okansas.blogspot.com
Occassional thoughts about orienteering


Friday, December 05, 2008

A hypothetical try out system

 

Here's a rough )(i.e. not very carefully thought out) outline of my hypothetical try out system:

1. Have the orienteers run a short (maybe 2.5 Km) O' course - fairly simple orienteering. Have the orienteers treat it like a race.

2. Have them re-run the same course, but this time with the route marked by tapes. Again, have the orienteers treat it like a race.

Comparing the times for 1 and 2 should give you some good information on running ability and navigating ability. The difference between the first and second time they run the course is a measure of navigation.

3. Provide some instruction to the orienteers. Pick some specific technique - maybe using handrails or attackpoints or something.

4. Have the orienteers run a short O' course that emphasizes the technique you'd provided instruction on. Treat it like a race.

5. Have them re-run the same course, but with the route marked by tapes. Treat it like a race.

Comparing times for the course gives you another set of measures of both running and navigating ability. It also is a test of the orienteers' ability to learn.

After each O' course, spend a few minutes asking the orienteers to explain how they'd run. Try to get a sense of how they navigated and learned. Look for indications that they really liked (or hated) orienteering.

Finally, watch what the orienteers did before and after each course. Look for things like crossing the finish line and then starting to look at the map. Treat that as an indicator that they might have some level of O' fanaticism.

I figure this approach would give me a few measures of each of the 4 attributes I was looking for: running, navigating, learning, and O' fanaticism. The measures aren't all especially good - the measures of O' fanaticism are especially squishy. But, I think that by trying to measure these attributes I'd learn something. At the very least, being systematic would help me understand what I was thinking about what makes a good orienteer.

Back to okansas.blogspot.com

posted by Michael | 4:33 PM

0 comments


Comments: Post a Comment
March 2002April 2002May 2002June 2002July 2002August 2002September 2002October 2002November 2002December 2002January 2003February 2003March 2003April 2003May 2003June 2003July 2003August 2003September 2003October 2003November 2003December 2003January 2004February 2004March 2004April 2004May 2004June 2004July 2004August 2004September 2004October 2004November 2004December 2004January 2005February 2005March 2005April 2005May 2005June 2005July 2005August 2005September 2005October 2005November 2005December 2005January 2006February 2006March 2006April 2006May 2006June 2006July 2006August 2006September 2006October 2006November 2006December 2006January 2007February 2007March 2007April 2007May 2007June 2007July 2007August 2007September 2007October 2007November 2007December 2007January 2008February 2008March 2008April 2008May 2008June 2008July 2008August 2008September 2008October 2008November 2008December 2008January 2009February 2009March 2009April 2009May 2009June 2009July 2009August 2009September 2009October 2009November 2009December 2009January 2010February 2010March 2010April 2010May 2010June 2010July 2010August 2010September 2010October 2010November 2010December 2010January 2011February 2011March 2011April 2011May 2011June 2011July 2011August 2011September 2011October 2011November 2011December 2011January 2012February 2012March 2012April 2012May 2012June 2012July 2012August 2012September 2012October 2012November 2012December 2012January 2013March 2013April 2013May 2013July 2013September 2013
archives
links