Discovering Orienteering

Resource for physical education teachers, classroom teachers, and recreation and youth leaders who teach the sport of orienteering. Reference for outdoor leaders and park rangers, search and rescue professionals, scout leaders, and personnel in ROTC, JROTC, and military.

Author Biography

Founded in 1971, Orienteering USA is a volunteer-run organization dedicated to promoting orienteering as a viable and attractive recreation choice for outdoor enthusiasts; increasing awareness of orienteering as a tool for education, personal development, and environmental awareness; and improving the competitive performance of U.S. orienteering athletes to world-class levels.

Charles Ferguson, PhD, served as president of the United States Orienteering Federation (USOF) from 1999 to 2007. A former colonel in the Air Force Reserve, he became the initial vice president of academic affairs at Marine Corps University at Quantico Marine Base, Virginia, until retiring.

A member of the U.S. CIOR team and an expert orienteer, Colonel Ferguson represented the United States as a competitor in eight competitions. In 1977, he led his team to the first U.S. win in the over-35 (veteran) category in the CIOR military competitions in the United Kingdom. His team again won the over-35 category in 1982 in the United States. Colonel Ferguson later served as orienteering coach for the U.S. CIOR team for 2 years and with his wife, Linda, as orienteering coach for the Canadian CIOR team for 3 years. Canadian teams finished 11th in orienteering their first year, in the top 10 the next year, and in first place their third year. He also served for 13 years on the NATO CIOR competition commission, leading the rewriting of the orienteering rules of the competition. At the summer military competitions, he was elected to the CIOR orienteering technical jury for 5 years, serving as chair for 3. Along with Coach Turbyfill, he teaches the beginning orienteering course, Zero to Orange in Three Days, and he holds OUSA Olympic level I and level II orienteering coaching certificates. A frequent orienteering competitor in the United States, he placed second in his age group in the 2007 U.S. individual championships. Dr. Ferguson currently serves in USOF as a director of the OUSA Endowment Fund (EF) and EF liaison to the OUSA board of directors. He is also a member of the executive board of the Adventuresports Institute.

LTC Robert Turbyfill works as an analyst for the Department of Homeland Security in Washington, DC. He has served as a United States Marine officer for 11 years and as an Army National Guard officer for 14 years.

He is a former all-Marine, interservice, United States, and North American orienteering champion. He has represented the United States 11 times at world-class competition (8 times as a competitor and 3 times as the coach of the U.S. orienteering team). A graduate and faculty member of the Marine Corps Physical Fitness Academy, he coached the 1977 and 1978 CIOR navigation event. The U.S. CIOR team won that event for the first time in CIOR history. In Army ROTC he has coached the Brigham Young University (BYU) ranger challenge team for four seasons to national titles. His record was third, first, third, and first in the nation by comparative score at the Fourth Army ROTC Region at Fort Louis, Washington. As a team consultant, he is coaching and teaching orienteering to the USMA orienteering club cadets at West Point. He is the current coaching certifier for Orienteering USA. He teaches a college-level orienteering course and an Olympic level 1 coaching course at West Point in conjunction with thee Adventuresports Institute at Garrett College in western Maryland. He has developed navigation certification standards approved by the OUSA board of directors in November of 2006.