Kait Miller

NENSA is psyched to be partnering with LL Bean and some northeastern Ski Centers in a fun, free, engaging youth cross country ski game this winter: XC Ski Bingo! We realize almost all of you are still waiting for snow… so while you wait you can start planning how you’ll get Bingo. Every few weeks we will raffle off LL Bean US Ski Team Pom Hats and $20 LL Bean gifts cards to players who completed Bingo. Players can submit more than one Bingo throughout the season if each one is unique.

Download and print the Bingo card for your state and get ready for some winter adventuring. Be sure to fill out the BINGO ENTRY FORM when you get Bingo. We’ve got Bingo cards specific to Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont with local Ski Centers to ski at and fun activities to complete. Activity descriptions and info about participating Ski Centers included in the Bingo card downloads below.

Massachusetts | Maine | New Hampshire | New York | Vermont

Rules of the Game:

1. Must be under 14 years of age to play.
2. Game runs from December 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021.
3. Get “Bingo” by completing the activities and skiing at the Centers in a full row, column, or diagonal.
4. Document your activities and the Ski Centers you skied at with photos and mark your Bingo card.
5. Fill out the Bingo entry form once you’ve completed Bingo. You will include your activity and Ski Center photos and a picture of your marked Bingo card.
6. Follow all state COVID-19 Regulations: MA, ME, NH, NY, or VT.
7. Get outside and HAVE FUN!!!
8. Direct any questions to [email protected]

We will be announcing our 2020 NENSA Award Recipients over the next month and are kicking things off with the BKL Leadership award. Read on and stay tuned!

The Bill Koch League Leadership Award is given out every year to someone from our ski community who we feel embodies the fun, community minded, lifelong approach to skiing. This could be a coach, a parent, a club leader, a volunteer, or an official; the New England Bill Koch League is sustained by a large group of adults who give their time and energy to the sport that they love. This year we are thrilled to be giving the award to Kate Parrott of Chesterfield, MA and the Berkshire Trails BKL Club.

If you’ve been to a New England Bill Koch League Festival in the past few years, chances are you’ve seen Kate in the vicinity of the start corral. Whether helping skiers to get lined up in the correct order, or leading those skiers in a group dance or jumping jacks routine to keep them warm before their start – her calm and commanding presence helps skiers feel at ease in what could be an otherwise stressful situation, and has been a welcome addition to the stadium area.

On top of being a coach and Club Leader for Berkshire Trails, Kate serves as NENSA’s BKL District Chair for Western Massachusetts, a volunteer position that has her serving on a committee with NENSA staff and other chairs from around New England. The committee acts as a sounding board for NENSA’s decisions on BKL philosophy, a decider for the festival location, and a direct link to the coaches within the different districts and clubs. Kate’s voice on the committee is always thoughtful and focused on keeping the spirit of fun alive within the New England Bill Koch League.

When she’s not serving on the BKL committee, coaching, or parenting (Kate’s daughter Sophie will be an 8th Grader this year, and skis for the Berkshire Trails BKL Club), Kate is a middle school science teacher in the Northampton, MA school district. She also runs a farm specializing in sustainably healthy products, with the intent to provide a platform to share agricultural experiences and demystify food production.

We feel lucky to have Kate in our New England Bill Koch League community – congratulations Kate on the 2020 New England Bill Koch League Leadership Award!

We are happy to still be offering Women’s XC Ski Day this year! We are keenly aware of the pandemic and are following all changing COVID regulations. We will continue to be be adaptable, follow all regulations, and adjust to whatever extent necessary for everyone’s safety and wellbeing. We are currently planning to offer five smaller Women’s XC Ski Day events across VT, NH, MA, and ME on January 24th. We ask that participants register for the event closest to them in their home state. If you are not from one of the four states offering a clinic (or if your state’s event is full), please register in a state that you can get to in accordance with COVID travel regulations. We will be vetting registrants for everyone’s safety and we greatly appreciate your cooperation. Please note that there is no day-of registration this year.

