Mackenzie Rizio

NENSA is excited to have a robust schedule planned for our Eastern Coaches Conference in Dublin on September 30th! Anyone from a 1st year parent volunteer to a BKL club leader or district chair is welcome to attend. This ongoing educational experience is open to all. NENSA membership provides registration for the conference (including 2 meals, presentations, a film debut, and Nordic Team Solutions coach membership raffle) and a significant subsidy for the clinics, reducing the overall cost of attendance. Whether you are new to coaching or a veteran we hope you will join us. Please fill out this application if you are in need of a scholarship, as we don’t want cost to be a barrier for attendance. 

Our BKL Leader Education schedule is as follows: 

11:30am Lunch provided by the Dublin School

12:15pm Drew Gelinas (US Nordic Product Director) – Swix Sport

1:00pm Classroom Presentation 

2:20pm Grass Skiing

4:30pm Zach Caldwell – Ski selection for juniors, and fleet management through growth and development

5:00pm Forum 

6:15pm Dinner

7:00pm Film Debut, “Why We Ski” Art Copoulos; Continued forum discussion 

The BKL Coaches Training will include a presentation covering a variety of topics including an introduction to the Bill Koch League; BKL Philosophy; a case study on youth sports today; models, methods, and best practices for coaching; and coaching for long term development and success. Following the presentation we will switch gears to the soccer field where we hop on real skis and “ski” around on the grass. We will cover some basic drills and exercises with the focus on building comfort on skis and go over an assortment of games to further develop those skills. Throughout the day we have smaller group presentations by industry experts Zach Caldwell and Drew Gelinas. 

The Forum Discussion will include Zach Caldwell (Caldwell Sport),  Bryan Fish (US Ski and Snowboard), Drew Gelinas (Swix), Kathy Maddock of DublinXC and Sam Benzing – The Paul J. Finnegan Family Head Coach for Men’s & Women’s Nordic Skiing Harvard University.  Participants are encouraged to provide and bring questions – topics that will be discussed include: the potential of further wax protocols in the future, optimizing training for a High School team, engaging your team and motivating them to train in the off- season, and how all levels of development share common themes. 

NENSA is excited to announce a new member benefit: a virtual ski swap group through Facebook. NENSA members can request access to the group via Facebook or can scan the below QR code using your smartphone or this link. Whether you are trying to find some new-to-you gear for the upcoming winter, or you are looking to free up a little extra space in the ski closet, this page is for you!

The NENSA Member Gear Swap Facebook group is a space for our community to virtually participate in buying, selling, or searching for new or used cross country ski gear much like you would in your club’s annual ski swap. NENSA is the admin of this page, but is not responsible for any transactions that take place through this page. We ask that listings posted to the NENSA Member Gear Swap page are cross-country ski gear only. Any spam or self-promotion will be removed. As always, please be kind to others in our community through any interactions on this page.

We are excited to share the Frost Mountain Nordic and Rikert Outdoor Center‘s 2024 BKL Festival logo and theme description with you all! We’ll continue to share Festival updates here in Breaking News, through our Trail Tales youth newsletter, and on social media (Facebook and Instagram). You can also keep tabs on the Festival website HERE.

Frost Mountain Nordic and Rikert Outdoor Center are excited to unveil the 2024 BKL Festival logo and the story behind the theme.

Mountains throughout the world have given rise to stories big and small, silly and spooky, lighthearted and cautionary. This winter, Frost Mountain Nordic and Rikert Outdoor Center invite you to celebrate the Myths in the Mountains at this winter’s BKL Festival! We’re inviting BKL skiers to explore the stories and characters of the wintery mountains, not just here in Vermont, but around the world. Yetis, Trolls, Spirits and others may join you on the trails. (You may want to pack some cheese or carry a bell.) 

Join Frost Mountain Nordic and NENSA for the BKL Festival at Rikert Outdoor Center on March 2-3, 2024 for a weekend filled with skiing, exploring, stories, and games. 

The Festival logo was designed by Viscaya Wagner, a multidisciplinary artist and designer based in Burlington, Vermont. She creates objects, artwork, and spaces that prompt us to consider our own inhabitation of the world — bringing depth, form, and humanity to our surroundings.  Viscaya’s work is inspired by human connection with the natural world and champions a deep connection with the outdoors. She hopes her illustrations bring joy, comfort, inspiration, or motivation to participate in this world in a meaningful way.

Find out more about Viscaya Wagner Design Studio here:

www.viscayawagner.com

www.honeyandrust.co

[email protected]

The NENSA staff are excited to unveil this coming season’s tagline. This year we solicited entries from our community and we received so many great responses! Thank you to everyone who submitted entries via Instagram.  Our tagline each year is used for fundraising campaigns, hashtags, events, and more! It is meant to capture the spirit of the season ahead in a way that is unique to New England skiing. 

The winning tagline is #SkiingBetterTogether, submitted by Jacob Huseby!

In the coming year, we are buoyed by the momentum of a season that saw record participation across the spectrum of NENSA events. As we continue to expand our programing, we aim to have all of our events welcoming and accessible to participants of many backgrounds, identities, and physical abilities. Along with our proven event offerings, we will launch a new series of community events this season: family-friendly and untimed ski tours as well as recreational/introductory opportunities. In a few short weeks, many in our community from BKL parent leaders to some of the nation’s most seasoned coaches will gather for a full day of clinics, presentations, activities, and social opportunities at NENSA’s Fall Coaches Symposium.

We celebrate the community and the synergy that results when we gather, #SkiingBetterTogether in 2023-24!

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!