Open Ended Inquiry

[Gord Hunter]

Hello ClubNet,

I think like many clubs Suncoast Orienteering has a place on our website where people can post inquiries. Many are easy to answer like 'when is the next event?' 'how much will it cost?' etc.

But what about ones like this actual one:

Message: I'm interested in Orienteering but have a poor sense of direction. How do I start learning how to do this? What do I study?

How could we answer this without spending hours of what might be fruitless time but also might be uncovering a 'vein of gold'? Have any clubs developed answers to FAQs where this could be one of them?

How can we shepherd this person from the ranks of the curious into the flock of the committed orienteers?

If there are boiler plate answers to questions such as this please let me and others know where to find them. 

If there isn't, would anyone care to work on a set of standard answers to questions from the curious?

Cheers,

Gord Hunter

Suncoast Orienteering

[Jim Wolfe]

Gord,

I make no claim that our FAQ can address every kind of inquiry. It is
also somewhat tailored to the way we do things in WPOC. However, for
what it is worth, I am including the link.  You may be able to glean
something useful from it.

http://www.wpoc.org/faq.htm

Jim

[Andrea Schneider]

Here is the link to MNOC's FAQ page. Gwen reviewed our website and resources a bit over a year ago.

Andrea Schneider

[Blaik Mathews]

Answer #1 (a la our most recent Forum):  Come to my next Beginner Orienteering class at REI Winter Park!

-- Blaik

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[Bud Laird]

Just my two cents. Mentoring is the direct path to learning the skills. If clubs are open to "volunteer" mentors as part of their available event staff the curious can get real time experience. Whenever I mentored new orienteers I found that by the middle of an orange course the newbies were able to orient the map using the compass and identify control features. Pace counting takes longer since it involves divided attention. Short rogaining events are a really good opportunity since teams can also compete at the same time without disqualification. I might be biased about this.
Bud Laird
OUSA chair, rogaining committee

--

[Gord Hunter]

Thanks Blaik.

That may work for the person if she is within 50 or so miles of Orlando/ Winter Park. Yes, we know the REI classes pay dividends for your club and obviously for the interested attendees but with this inquiry we don't know where the person is or how we can flush out more information. I sent some questions back to her.

I like the FAQ approach that some clubs have suggested but to me for each question the answer should include a bit about how coming orienteering can help the questioner. Like the saying goes 'sell the sizzle; not the steak'.

For instance in your area if you posted the question "Where can I go to learn about orienteering before I go to an event?" 

An answer should be crafted "Sign up for a free class at REI Winter Park where they have classes for Beginners and those with some orienteering experience. AND after your first class you get a coupon for free entry to a regular Florida Orienteering event.

Gord

 

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[Pepe]

One third of the original question is "how can I learn": agreed on all the suggestions to encourage just showing up, and taking advantage of in-person instruction.

Another third is "what should I study": I wonder if the highest value book-learning for a beginner would be around topo lines and their interpretation? Are there books or other resources dedicated to this, designed for a novice?

But the first third of the question is the one I hear most often by far -- some version of "I couldn't do that, I have a horrible sense of direction." I appreciate that the WPOC FAQ addresses this specifically, but I'd answer more optimistically, by rejecting the premise. As far as I can tell there is *no such thing* as a "sense" of direction. Instead, navigation involves a basket of skills that most of us don't use very often in daily life; but which are completely teachable, and a lot of fun to practice. (But curious how more experienced athletes & instructors handle the "sense of direction" subject!)

Pepe

[Andrea Schneider]

Pepe,

I agree with you that there is no such thing as "sense" of direction, but rather applied parts of everyone's ability to perceive and interpret their surroundings. A baby that finally crawls and finds its way into pulling out the pots in the bottom cabinet of the kitchen, or masters its way to the toys in the living room, they Navigated. The prescholer or kindergartner who found their way to the bathroom the first time they were allowed to go by themselves rather than a group, they Navigated, a two-control-points Memory-O to make it back to the classroom.

We just don't point out that skill as navigation (actually I Do), nor do we actively keep honing it for further development in schools and without the use of tools (we should teach navigation when we teach numbers, and hand them a compass and a calculator only when they have mastered map reading and their math facts). NG in MA doing a great job at that, one school at a time, but at events we can definitely help people figure out their learning style and how that can help ease their fears about their own navigation skills.

Rant over.

Andrea

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[Andrea Schneider]

Actually, part two of my rant, which I deleted before posting, is that a greater part of those thinking they have no sense of direction are women, probably having been told, often by men, that they don't have a sense of navigation, or stand up comedians often using such narrative, just because they do not know off hand where north is at any given time when someone gives them directions with cardinal directions rather than RSL and landmarks.  I am sure that those who give cardinal direction directions will be disoriented when dropped into a new city on another continent, but probably would never admit it.

So that leads to additional work having to undo such "indoctrination" of what a person can supposedly not do.

Andrea

On Sat, Aug 16, 2025, 12:59 Matt Craig <matt.c...@gmail.com> wrote:

Andrea’s response made me think of the book:

“From Here to There

The Art and Science of Finding and Losing Our Way”

In it, he explains that direction and spatial awareness is something innate in animals. We have brain cells dedicated to it. 

If we don’t allow children to explore and navigate on their own we’re taking away the development of this normal skill. 

So maybe a way to answer people who claim a “poor sense of direction” is to explain it’s not a them problem, it’s an experience problem. They need to practice getting “lost” and finding their way back. The more orienteering they do the more they make up for missing experience.

Matt

On Aug 15, 2025, at 23:20, Andrea Schneider <andrea.s...@orienteeringusa.org> wrote:



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