This July, three YDP athletes attended Silva O’ Camp, an IOF-endorsed orienteering camp with over 200 athletes held in the Czech Republic. The athletes got up to some serious training and serious fun. Read about it below:
It’s summer camp in full swing — campfires, card games, dips in the river, friendships made in one week that last a lifetime. On the menu for daily activities? Orienteering, orienteering, and more orienteering.
The USA was represented by three athletes (Finlay Rebbeck, Zoe Liu Coates, and Ally Liu Coates) from Cascade and three coaches at Silva O’Camp 2025, an international summer camp for young orienteers held in Vidnava, Czech Republic. While Silva camp has been around for decades, it has been an IOF endorsed camp since 2023. This year’s small American team was an exploratory group supported by the YDP to gauge the suitability of the camp for our youth.
The week before camp, Zoe Liu Coates (accompanied by a coach) attended three days of pre-Camp, recommended by organizers for first-time attendees and those from far away. On these days, she got to compete in EYOC spectator races and began to befriend her fellow campers at mealtime and after her races.
On the last day of EYOC, held this year only a few hours from Silva Camp’s hub in Northeast Czechia, the remaining athletes united on the journey to what would be an unforgettable camp.
Let’s start with the kids: To say this week was transformational for these athletes’ orienteering skills would be an understatement. They blazed through the training sessions with confidence and clean navigation. On Day 1 of the Silva Cup race simulations, Zoe came 2nd, Finlay came 3rd, and Ally came 11th in crowded categories with talented athletes.
As the week progressed, their technical skills shot through the roof, handrails and backstops took a backseat to precise map reading and compass bearings. They smoothly entered and exited controls, became physically and mentally stronger, and bounced back from mistakes.
The trainings covered a lot of ground. In the beautiful Czech forests, the athletes got to partake in Memory-O, downhill courses, O-intervals, relays, and race simulations. They also spent one afternoon sprinting around the streets of Vidnava. Athletes in attendance get to orienteer in volumes most American kids wouldn’t dream of.
Outside of training, kids were occupied with activities such as Olympic Games, campfires, triathlons (swim, run, orienteer), and discos (as well as the natural card game obsession that takes hold at every orienteering event across the globe).
Perhaps the highlight of the week for the Americans, however, was spectating Ally in the ‘super-puncher’ activity, where athletes competed in an elimination-style orienteering game to punch controls as fast as possible, with a short, but complicated map exercise at the end. Out of nearly 250 orienteers, Ally qualified for the finals (surviving four rounds of elimination) and came 3rd overall.
(At least two coaches and one athlete lost their voice from cheering so loud.)
When it was time to sleep, the athletes returned to their private USA cabin, protected from bugs and rain.
The athletes were sent home with a white Silva t-shirt, technical knowledge, and more confidence in the woods. Beyond that, each of our athletes made friendships with orienteers from around the world, certain to last a very long time.
It seemed the only thing they were left wishing for was more camp. (Heads up, parents, if you send your kids one year, they’ll probably ask to go again and again.)
For our young US athletes looking to make strides in their orienteering skills, who may be working up to EYOC or JWOC qualification, or want to mesh the summer camp experience with a sport they love — we highly recommend Silva O’Camp.