We are excited to share that LL Bean is generously providing every Women’s Day participant with a NENSA monogrammed flannel. Women’s Day Skida hats are available for purchase on the registration page and the pre-purchased hats, along with flannels, will be distributed at every venue. Each Women’s Day event will also include a fun prize raffle and tasty bagged to-go lunches. You can read about changes to our clinic offerings for 2021 HERE and learn about equipment rentals at each venue HERE.

Women’s XC Ski Day 2021 Venues:
MA: Weston Ski Track
ME: Inland Woods + Trails (formerly Bethel Village Trails)
NH: JacksonXC & Waterville Valley Adventure Center
VT: Woodstock Inn and Resort

Register HERE!!! We recommend registering sooner rather than later. We believe Women’s Day will be quite popular this year and the registration number is capped to ensure we meet gathering size limits and provide a high quality instructional experience. If the event is cancelled, we will offer refunds. If registration is full, you can email Kait Miller ([email protected]) to be added to a waitlist. This year’s event is different than in past years and we want you to be well prepared so please visit our event website (or read the event notes on SkiReg) for full details including important information about NENSA’s COVID Guidelines and health screening requirements.

 

During a productive Junior Committee Meeting, the decision was officially made to move to a state-based model for U16 and Eastern High School Championships. Many factors contributed to this decision including a desire for as many skiers as possible to be able to partake. NENSA will work with each state to host championship events that fits safely within their state’s COVID guidelines. Plans are in the works for the exact format of these events but will likely include a unique challenge event in addition to racing, with metrics that facilitate competition between the states.  We are actively working towards a concrete plan within this new structure and we appreciate your patience and understanding as we all navigate this new world. Our goal is to offer fun, inclusive, and, above all, safe events this season. We will keep you posted as our planning progresses and we have more details to share!

Please note that Titcomb Mountain in Farmington, Maine is the official 2022 EHSC host and the Fort Kent Outdoor Center in Fort Kent, Maine is the official 2022 U16 Champs host. We are grateful to these two organizations for their flexibility and understanding, and look forward to working with them next winter!

NENSA is excited to be partnering again with Swix! This year Swix is offering discounted outerwear (training jacket, puffy coat, and training pants) to all NENSA-affiliated BKL Clubs. If your club is interested, please email Kelley Roche at [email protected] so she can get an online shop set up for you. Online club shops will be open for a few weeks for club members to place orders as supplies last. One shipment per club will then be sent to a club coach who will distribute the gear. All items will be embroidered with the NENSA logo. Reach out soon if you want orders to arrive before the holidays!

NENSA recently hosted our fall Coaches Symposium with both in-person and virtual program offerings that allowed over 100 coaches from far reaching areas of New England and beyond to engage with each other and learn from our knowledgeable presenters, clinicians, and panelists.

All of our presentations are now available to our community on NENSA’s YouTube.  Please take the time to subscribe to our channel as we continue to build content on this platform.

Before the Symposium, Stratton and Green Mountain Valley School teams coordinated with NENSA to create a fast XCX course including two bicycle ramps and lots of sweeping corners.  Seventeen athletes wore the NENSA bibs for the first time since March and helped us refine and practice safety procedures.  You can find results HERE and course video HERE.

The in-person clinic took place in southern Vermont at the Ball Mountain Dam and Stratton Mountain School, and featured classic and skate technique progressions that wrapped up with some run throughs of the Rollerski Ramps! SMS coach Alex Jospe and NENSA’s Youth and Introductory Program Director, Kait Miller, headed up with classic portion of the clinic while NENSA’s Competitive Program Director, Justin Beckwith ,and SMS T2 Athlete Bill Harmeyer ran the skate portion. Virtual offerings included presentations, webinar footage from the Equinar Junior Camp in Norway, and discussions with guest panelists, NENSA staff, and U.S. Ski & Snowboard representatives.

The virtual presentations kicked off Saturday evening with the notoriously speedy Ludvig Jensen sharing his knowledge and experience live from Norway. Next we learned about Injury Presentation, Strength, and Mobility by watching some webinar footage from the Norwegian Junior Camp featuring a discussion with Doctor Petter Soerensen along with demonstrated exercises. We also heard from U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s Cross Country Sport Development Manager Bryan Fish and enjoyed an informative discussion with experienced Physical Therapists Pete Dickinson and Brie Beckwith. The evening wrapped up with a recorded presentation on The Female Skier by Guro Stroem Solli, a current researcher and former Norwegian National team member. This presentation was followed up with an enlightening experience-based discussion led by coaches Maria Stuber and Alex Jospe as well as current US National Team Biathlete, Kelsey Dickinson. 

