Occassional thoughts about orienteering
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| okansas.blogspot.com Occassional thoughts about orienteering |
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Thursday, March 28, 2002 Donald Duck MethodHere is a bit of an article from the Swedish O' page Alternativet.Donald Duck helped Max Samuelsson become a better orienteer. Donald helped Max improve his concentration. Have you ever tried to run in the forest and read a Donald Duck comic book? "I tried it when I was between 14 and 18 yeras old," says Max. To be a good orienteer requires a lot of boring, hard work -- like long runs to improve endurance and strenght training sessions to be faster in rough terrain. Chess in the Forest But orienteering is like chess -- and it takes a lot of mental strength and speed. "That the sport is both physically and mentally demanding is what I like. It makes it fun; a challenge" says Max. To help think quicker, there are a lot of tried and true methods. Max practice by, among other things, the "Donald Duck Method." He read comic books while running and then answered questions about the books afterwards. Another way to practice is to run a course, then memorize it and run it again a few hours later without a map. Samuelsson also put together puzzles of cut up maps while friends stood around and yelled at him and tried to disturb his concentration. "It was training to focus on what I was doing and to always think ahead, without thinking about anything else," says Max. Max is currently one of Gotland's [a part of Sweden] most promising and best orienteers. His goal during his last year as a junior is to finish in the top ten at a Swedish Championship in his age group (M20). "I was 13th in the night champs two years in a row and I'm going to do better than that," says Max. I can't really imagine this sort of training is very useful. I'm sure it doesn't hurt. But, it doesn't help much. When I first began orienteering, I tried running and reading (I don't remember what I carried to read -- maybe newpapers?). It seemed like a good way to learn the basic hand-eye coordination needed to read a map on the run. But, the hand-eye coordination isn't difficult (try running and looking at the palm of your hand -- it's pretty easy to hold you palm steady and look at it). Of course, there is some benefit to any training that you think helps. Since confidence is so important in sports, a strange training approach that you feel comfortable with can build your confidence. It is a bit like a basketball player's lucky socks. Keith Langford thinks his socks are lucky. Wearing his lucky socks might make him feel confident, and the increased confidence might make him a better player. Personally, I think Kieth Langford is a great player because he practices a lot with a good team and under a good coach. But, if he feels he needs his lucky socks to take the Jayhawks to the title, then I sure hope he wears his lucky socks on Saturday. posted by Michael | 8:37 PM 
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