Person, environment, and task may be differentiated as the determinants of the orienteering action, the structure may be described as a triadic cycle. Analysis of a competition includes control and evaluation of the action. Attributional processes within the evaluation build up cognitive schemes, e.g. of own abilities and these self-concepts influence the attribution of mistakes. Therefore, a confident interpretation has to be carried out. Former methodological approaches to the interpretation of orienteering did not clarify the reasons for time loss by mistakes.
Attributional patterns have to be analyzed carefully.
Attribution of the causality has to be carried out after successful and unsuccessful competitions. Careful control and evaluation are especially necessary in junior squads, to build up realistic self-concepts and attributional patterns. Observational data should be compared with introspective ones. It is the coaches responsibility to draw attention to a careful evaluation of competitions. The meaning of lactic acid for the determination of the training speed in orienteering.