The Executive Steering committee is thrilled to announce the members of the 2013 U.S. Team to the Junior World Orienteering Championships. Meet this year's Team!
Six men and six women will compete at JWOC. Alternates will substitute for Team members who are unable to compete due to illness, injury or lack of readiness.
Mathew Rogers (COC) and Zachary Lyons (ROC) also made the team, but declined. Matej Sebo (BAOC) is a member of the Junior Standing Team, and had a very high ranking, but is ineligible due to citizenship requirements.
All Team members but one were previously named to the Junior Standing Team and have been training and working with Team Coach Erin Schirm since early March or before. They will continue to train and compete until JWOC starts on June 30. This year, they will have 12 days of training in the Czech Republic prior to the championship races. Juniors and other supporters who come to spectate at JWOC will have the pleasure of watching the JWOC races in the mornings, and competing on the same terrain in the afternoons (see http://www.jwoctour.cz/jwoctour for more information). We hope that the United States orienteering community will support our Team by following their progress and by donating to the Junior Team to help the athletes with the cost of the trip.
In our consideration of the candidates who petitioned, we took two things into account. We looked first at competition results, and secondly at whether the individual was truly ready to compete at JWOC. We used the petitions and our knowledge of each individual to make these decisions. Each athlete addressed these questions in their petitions: Why they want to attend JWOC, what evidence they could provide to show they are capable to compete at JWOC, and what plans they have to continue their training to be prepared for JWOC.
We extend our heartfelt congratulations to these promising young athletes, and we look forward to watching them compete at West Point, the U.S. Individual Championships/Senior Team Trials, and in Europe this summer.
Further information about each team member can be found on the JWOC Team page.
Thank you for your past and continued support,
2013 JWOC Selections Committee
Erin Schirm, Orienteering USA Junior Team Coach
Amy Williams, Orienteering USA Vice President for Competition
Barb Bryant, Orienteering USA Junior Team Administrator
The 24 members of the Junior Standing Team have been named, and are listed on the JST page. The Junior Development Team, open to all OUSA juniors, is accepting applications. All juniors are welcome to join this team, and there is no limit on the number of members.
The Junior World Orienteering Championships (JWOC) will be held in the Czech Republic in July 2013. This year there is a wonderful accompanying series of races that anyone is welcome to attend: the JWOC Tour. Several members of the Junior Standing and Development Teams will participate in the Tour, and we’d love to see more families and other US orienteers come along, cheer for our JWOC team each morning, and do their own racing in the afternoon, at the Tour. For more information, see http://www.jwoctour.cz.
Seven juniors from Cascade attended the Vancouver Sprint Camp February 8-10. In its 8th year, Sprint Camp is a 10-event series of trainings and SportIdent-timed mini-races using ISSOM standards, with specific goals and reviews, partnering and going head to head with some of the best of North America. HPP (High Performance Program) members of both Junior and Senior teams from Canada, along with some elite orienteers from the U.S., had a chance to compete, compare and mingle socially, learning best practices and ways to improve during an intensely fun weekend.
Cascade Orienteering Club’s WIOL series of 7 races ended on February 2nd at Fire Mountain with Junior Coach Erin Schirm in attendance. 22 juniors stayed after for course review and control picking in the woods. Starts this year for WIOL so far has number 1,393 starts. That's a lot of kids in the woods! WIOL’s one day Championship was on Feb 16th on a new map: Lincoln Tree Farm in Spanaway (see photo).
photo credit: Eileen Breseman
We are grateful to the many volunteers who have stepped up to help support junior development. Among others: Bill Cheatum provided Erin with pretty much everything he needed for the junior team training courses and fundraiser at the Georgia Navigator Cup. Becky Carlyle and Clint Morse organized a junior training camp in Connecticut. Andrea Schneider is helping with the logistics of juniors traveling alone to A meets. Anna Shafer-Skelton is working on the JDT shirt design. A number of people have volunteered to mentor juniors. Mary Jones arranged a junior lounge (paid for by PTOC and OK - thanks!) at the Interscholastics / Intercollegiate A meet, and worked with Erin to organize junior training activities, including course reviews.
We are seeking additional volunteers to help with fundraising, grant writing, sponsorships, training camps, coordinating the teams, communication with clubs, technology, mentoring and coaching. Please contact us if you can help!
Barb Bryant has joined JTESC (the USA Junior Team Executive Steering Committee). She reports what's happening:
Committee Chair: Guy Olsen (guypolsen [at] aol [dot] com)
Junior Team Administrator: Barb Bryant (junior_admin [at] orienteeringusa [dot] org)
Junior Team Coach: Erin Schirm (emschirm [at] syr [dot] edu)
Orienteering USA is teaming up with RoadID, and the goal of the arrangement is to produce revenue that will support junior orienteering programs.RoadID is a personalized identification product that can be used by an athlete while training and competing. In the case of accident or medical emergency, it can provide valuable information to medical personnel. RoadID offers a measure of safety that athletes, their family and coaches will appreciate.
Purchases can be made through a link on the Orienteering USA website or with an order form that is being supplied to clubs and A meets. A part of each purchase will be used to fund programs for Juniors like the summer trips to participate in international orienteering meets and other efforts like the junior development team.
To produce a commission for Orienteering USA, an order must be placed:
Check out the styles of personalized identification offered by Road ID by using the link above, or on the O Vendors page. Order one for yourself and every athlete in your family. Show your RoadID to your friends, classmates, and teammates, and give them the Orienteering USA URL (www.orienteeringusa.org) so their order will go through the link. Every single order (including other products available on the RoadID website) will yield financial support for junior programs.
The Road ID promotion is an outgrowth of an idea to sell merchandise that would provide a dedicated stream of income for junior orienteering. We didn't get very far due to the challenges of designing, stocking and shipping merchandise. Other hurdles were a lack of money to invest in inventory and the manpower to do the requisite financial accounting. The RoadID arrangement requires only that Orienteering USA promote the product.
Stephanie Martineau
Current fund raising efforts involve selling food at A-meets to hungry orienteers. All Juniors and their families, in fact anyone interested in supporting the effort, are encouraged to volunteer at the Junior Concession Fund Raisers. Please contact Barb Bryant if you are interested in helping.
