Organizational and methodological principles of orienteering competitions within the framework of the Shoulder-to-Shoulder All-Ukrainian School Leagues project

The article systematizes materials related to the organization and conduct of orienteering competitions in the conditions of a modern school. The authors focus on the fact that orienteering has a wide range of applications in various spheres of activity: sports, education, travel, military affairs. Special emphasis is placed on the practicality and accessibility of the use of this sport in competitions among schoolchildren. For the first time, an algorithm for organizing and conducting school orienteering competitions was developed. It is noted that the organization and conduct of orienteering competitions in wartime conditions has a number of peculiarities. Observance of safety measures, lack of methodical materials, as well as insufficient level of material and technical support of schools made it necessary to find available forms of organization of orienteering competitions. The result of the search was the development and approval of unified tasks that can be used at any location, even in the absence of a special map or scheme for orienteering. In addition, the authors suggested using the existing infrastructure (sports hall, school building, school yard) for orienteering competitions. Thanks to this research, a wide range of possibilities regarding the organization of trainings and competitions of the participants of the Shoulder-to-Shoulder All-Ukrainian School Leagues project was revealed. In addition, the developed methodical materials became the foundation of the educational and methodical film “Orienteering. The elementary level of education”, which was released in the second half of February 2024. This made it possible to expand access to methodological materials for a wide audience of specialists in the field of orienteering and physical education teachers.