NENSA trustees and the Ogden family are thrilled to announce the endowment of NENSA’s youth programming position, the John Ogden Youth & Introductory Program Director.
Made possible through the legacy John left and the overwhelming response of family, friends, and dedicated supporters, the endowment secures the future of NENSA by supporting the growth & health of youth programming.
In a seminar for BKL coaches, John Ogden proposed this guiding principle, inspired by a Ben and Jerry’s bumper sticker, “If it’s not fun why do it?”. That wisdom and insight guided him throughout decades spent with NENSA as a skier, coach, parent, and board member. John was a loud and passionate champion of FUN youth and introductory ski programming.
He believed that teaching kids how to love sport was infinitely more important than teaching them to excel. His goal was always to develop happy, healthy humans rather than elite athletes. Even so, he ended up fostering an environment within his own home club and throughout NENSA that boasts a community encompassing everyone from top-level Olympic skiers to the thousands of New England kids who try skiing for the first time each winter through NENSA’s Nordic Rocks Program.
John’s contributions to NENSA and specifically to the youth and introductory programming continue to inspire and guide the work happening today.
Through a named, endowed position, we wish to honor John, to keep his insight and vision interwoven in our programming, and to secure the future of NENSA by supporting the growth of our Youth & Introductory programs. The John Ogden Youth and Introductory Programming Director staff position at NENSA will be partially funded through a permanent endowment in John’s name.
We invite you to join the family and dear friends of John and of NENSA in remembering John as we embark on this exciting project. We have a short-term goal in the first phase of this campaign to raise $750,000 and an eventual goal to fully fund the position. In order to do that, we aim to reach $1,500,000.
We are so grateful to this community and to the Ogden family for their ongoing support and guidance as we work to capture John’s energy and passion, ensuring it remains at the center of our work as an organization.
not least of which his own.
John (running the show with his company, Bullitt Timing) with (L > R) Charlotte (raising the bar on the EISA circuit at John’s alma mater), Katharine (leading and inspiring the next generation of skiers at her local club), and Ben (taking the world by storm on the World Cup).
So, get out and ski when it snows, maybe take some kids with you,
and please help us to seed this endowment
and memorialize John’s legacy.
Thank You!
Much gratitude and art, photo, and video credits to (in the order included):
John Ogden Youth & Introductory Program Director Mackenzie Rizio, Grace Rizio, Steve Fuller,
Tamra Mooney, Grant and Jill Braddish, Heather Mooney,
Heidi Lange, Alex Jospe, and Tim Van Orden.