Sunday’s virtual programming consisted of three presentations beginning with An Overview of L100 Coaching Certification: Content and Process with U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s XC Sport Coordinator, Adam St. Pierre. Next up we heard from Bryan Fish about Building Comprehensive Community & Club Engagement & FAQ’s about North American Fluoro Free Policy. The symposium wrapped up with a presentation from Kait Miller on BKL Philosophy and Long Term Athlete Development with a special focus on mindfully coaching in a pandemic.

We are grateful to all our panelists, presenters, clinicians, and attendees for taking the time and energy to make this symposium a fantastic learning experience for all involved! Stay tuned for updates about potential U.S. Ski & Snowboard L100 certification opportunities and NENSA’s new L50 Regional Coaches Education Certification that is currently in the works.

The decision has been made with the wonderful folks at Quarry Road Trails and the Quarry Road Ski Club that the BKL Festival will move to a regional model of operation for 2021. Our goal with the BKL Festival is for our young skiers to enjoy a fun, safe, and inclusive capstone to their winter season, and we believe this can be best achieved through a district/state-based model where each region hosts a Mini-Festival.

NENSA will work with our dedicated BKL District Chairs and Leaders in each state or region to host a Mini-Fest event that fits safely within their state or region’s COVID guidelines. Goody bags and graduation certificates will be mailed to District Chairs for distribution. More information will be available at the beginning of November. In the meantime, stay tuned for the upcoming 2021 Mini-Fest theme announcement! We appreciate your flexibility and understanding with this change.

NENSA will be releasing Event Host Guidelines and BKL Club Best Practice Recommendations soon. You can read through our current COVID Considerations and Event Contingency Plans HERE.

NENSA just wrapped up a hybrid App Gap Challenge with invitational in-person and all-inclusive virtual components.  This rollerski competition was important for both the competitors and NENSA as we start to implement protocols of how our winter events will be conducted.  Athletes, parents and coaches were energized by and thankful for this iconic event.  Due to the event’s success and the safety compliance of all involved, we look forward to hosting several more rollerski events this fall – stay tuned!  As part of our strategy to continue fostering the competitive and social components of our programs during this health crisis, we were happy to support a strong showing of virtual competitors of all ages who were not able to physically attend – this model will remain in place until we are no longer in a pandemic.

Link to Event Video (edited by Bill Harmeyer, SMS T2)

For the in-person event, we had a total of 68 skiers from seven local teams race the 7.25k Classic App Gap Invitational over the course of 5 days within their team units. A silver lining to small teams racing over the course of a week was that all competitors competed on matched Swenor rollerskis. We had competitors from 5 local junior clubs – Stratton Mountain School (SMS), Green Mountain Vally School (GMVS), Ford Sayre, Craftsbury Nordic, and Mansfield Nordic – in addition to two professional teams – the Craftsbury Green Racing Project (CGRP) and the Stratton Mountain School T2 (SMS T2) team. It was heartening and inspiring to witness the energy, excitement, and care that New England’s top junior athletes, World Cup competitors, Olympians, coaches, and family members alike brought to the event. We are grateful to everyone for carefully following COVID guidelines and helping us put on a fun and safe event.

Olympian and World Cup medalist Sophie Caldwell of SMS T2 captured the win on the open women’s side. She was closely followed by her teammates Katherine Ogden and Alayna Sonnesyn in second and third respectively. In the open men’s race, Ian Torchia, also of SMS T2, took a decisive win over CGRP’s Adam Martin. Craftsbury junior Finn Sweet had an impressive race rounding out the podium in third. For the junior women, Craftsbury’s Nina Seeman had a dominating performance taking the win by almost two minutes over her teammate Quincy Massey-Bierman in second. Hattie Barker of Mansfield Nordic placed third despite battling some wet weather on her way up the Gap. In the junior men’s race, Finn Sweet was followed by Charles Martell of Mansfield Nordic in second and SMS’s Fin Bailey in third.

