Better Orienteering is intended to help people start and get better at orienteering, including helping experienced orienteers think about what they can do better. With orienteering, there is always room for improvement!
It includes explanation of skills and tips for navigation across a wide range of abilities from Beginner to Advanced. It has more than 30 contributors and includes over 40 videos built into structured discussion of orienteering skills. But people need to know it is here and how it can help them develop their orienteering navigation.
There are a range of ways that you can help share Better Orienteering.
Here are a few suggestions and links that can help. Copy and use the links set out below, and include mention of Betterorienteering.org when you share a link. It would also be great if you share with me how you have shared Better Orienteering.
The text and graphics on Better Orienteering are copyright Duncan Bayliss, except where attributed to other authors. Much material has been included with other authors’ permission and copyright remains with them.
Always attribute Better Orienteering as the source and include a clear link to Betterorienteering.org whenever you re-post, share or link to any of the material included on the website so that others can see that material in the context of a structured discussion of skills. You can use one of these images with a link – (scale it to fit your web page or newsletter as needed):
Get your club or association to link to Better Orienteering
The best page to direct people to is Quick Start with this link:
https://betterorienteering.org/quick-start/
Here is an example from Badenoch and Strathspey Orienteering Club, who are lucky to have some of the best orienteering terrain in the UK!
https://www.basoc.org.uk/info/improving-your-orienteering-technique
Share the Better Orienteering YouTube playlist
Teenagers especially, like to learn by watching videos. A lot of orienteering skills and concepts can be shown very quickly and effectively in videos.
Better Orienteering Playlist contains the learning videos used across Better Orienteering ordered from Beginner to Advanced. Please include a link to the complete playlist when linking to specific videos you find helpful. These videos are all made by elite or very experienced orienteers who give good advice on how to orienteer. You will help save others from potentially spending hours looking at unhelpful videos that give some pretty poor advice on how to orienteer – there are quite a few out there.
( https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0tmJ8S2L2ULCgYBg6yWSvyNqwjUNzbtU )
Share the Skills Matrix
The Skills Matrix (8 pages) is a structured overview of how orienteering skills develop in stages from Beginner to Advanced. It helps people see where they are on their orienteering journey.
( https://betterorienteering.files.wordpress.com/2020/06/better-o-skills-matrix-and-videos-v2.pdf )
Below is a directly embedded version of the pdf of the Skills Matrix. Many websites will support this (if they are created with WordPress), meaning the viewer can scroll through the document directly on the screen without having to follow a link to a new Tab or Page. This functionality does not work on Android and a web-link appears instead.
Always include a clear link to Betterorienteering.org
Share the Better Orienteering Summary among your club
Better Orienteering Summary (52 pages) is full of web links back to the website and resources. It includes on the first page a link to where the most recent version can be downloaded, so once the link is posted people can always access the most recent version.
( https://betterorienteering.files.wordpress.com/2020/10/better-orienteering-summary-v6.1-3.pdf )
When promoting Permanent Orienteering Courses, you can link to here
https://betterorienteering.org/where-can-i-try-orienteering/
It includes this excellent video by SLOW: Permanent Orienteering Courses – Discover an Outdoor Adventure
( https://youtu.be/y4yfyUwkUxw )
When sending out event details you could link to the Beginner page or the Quick Start page
Newcomers to the sport can then quickly find explanations they need
https://betterorienteering.org/new-to-orienteering/
You can also link directly to downloads within Better Orienteering
You can link directly to these downloads (as well as to the pages that contain them), for example, the Beginner’s Tips, Basic Navigation Routine Tips and Skills Tool Kit. They are scaled for reading on a smartphone.
( https://betterorienteering.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/new-to-orienteering-some-tips-v3-2019.pdf )
( https://betterorienteering.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/basic-navigation-routine-v3-2019.pdf )
( https://betterorienteering.files.wordpress.com/2019/09/better-orienteering-skills-tool-kit-3.pdf )
Do mention Betterorienteering.org with the links, so people know where to find more and of course you can share the link on social media. Always include a clear link to Betterorienteering.org
When sending out training details why not include a link to the Race Analysis page?
https://betterorienteering.org/analyze-my-errors/
Build Plan, Picture, Direction into club training and coaching sessions
( https://betterorienteering.files.wordpress.com/2019/11/better-o-navigation-model-all-graphics.pdf )
Help translate Better Orienteering Quick Start page
It would be great to have a good quality translation of the Quick Start page into Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian, German, French and Spanish. It is about 750 words.
Many people from these languages will be able to watch the videos and read some of the website with no problems, but it helps them get started if there is a page in their first language. If you can help with this, please do get in contact. Thank you! The translator of the page will of course be credited clearly on the page.
More contributions welcome
If there is anything else you can contribute or think should be included do get in touch
Duncan Bayliss, Wrekin Orienteers, UK
September 2020
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