The Bill Koch Youth Ski League is sustained by a large group of adults who give their time and energy to the sport that they love and every year the Bill Koch League Leadership Award honors one of these coaches, parent/caregivers, club leaders, volunteers, or officials from our ski community who embodies fun, community, and a lifelong love of skiing. This year we are thrilled to give this award to Kristina Casey of the Holderness Nordic Club.
Kristina spent her adolescence into early adulthood training and racing and was a member of the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic team. At the 2002 games, she competed in the 15k Mass Start and Sprint Freestyle events. She began her coaching journey in Idaho at the junior level and then went on to coach at her alma mater, University of Utah before moving east to work with the Holderness ski communities at the BKL and Junior levels. Today, she is the leader for K-4th grade programming for the Holderness Ski Club.
A Holderness Ski Club parent writes “Kristina brings a dynamic, creative and fun introduction to Nordic skiing. She builds love and enthusiasm for the sport at a young age to develop racers as well as youth who simply like to ski for fun.”
From Jamie Hannon, another community member, “Her program is ALWAYS fun and playful, but full of subtle development of fundamental skills. She has a great sense of humor, seemingly endless patience with all ages, a bottomless bag of games and tricks and just tons of love for kids and skiing. She is also always patient with the parents too, and willing to share concise expert advice about gear or to help a parent see a developmentally appropriate perspective on their BKL skiers.”
He also notes that “Kristina doesn’t often share that she skied in Salt Lake 2002, or any of her other amazing ski accomplishments. She’s incredibly humble, so when the kids find out somehow or another it’s like an amazing secret that they’re part of. Because she just carries herself like a regular person, the kids see that they don’t have to be “elite” to aspire to excellence. We have many great local MS and HS skiers that graduated from BKL during Kristina’s leadership and always say Kristina is one of their major inspirations. There really are too many wonderful things to say about her leadership in our BKL program. I cannot think of anyone who could be more deserving of recognition by this award.”
Foster Whitworth, District Chair for Southern/Central New Hampshire region, shared “Kristina shares her lifetime of experience and love of skiing so naturally with junior skiers of all ages. She leads the Holderness BKSL with warmth and enthusiasm and builds relationships with each of the kids which has directly resulted in increased participation in the Holderness BKSL and energy in the entire Holderness Ski Club, she is invaluable as a leader, coach and friend.”
NENSA is incredibly grateful to have Kristina in our ski community and thrilled to honor her years of hard work and dedication with the 2023 BKL Leadership award. Congratulations Kristina!
