International School Sport Federation World School Championship in Orienteering 2017

The next International School Sport Federation World School Championship in Orienteering (WSCO 2017) will take place in Palermo, Sicily, Italy.

The Championship will take place from 22nd April 2016 until 28th April 2017.

If you would like to be considered for the English Schools’ team, the selection criteria is set out in this document. Please read it carefully.

General

  1. Affiliation
  • Entries for all ISF competitions are made through national schools’ sports’ federations.
  • In the case of the English Schools’ team, the BSOA is affiliated to the International School Sport Federation (ISF) through the English body for schools’ sport, the National Council for School Sport (NCSS).
  1. Eligibility
  • Selections for the English "School Teams" are restricted to schools in England.
  • Individual selections for the English "Select Teams" are restricted to students attending English schools.
  • These schools must be BSOA members before the ISF WSCO takes place.
  • In addition all participants must be members of British Orienteering in the year the ISF WSCO competition is held.
  1. Team categories
  • A maximum of eight teams will be selected: School and Select teams in each of four categories.
  • These categories are Younger Boys teams / Younger Girls teams (M/W2) and Older Boys teams / Older Girls teams (M/W1). There will be five competitors in each team.
  1. Ages
  • For the M/W2 categories, students must be born in 2003 or 2002.
  • For the M/W1 categories, students must be born in 2001,2000, or 1999.
  • The students will be M/W14s, M/W16’s, or 1st year M/W18’s at the time of the English qualifying events.
  1. Selection
  • Selection will be based on two events: the British Schools Orienteering Championships (BSOC), and the Special Qualification Event (SQE), which will be held the day before the BSOC.
  • All schools wishing to be considered for School Team selection, and individuals for Select Teams, must compete in both events.
  • If a student is unable to compete in one or both of these events, the BSOA Secretary must receive a written explanation by Friday 18th November 2016, otherwise the individual concerned cannot be considered.
  • If a competitor becomes unable to compete for a genuine reason during the weekend, the BSOA Secretary must be informed before Wednesday 23th November 2016.
  1. Entries per category
  • Schools may enter a maximum of eight entries per category in the SQE.
  • Any amendment that a school may wish to make to the names of their eight competitive students MUST be made to the organiser by Monday 14th November 2016. Changes only under extenuating circumstances may be made after that.
  • Start times will not be changed once they have been allocated due to seeding. In addition, students from the same school will have start times separated by several minutes.
  1. Age categories
  • Whilst the BSOC will be run in school years (as usual), the Special Qualification Event will be run in the appropriate orienteering age classes, i.e. M14, W14, M16/1st year M18, and W16/1st year W18.
  • Students participating must be the correct age for that category. In particular, students must not run up (M/W12s are not eligible to compete as M/W14, and M/W14s are not allowed to compete as M/W16).
  1. Experience
  • Schools are reminded that the SQE is a selection race for the ISF WSCO and is not suitable for beginners or inexperienced students. (The BSOC is the ‘open’ event for all children who attend schools in the Great Britain, with courses easier than those used for the SQE.)
  • Students entering the SQE should be capable of successfully completing a Light Green standard course if M/W14, and a Green standard course if M/W16 or above.
  1. Competitive entries for SQE
  • Only competitive entries will be permitted.
  1. Selections for School Teams and Select Teams
  • If a school is invited to send a School representative team, it will not be possible for a student from that school to be selected as an individual in a Select team in the same category.
  • Due to the fact that students of each age category will be competing on the same course in the SQE, performance in this will take priority over performance in the BSOC for selection.
  1. Notification of selection
  • The selected English Schools Teams and members of the Select Teams will be announced on the BSOA web site on Monday 28th November 2016. No further correspondence will be entered into as the closing date for our entry is Wednesday 30th November 2016.
  • Members of the Select Teams will be contacted by email that week.
  • If you do not hear from the BSOA then please email
  1. Permission from Head Teacher and Parents and funding
  • There are two days between between the selection process and the cut-off date for the final application to attend the ISF WSCO. All competitors must therefore have the written permission of both the Head teacher and their parents to attend the ISF WSCO if selected. This must be confirmed by the Head teacher on the entry form.
  • Please note that this is not a British Orienteering team and funding is the responsibility of the schools or the individual team members. However, many have been able to obtain help to meet the costs in the past.
  • Please note that due to increases in charges by both the ISF & NCSS and the cost of flights to Palermo the cost of attending the event is likely to be in the region of £700-£850 per athlete.
  1. Embargoed areas
  • All areas for the competition weekend are now out of bounds, until the SQE & BSOC.

School Teams, further information

  1. Selection of M/W 18’s born in 1999
  • Eligibility for School Teams to represent England will be based on both the SQE and the BSOC.
  • Under ISF rules, M/W1 teams may consist of up to two students with a 1999 year of birth. However only one of them will be counted for the team results at the ISF WSCO. The BSOA selectors will therefore only consider one child with a 1999 birth year per school for team selection. The composition of the rest of the team considered will be 2001/2000 years of birth.
  1. Size of a Team
  • Each team must be comprised of five athletes.
  1. Selection of School Team members
  • Once a school has been selected for a School Team place the selection of its five team members will be at the discretion of the school concerned, but they will be expected to field their strongest team.
  1. Team Manager for a School Team
  • The ISF has ruled that a qualified teacher must accompany each School Team as the team manager at all ISF events. (The BSOA also recommends that the team manager should hold a British Orienteering coaching qualification in addition to their teaching qualification.)

Select Teams, further information

  1. Selection of individuals for Select Teams
  • Selection for Select Teams will be based on the SQE.
  • Other form may be considered, but will only be used where selectors feel unable to make a decision based on the SQE. “Other form” will only be used from the results of events that Orienteering England use for Junior Interland Selection prior to BSOC.
  1. Priority for students from schools with teams in BSOC
  • A minimum of three places will be given to students whose school enter a Whole School or Age Category team in BSOC. Depending on results the other two places may be given to students without a team.
  1. M/W 18 Select Team members
  • Under ISF rules, two members of M/W1 teams may be born in 1999 but only one will count in the ISF WSCO races.
  • The BSOA therefore may only select one student born in 1999. The BSOA reserves the option to decide that no one born in 1999 will be selected. In particular, a student that has previously attended a World Schools Championships as a select in the older category will not be considered.

The selectors are David Brown, Jim Clarke, Robert Parkinson.

M. Elkington (Administrator )

May 2016