NENSA is celebrating our 30th anniversary in 2025. As part of the occasion, we’re gathering reflections from skiers across New England on the people, moments, and values which have defined the NENSA community. This week, we are featuring US Ski Team Head Coach and NNF Board Member, Matt Whitcomb.
Matt Whitcomb grew up in Worthington, Massachusetts, where his deep New England skiing roots began. He competed in high school for Wahconah before attending Stratton Mountain School, and later skied for Middlebury College. After graduating, he launched his coaching career with the Glacier Nordic Ski Team in Whitefish, Montana, followed by four years at Burke Mountain Academy—three of them as New England’s head coach for Junior Nationals.
In 2006, Matt joined the U.S. Ski Team as Development Coach, eventually spending much of his career guiding the women’s team. He is now in his sixth year as Head Coach of the U.S. Cross Country Ski Team. Beyond his national team work, he is serving his fifth year on the board of the National Nordic Foundation and remains deeply committed to athlete development at every level of the sport.
Matt lives in Burke, Vermont. Outside of skiing, he partners with Electives.io for corporate speaking engagements, and is pursuing a new venture in innovating fly fishing products, though that’s all still in his head.
What does NENSA mean to you?
Matt Whitcomb: When I think about what NENSA means to me, so many stories flood my mind. Honestly, settling on just one is agonizing!
It was our freshman year at Middlebury—the winter of 1997–98—and Justin Beckwith and I were itching for some early-season racing. After a quick dinner on campus, we borrowed a car from our buddy Matt Molyneux and headed to Sugarloaf, hoping to crash in a spare bunk with our old SMS team.
Like freshmen do, we arrived too late that blizzarding night, and too early in history to have cell phones to figure out where our team was staying. With no place to sleep and only gas money in our pockets, a hotel wasn’t really in the cards. So we parked in a lot and committed to sleeping in the back of “Number 32,” our loaner Colt Vista. We slept in our ski bags that night. Or, at least, we lay in them. It was frigid. Every half hour, one of us would start the car and do donuts around the lot to warm the engine, while the “sleeper” got tossed like laundry in the back. With the help of a few exhaust leaks, maybe we dozed for minutes at a time, but mostly it was just cold and ridiculous.
Mornings are often hard to crawl out of bed, but that morning, we were ready. At the trails we found some muffins in the lodge, learned we’d missed registration, and begged our way onto the start list. The organizers relented but had us start last, which was meant to be the least desirable seed.
As only believers expect, luck struck, and the overnight snow gave way to light freezing rain, and the tracks got faster and faster. By the time Justin and I started our race, the track was a certified luge run. There was no chance of kicking, so we committed to double poling, and went 1-2, ahead of guys like Dave Chamberlain and Justin Freeman, whom we had no business beating.
Sometimes the best days come after the worst nights. And always, the best memories happen in the presence of the best friends. Justin and I always did well together, and I think we have cross country skiing to thank for teaching us that taking a few punches just means you’re in the fight.
Matt coaching REG Camp in 2015 A vintage Eastern Cup mug (courtesy photo)
We want to hear from you! Send in your NENSA 30th reflections using this form HERE.
