and ensuring that athletes didn’t make their injuries worse.

This year we had three incidents that were reported to parents.

At the start of the week one athlete was feeling unwell with stomach problems and vomiting, recovered and then had a relapse towards the end of the week.

A second athlete had a scratch on the eye from a branch and was taken to the Medical Practice in Aviemore. Eye drops were prescribed and a follow up appointment showed good recovery and no permanent damage.

The third incident followed a fall in the forest. The athlete had previously had a bad break to the arm and landed on the old injury. As a precaution the athlete was taken to A & E in Elgin. After an examination there was no breakage and athlete was advised to keep the arm isolated in a sling.

For all three incidents parents were kept informed on progress.

Conclusion

Coaches, helpers and athletes all put in a lot of effort to make the tour a success. The programme demanded a lot from both coaches and athletes, but athlete comments showed that they were happy to work hard and that they took much away from the week.

The safe arrival and mid-week e-mails were sent again this year and were well received by parents. Knowing the difficulty of making mobile contact from Lagganlia and that the parents appreciate the contact, I recommend the use of e-mails again next year for the arrival and midweek updates. Putting a daily selection of Wendy’s photographs on line for parents was also much appreciated.

All athletes were provided with a questionnaire at the end of the week which reflected a very positive experience for all athletes. Midge nets were added to the kit list for this year and although many of the athletes had them, not many wore them.

Next year Wi-Fi should be improved as BT have planned to bring fibre-optic cable to the area.

Minimum transport requirements: two 17 seat minibuses each with 2 drivers; two private cars available each day, 1 for forest team and 1 as an emergency vehicle.

Recommended minimum staffing:

Tour Manager

Cook plus helper

6 experienced coaches, 6 junior coaches/helpers (at least 4 able to drive minibuses).

Once again the grant allowed a higher ratio of coaches to juniors and this was beneficial to the athletes as they gained from more individual attention. Extra staffing allowed specific tasks to be allocated to individual coaches without impacting on athlete contact.

Selections

Jim Bailey BOK
Adam Conway GO
Alex Fielding HH
Joe Hudd WCOC
Ellis Hunter ECKO
Charlie Rennie LEI
Joseph Sunley WCOC
Harry Thomas MWOC
Oliver Tonge BOK
Ffank Townley SN
Alex Wetherill WAOC

Rachel Brown ESOC
Pippa Carcas INT
Aimee Darley GO
Rachel Duckworth DVO
Alex Elliot SYO
Hannah Freeman HH
Amber Graham MAROC
Anna Harris DEE
Scarlet Heap SO
Elizabeth Horsler WIM
Caitlin Irving WCOC
Ellie Simmons LOC
Carys Thomas WCOC
Rebecca Ward NGOC
Hazel Williams SN

Selection Policy

Date

The camp will run from Saturday 22nd July – Saturday 29th July 2017.

Eligibility

The Camp is principally for M/W14’s born in 2003, but may include M/W15’s born in 2002 (see below).

Numbers

The camp will be for a targeted number of 24 juniors.

Nominations

each of the 12 British Orienteering Regional Associations may nominate up to 2 eligible M/W14 athletes, as defined above, who have achieved the standard set out below. In addition reserves may be nominated (M/W14 or M/W15) who have achieved the standard. In the selection process M/W14s will take precedence over all M/W15s.

In addition a Region may nominate other athletes, as reserves, who they feel are worthy of selection but who have failed to satisfy the qualifying standard. Such nominations must be supported by a statement from the Regional Coordinator.

Each Region is encouraged to nominate a junior who they believe would benefit from attendance on the tour.

All nominations should be listed in a ranked order by the Region, with number 1 being their top choice.

Nominations must be received by the Chair of JROS Selectors by 9th May 2017.

Criteria

Juniors wishing to be selected will have achieved the standards set out below in at least one of the following races;

Qualifying Standard

M/W14’s Juniors being nominated will have achieved championship standard in at least one of the above races.

Nominated M/W15’s will have achieved a championship standard at M/W16 or at M/W14 in at least one of the above races.

Selection process

The priority for selection will be (for more detail see below);

• 2 athletes per Region with qualifying standard
• Additional qualifying athletes
• Athletes nominated by Regions with no qualifying athletes
• Additional nominations

All nominated athletes (without qualifying criteria) must be agreed by the selectors whose decisions will be final.

The two M/W14 athletes from each Region with qualifying standard will be selected first.

They will then be followed by any M/W14’s with qualifying standard not yet selected.

If there are still spaces the selectors may select M/W14 athletes nominated by a Region who has no athletes who have achieved the qualifying standard.

If there are further spaces the selectors will then select from the M/W15’s, with qualifying standard.

If there are still spaces the selectors may select from the remaining nominated athletes who have not achieved the qualifying standard.

At all times selections continue up to the maximum number of athletes on tour or until the selectors deem there are sufficient athletes selected of an acceptable standard.

If there are two or more athletes with equal results and fewer places available, the selectors may seek further information from the Regional squad, with positions attained at British Championships and JK being the differentiator.

The tour selectors

Susan Marsden (SEOA) Sue Roome (NWOA) Pauline Olivant (EMOA)

Selections will be announced via e-mail by JROS Secretary or Chair as soon after the 9th May as possible. The Regional Coordinators will be informed of all athletes attending a few days before the athletes are informed.

Any disagreement with selections should be addressed to the Chair, not the selectors.

Calculation of Championship time

For details of the calculation of championship standard times