Full App Gap Invitational Results HERE.

Our Virtual Challenge consisted of three categories: Climb in Time (total vertical in 30mins – 15mins for BKL), Climb over Distance (total vertical over 7.5k – 2k for BKL), and Climb the Whole Time (total vertical in two weeks). We also added a category that meshed all results across the hybrid event by comparing everyone’s average vertical feet per minute.

In the Climb in Time event, Mansfield Nordic’s Tristen Adie took the win climbing 1271 vertical feet. HSC Biathlon’s Marvin Wang placed second overall, and first for the men, ascending a total of 1216 vertical feet. In the Climb over Distance event, EMBK’s Leigh Neideck took the win in the women’s race and the BKL race climbing 185 vertical feet. On the men’s side, NWVE’s Chris Burnham outstripped the rest of the field climbing a total of 3006 vertical feet. Our impressive Climb the Whole Time winner is Peru Nordic’ Peter Minde whole climbed 10,771 vertical feet!

Full App Gap Virtual Challenge results HERE.

Thank you to our primary sponsors for this event: EnjoyWinter, Burkie and Cabot Cheese.

Top Places and Prizes:

Open Women
1) Sophie Caldwell – SMS T2 – M1 – Cabot Vintage Cheddar / Burkie Insulated Fuel Belt Case
2) Katherine Ogden – SMS T2 – SR – Burkie Insulated Fuel Belt Case
3) Alayna Sonnesyn – SMS T2 – SR – Burkie Insulated Fuel Belt Case

Open Men
1) Ian Torchia – SMS T2 – SR – Cabot Vintage Cheddar / Burkie Insulated Fuel Belt Case
2) Adam Martin – CGRP – SR – Burkie Insulated Fuel Belt Case
3) Finn Sweet – Craftsbury – U20 – Burkie Insulated Fuel Belt Case

Junior Women
1) Nina Seemann – Craftsbury – U20 – Anti-Freeze SuperPuff with NENSA logo
2) Quincy Massey-Bierman – Craftsbury – U18 – “2020 Happened” App Gap T
3) Hattie Barker – Mansfield Nordic – U18 – “2020 Happened” App Gap T

Junior Men
1) Finn Sweet – Craftsbury – U20 – Anti-Freeze SuperPuff with NENSA logo
2) Charles Martell – Mansfield Nordic – U20 – “2020 Happened” App Gap T
3) Fin Bailey – SMS – U16 – “2020 Happened” App Gap T

Upcoming Rollerski Races to come – please note The Maine Event is already on the calendar for October, 25th.

 

We are very excited to announce that App Gap 2020 is happening! It will come as no surprise to anyone that the format will be quite different than in previous years to ensure safety during this global pandemic. App Gap 2020 will take place between Aug 22 and 30 with multiple small physically distant in-person invitational rollerski races up the Gap for local clubs and a virtual event that is open to our whole NENSA community. While we would love to host an in-person App Gap for everyone, we simply cannot safely do that in this environment and we want our summer/fall events to be safe and successful so we can provide more opportunities this winter. We appreciate your understanding and hope you are excited to compete in the Virtual App Gap Challenge. There will, of course, be sweet prizes and the nature of a virtual event means anyone can participate regardless of their location! There are three virtual rollerski participation categories and we will be rolling out a team competition within these categories as well so stay tuned!

Climb in Time (single effort): how much elevation can you gain in 30mins (15mins for BKL)?
Climb over Distance (single effort): how much elevation can you gain over 7.5k (2k for BKL)?
Climb the Whole Time (multiple efforts): how much total elevation can you climb between Aug 22 and 30? Can you climb Mt. Everest (29,029ft)?! 

Register for the Virtual App Gap here.

Current NENSA members get a discount on registration and this will be our first event that we utilize SkiReg’s data entry and leaderboard platform! We hope that wherever you are, you can get out on your rollerskis and start climbing! Please reach out to [email protected] with questions.

AWARDS: Stay tuned to @nensa_nordic and Facebook for updates on Awards.  Prizes for all ages from Cabot Creamery, EnjoyWinter (Swenor, Bliz, and Anti-Freeze Face Tape), Swix, and more.