Discussion: Good thoughts

I will say that the last two US Team Training camps this year were not well attended. Admittedly, one was for WOC preparation. We didn't have a coach, but Eddie and Ross were there. WCOC hosted, and they also participated. Balter, Joe, and feet were also in attendance.

The coach tried to cancel the most recent training camp at ROC (which was supposed to be a big deal camp) because I was the only one who signed up. Then Eddie came, and Kat was in the area (although not really participating I guess) and Nate Lyons came.

What does this say? I'm not sure. I am not sure why people weren't interested in coming to those camps. They were advertised to the same audience.

Two major considerations for these training camps (especially those involving a non-trivial amount of travel) are work schedules and transportation. The Highlander and the French guests give additional incentive to attend this training camp, but even still, some may encounter difficulty taking Thursday and Friday off.

The idea of a week-long training camp (e.g. like those at the Canadian champs, the PWNOF) is appealing, but it may be impractical given the crowd of likely attendees. These events are even more problematic for people with children, students, and guys who live really far away (e.g. ebone).

I was much more incensed by the notion of a "required" US Team donation for people with US Team ambitions than by the attendance restrictions. Especially without a permit, there necessarily exist limited resources, and the group dynamic varies strongly with the number and type of people in attendance. Nevertheless, I hope these training camps are better organized in the future - so details (like who can attend) aren't being determined two weeks before the camp.

I agree.

I can't speak for the WCOC camp, as I was not invited to that, but felt I could invite myself to the ROC one since I gave Kat a ride - If there is a camp in the days preceding an important event, like an A-meet, I believe most people would be less interested than a camp preceding a less important (at least in terms of your US rankings) event like the Highlander. Moreover, having an extra Saturday to train on, as opposed to just having training on weekdays, helps with those of us who are employed. I don't think there is anyone in US orienteering who can support themselves through orienteering, so work schedules do have to be taken into account.

Those are also good points. I hope that future training camps reflect those issues. Are you on the US Team mailing list (Yahoo)? You should join, and then you can hear about these things directly. I am really sorry that you didn't know.

I don't think it was necessarily appropriate to announce these to the world, but the US Team mailing list seemed like a good mechanism, assuming relevant people are on it. I think that was the only place we announced them.

I joined the list after the ROC meet and have been following the discussion there. I find the predicament with the Harriman training camp contradictory to the exhortations at the ROC meet to come to more training camps, to be more involved. I suppose Mike Waddington's remarks on 19 September were directed at the actual members of the US Team (and standing team, presumably), but it seems logical to open the training to those with reasonable aspirations to make the team.

It's not entirely clear what that means - I think a training camp with 200 attendees is probably undesirable based on varying skill levels and general atmosphere. Perhaps "reasonable aspiration" means M21s with an 80+ ranking (e.g.) or some other objective criterion?

I suppose it's not quite fair to evaluate the team training camp in light of that discussion given that the discussion may not have influenced the organization of the team training camp, but it seems painfully clear that the US Team apparatus cannot be relied upon for training opportunities for those not on the team. This seems misguided to me given that the US Team is technically the team from 2009; the 2010 Standing and WOC teams have yet to be selected.