[ARDF] Fun and Frustration

[Charles Scharlau]

Hi Marvin,

You have put your finger on the crux of the matter, and the most difficult
question to answer. How must the sport evolve?

My concern internationally is that the sport has been evolving away from
being a technical sport, and has become more a sport of pure athleticism.
The World Championship courses are much longer than they used to be, with
difficult terrain to traverse. With more age categories the numbers of
competitors out in the field has increased. The result is an emphasis on
endurance and running ability, with rampant following and no enforcement to
prevent it.

The sport remains relatively popular in Eastern Europe where there is still
some state sponsorship of the sport. In Russia, the Czech Republic and
Ukraine there are established clubs and organizations that receive tax
dollars to cover travel to competitions and stipends to encourage those who
teach the sport. In the remainder of Europe and the rest of the world (with
few exceptions) it remains a purely amateur sport. So it is without
exception that the competitive teams all come from the Eastern Europe, and
that seems unlikely to change for the foreseeable future.

Internationally, I think rules changes are in order to 1) prevent rampant
following, 2) bring more technical skills back into the sport, and 3)
promote an even playing field for all competiting countries.

One encouraging development that Nadia noticed in this year's European
Championships results is some statistics revealing likely following by
competitors. So hopefully the organizers will get a better idea of the
degree of the problem, and will deal with it swiftly and appropriately.

Domestically, the problem boils down to how we make the sport appealing (at
least as appealing as orienteering) without any "ARDF stimulous money" being
invested by the financially strapped governments. Nadia and I have had long
discussions about that, and have not come up with any brilliant solutions.
Realistically, I think it will probably take quite some time, and a lot of
work, for the sport to reach critical mass in the USA. Here's my thinking on
a strategy right now:

1) Identify and target groups and organizations that have similar interests
or related goals. Orienteering clubs, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, others?

2) Sell ARDF to the leadership of at least *two* closely-located
clubs/troops in those organizations. A commitment from the groups to provide
motivated participants must be put in place.

3) Promote competition between those clubs/troops, and provide
training, support, and practice opportunities to them. An annual local
championship competition needs to be part of the mix.

4) Be willing to modify the rules a bit to adapt to the competitor's skill
level, be flexible, and don't give up. Keep promoting to other groups to
join the fun... with support provided mostly by the active groups.

An inexpensive domestic source of quality ARDF equipment would also be very
helpful, since it would make it simpler for these activities to get started
with an affordable and quantifiable initial investment cost.
Will it work to plant a seed? I don't know. But it is the best we've come up
with.

-NZ0I


On Sun, Sep 27, 2009 at 12:43 PM, Marvin Johnston <marvin at west.net> wrote:

> Charles,
>
> In what ways do you think ARDF needs to evolve? I'm not sure if ARDF needs
> to evolve or if the way we are approaching promotion needs to change ... or
> both.
>
> I certainly agree with Vadim that a time committment needs to be made, but
> that time also needs to be spent effectively. It is quite possible we are
> repeating ways of promotion that are just not effective, so I am starting to
> test different approaches.
>
> Putting on an antenna building workshop prior to a hunt has brought out
> some new people. And a couple of them show some real promise of being
> potential competitors.
>
> My next approach (besides the ARDF practice this month) will be to put on
> some ARDF training on the afternoon of our next Scouting orienteering meet
> at Firestone Boy Scout Camp. We will have training and equipment for the
> scouts. I'm also thinking about an adult leadership training for scout
> leaders who would like to know more about ARDF and how to help scouts get
> involved.
>
> Thanks!
>
> Marvin, KE6HTS
>
>
>
> Charles Scharlau wrote:
>
> I think ARDF will ultimately need to
>> evolve or go extinct. I think it must evolve both in the USA and
>> internationally. The rules, and the equipment, both must evolve.
>> -NZ0I
>>
>
>