Junior Training Weekend Fun
We recently held a training weekend in Garvagh and Portstewart at the end of August.
With the JHI’s looming, both Stephanie Pruzina (My NIOA counterpart- and partner in crime) thought two days of training would be great to get the new minds focused, and sharpen the older Juniors into competition mode.
Of course, one of my cornerstone aims for ALL training weekends is to get the Juniors together. I know from experience of Junior Training weekends, for many years, that Junior orienteering is more than just the competition on the day. And those that come, train and stay with the Squad on these weekends benefit hugely.
As parents we get to mix, and help each other out with ideas and suggestions, and Juniors get to know those that they will be, hopefully, on teams with, someone to chat to on those long walks to the start.
We started the weekend by attending the event kindly run by the NWOC, and it was lovely to have tents and goodies after the run in the lovely forest. After a brief training exercise in the afternoon we retired to the hostel.
It was a great evening, the Juniors spent time chatting- and washing up, while the parents swapped stories and analysed maps! But it was great to meet new families and the squad members of the future.
Stephanie, Paul, Helen and Sophie were instrumental in putting together a fantastic set of short exercises that were technical but achievable for all levels. I won’t go into the details, as that’s not my area of expertise. But completely hats off to all those who attended the training as the weather was not quite as good as it could be. Testing those fair weather orienteers among us. The Juniors were so enthusiastic, and it was great to see all the happy faces coming back after the runs.
Many thanks to the Pruzina family, and to the parents who attended, shadowing, feeding and supporting the Juniors.
Any offers of help for the next weekend will be very welcome!
