New Zealand Orienteering Federation (Inc)

GENERAL MANAGER: Stuart Payne, 171A Fifield Tce, Christchurch 8002, NEW ZEALAND
ph/fax: 64 - 3 - 337 2275 email: nzof@nzorienteering.com

NZOF NEWS - JANUARY 2008

The NZOF Council welcomes John Robinson (Counties Manukau) as the new Auckland Area representative.  John replaces Nicola Kinzett, who resigned at the end of 2007. Nicola’s work commitments mean she will no longer be resident in the Auckland area. The NZOF thanks Nicola for her time (close to three years) on the Council.

NZOF membership, at 1,690, reached a new high as of the end of 2007. Membership grew by 45 in the South Island and 11 in the Auckland Area. However, despite strong growth in Hawkes Bay (the largest club in 2007), Wellington Area membership fell by 14, and that for Central Districts by 29.

Membership retention at 74.5%, however, was down on 2006 (79.9%). This was partly the result of only half of all new members in 2006 being retained in 2007. Nevertheless recruitment of new members in 2007 was impressive; at 416 they made up a quarter of all members as at the end of 2007. The largest recruitments of new members were made by Hawkes Bay, PAPO and Nelson.

NZOF, and in particular the NZOF Development Squad, continues to benefit from sponsorship courtesy of The MAPsport Shop through the sales of Jalas O-shoes.  The NZOF thanks Michael Wood and The MAPsport Shop for this ongoing support for orienteering.

At its meeting on 1 December, the NZOF Council reviewed the 25% event levy policy. While it confirmed that the current 25% level be continued, there be discretion for clubs to apply to the NZOF for grants to host major events.

Such funding assistance recognises that major events are an investment in the future of orienteering since they:

• Require the production of new or updated maps;
• Employ the use of modern event technology;
• Require high standards of event organisation, which in turn requires the employment of more volunteers than for club events;
• Provide top-level experience for the planner/controllers(s) involved.

Norm Jager (Auckland) and James Bradshaw (Counties Manukau) will be the manager and coach respectively of the 2008 Silva New Zealand Junior team at JWOC.
Dianne Michels (North West) has been appointed to replace Christina Freeman on the NZOF MTBO Committee. The NZOF thanks Christina for her service on the committee.
Alister Coulter has stood down from the NZOF Rogaine Committee. In line with the MTBO Committee, the Rogaine Committee will now remain at four members.

REAPPOINTMENTS

NZOF Officers reappointed for 2008 include Carsten Jorgensen (High Performance Director), Graham Teahan (Technical Director), Geoff Morrison (Secondary School Coordinator), Paul Smith (Webmaster), Mick Finn (Editor, NZ Orienteering), Bryan Teahan (Statistician), Jamie Stewart (NOS Coaching Coordinator) and James Bradshaw (D-Squad Coaching Coordinator). The Selection Panel and the MTBO and Rogaine Committees, other than as noted above under appointments, remain unchanged.

Carsten Jorgensen has also agreed to continue as Acting Coaching Director until an appointment is made, see Vacancies at end of this news.

An NZOF Mapping Workshop will be held, as part of the Waitangi Summer Carnival, on Friday 8th February in Auckland.  For further details contact the Technical Director, Graham Teahan: phone (06) 329 3938 or email gteahan@xtra.co.nz, or check out the notice on the NZOF website.

As part of a strategy to ensure that professional standards are maintained in New Zealand and are available to as many clubs as possible, along with a need to ensure succession planning, the NZOF has begun developing a database of people providing contract services within orienteering. While such services are principally mapping services, they can encompass the full range of orienteering services. Accordingly clubs and individuals are asked to advise the General Manager of contractors that they are aware of.

In line with the requirements of a major forestry company, the NZOF’s cover for Public and Products Liability and under the Forest and Rural Fires Act has been increased for 2008. Further details are available from the General Manager.

After seven years of sucessful NZOF nominations for Prime Minister’s Athlete Scholarships, administered through SPARC, orienteering will have no scholarship recipients in 2008. This is the result of the scholarships being made contestable across all sports as well as orienteering as a non-Olympic and Commonwealth Games sport not being rated highly enough in SPARC’s high performance mission of “more New Zealanders winning on the world stage”.

On the plus side, however, Marquita Gelderman has been awarded a Performance Enhancement Grant, based on her 8th place at the 2006 World MTBO Championships, to pursue her quest for a medal at this year’s World MTBO Championships in Poland.

With the agreement of the sponsors, Ampro Sales Ltd, the NZOF Council has decided to replace the existing Silva Magazine of the Year Award with a new award, the Silva Event Organiser of the Year Award. Further details will be provided to clubs with the call for nominations for awards. It should be noted that while the NZOF AGM will be held independent of Nationals (see next item), the annual awards will still be announced at Nationals at Easter.

The Annual General Meeting of the NZOF will be held in Wellington on the weekend of 12-13 April.

The AGM will be held in conjunction with a Strategic Planning Workshop, which will aim to outline the priorities for the renewal of the national strategic plan through to 2012. Participation at the workshop (and therefore the AGM) will be funded by the NZOF. Details about the workshop have already been sent to clubs.

This is a new contract position, incorporating the previous volunteer roles of Media Officer, Ampro Liaison Officer and the marketing-promotion role of the Editor of New Zealand Orienteering. As such the primary role is to foster and promote orienteering through the various forms of media and through sponsorship agreements.

The position will commence as soon as possible.   A job description is available from the General Manager.

The national position of part-time, paid contract Coaching Director for 2008 remains open.

The primary role of the Coaching Director is to identify the needs and priorities of orienteering coaching within New Zealand.  This is translated into a network of coaches at various levels, with support (personal and materials) depending on funds available.

Applicants should have strong administrative and interpersonal skills as well as coaching experience and senior NZOF coaching qualifications (or equivalent).

A job description is available from the General Manager.

The national volunteer position of Manager for the Silva NZ team to compete at the 2008 World Champs, 10-20 July, in Czech Republic, remains open.
A job description is available from the General Manager.

The NZOF acknowledges the support of
Sport & Recreation New Zealand
SILVA
David Melrose Design
The MAPsport Shop
Inov8
New Zealand Community Trust
Oxford Sports Trust
Bendigo Valley Sports & Charity Foundation
McNally Valuation (2000) Ltd
Perry Foundation
JohnandVal Investments
Signs @Work.Picton