World of O News
– In total we produce around 90 days of team activity each year, Czech Head Coach Radek Novotny says. – As the clubs are weak and we have no state funded training centers, the national team must take many of the functions clubs and training centers have in other countries, Novotny explained at the International Orienteering Coach Conference in Faak am See, Austria.
Compared to the other federations present at the conference, Czech Republic is the “little brother” with a smaller budget (80.000 EUR/year) and significantly less resources. This means that Novotny needs to turn every stone to save money in his work with the national team – a time consuming task. And this together with all his other tasks (see slide from his presentation below), leads to a lot less time for directly following his athletes than he would have liked to.
Scandinavian clubs important
Limited resources does not mean that the Czech Republic does not produce good results. At the World Championships relay in Switzerland in 2012 the Czech team took a surprising gold medal – after a thriller finish which Jan Prochazka decided for the Czech Republic. Prochazka is also the example when Novotny explains the importance of Scandinavian clubs for Czech elite orienteering.
– Prochazka has learned a lot during his time in (the Finnish club) Kalevan Rasti, Novotny comments. Novotny explains that Prochazka is not the only Czech athlete who has improved as an athlete in a Scandinavian club. Generally the help Czech athletes get from their Scandinavian clubs is crucial – and Novotny encourages his athletes to have a Scandinavian club – and if possible also stay there for a longer period .
In search for soft ground
Visits in Scandinavia is also a way to get the strength and technique required to move fast in Scandinavian terrain. The majority of the team does however live in the Czech republic, and for them it is necessary to be more creative in the daily training in order to master the “soft” ground found in typical Scandinavian forests. Interestingly this is exactly the opposite problem of what we see for many Scandinavian runners – the soft ground in the daily training means they have to do more of their training on harder surface.
Novotny also told two other interesting stories from the training of the Czech team. One of them was the change in physical training based on observing the Swiss. Replacing some of the long, low speed trainings with short (around 40 minutes) medium intensity trainings has given interesting improvements in running speed on the track. Another was the successful use of athletes shadowing athletes on training camps.
International races “eat” the budget
– When the (80.000 EUR) budget is spent in Czech Republic, this is “quite good money”, Novotny says. – But when spending it abroad where everything is expensive, there is not much left.
Novotny uses the World Championships in Finland in 2013 as an example. Here the only accommodation available – even if trying to order one year before the event – took a big bite of the budget of the Czech senior team.
– It is very expensive at international events, Novotny continues. – The organizers don’t understand how low standard eastern European teams would accept – for some it would even be OK to sleep on the floor. But often only hotel is offered.
This is a small “punch” towards IOF – Novotny thinks organizers of international races like World Championship and World Cup races should be obliged to offer “very cheap accommodation”.
More of the story in the LiveBlog from the conference
You can find more details about the Czech approach to high performance orienteering in the LiveBlog from the conference here.
