NENSA is thrilled to be the recipient of a Gatorade Play it Forward Grant, made possible by Vermont Cross Country Runner of the Year Ava Thurston. The Gatorade Player of the Year program recognizes the nation’s most elite high school athletes for their accomplishments on and off the field, and the grant works in collaboration with the Gatorade Player of the Year to empower elite high school athletes to give back to a local or national youth sports organization.
Gatorade Play It Forward empowers every one of the 607 State Gatorade Player of the Year recipients to award a $1,000 grant from Gatorade to a community organization that helps young athletes realize the benefits of playing sports. It means so much to us that Ava selected NENSA, and specifically our youth programming, as the recipient of her grant.
On top of being Gatorade Vermont Cross Country Runner of the Year Ava skis with the Mansfield Nordic Club, and has been a mainstay of our Eastern Cup races this year; qualifying to represent Team New England at this year’s Junior National Championships in Truckee, California.
This grant will go specifically towards Nordic Rocks; a program which is made possible by the Share Winter Foundation, and which was developed to introduce a whole new generation of children in grades K-4 to the joys of cross-country skiing. To find out more about Nordic Rocks, Share Winter, and the Gatorade Player of The Year Program please follow the links below.
