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November showed its colors in Bethel, Maine, on Saturday morning, with classic early-winter weather setting the tone for our rollerski clinic. Luckily, the chill didn’t discourage our enthusiastic group of BKL skiers or the Gould Academy junior athletes who came out to help!

We started the day learning about rollerskis, getting comfortable on the wheels, practicing how to stop, and mastering some frog hops (complete with plenty of ribbits along the way). After some free skiing, the group wrapped up the session with a lively game of hockey to finish out the morning with smiles all around.

After lunch, NENSA met with several local youth coaches to talk about Bill Koch League philosophy and youth coaching best practices. Missed the presentation? Not to worry, we’ll be covering these topics and many more to add to your winter coaching toolkit this weekend in Dublin at our Fall Coaches Conference.

And for anyone looking to sneak in one more rollerski before winter fully arrives, join us on November 15th at Stratton Mountain School for our NENSA Community Training Day, open to skiers from 7th–8th grade BKLers through the college level.

In support of our mission and our day-to-day operations, NENSA is so pleased to welcome Steve Bruner as Operations and Programs Director.

Steve’s first experiences with competitive skiing with his high school team in Stillwater, Minnesota ignited a passion for endurance sports that led to collegiate running and adventures in the many places he resided before becoming a New Englander, including Mexico, Madagascar, Antarctica, Alaska, Germany, Minnesota, and Montana. He spent more than a decade leading wilderness trips and directing an outdoor adventure program, planning and coordinating more than 150 canoeing and backpacking trips each summer. After earning an MBA in 2003, he worked with the National Parks on strategic planning and implementation. He also owned and operated a business selling green building materials, managing all aspects of operations from accounting and customer service to marketing.

Since arriving in New England more than a decade ago, he has been involved in nearly every aspect of the sport – from co-founding the Amherst Nordic Ski Association to coaching in the Bill Koch League (BKL) and at the junior level in Amherst, MA (Amherst High School) and in Vermont (West River BKL, Stratton Mountain School), venue operations (Stratton and Viking Nordic Centers), event organization (Stratton Terrain Challenge), and staffing NENSA camps and trips including U16 Championships, Regional Elite Group (REG), and Junior Nationals.

Heidi Lange, Executive Director, couldn’t be more thrilled to welcome Steve to the NENSA team. “Steve brings a rare blend of operational expertise and a deep commitment to our sport and community. I’m excited about the strategic thinking, collaborative problem-solving, and thoughtful leadership he adds to our team. He knows how to turn strategy into execution, better positioning us to serve our mission and our community every day.”

NENSA Board President Ellen Chandler recognizes what this means for NENSA, “With Steve on the team, we are going to be able to make some big strides with operational effectiveness thanks to his knowledge and experience.”

Steve reflects, “I am thrilled to be joining such an amazing team. From the NENSA Staff to the Board of Directors, I feel fortunate to get to work with such a great group of people. In fact, great people abound in our Nordic ski community. Joining NENSA means I’ll get to work more closely with race organizers, clubs, sponsors, athletes, coaches, venues… What a collectively awesome bunch! 

I find great satisfaction in working for mission-driven organizations.  That the NENSA mission includes the words “share the joy” is absolutely perfect.”

When asked about his favorite ski memories, Steve’s recollections illuminate the joy he finds in skiing: “I have so many amazing ski memories, from touring to racing, from coaching to being a parent of young skiers. 

Not long after graduating from college, I was living in a cabin in northern Minnesota on the edge of the Boundary Waters. One spring, after a few freeze-thaw cycles, the snow on the ice-covered lakes had built up a nice crust, perfect for skate skiing. I went out for a long ski one weekend, tracing a route I had paddled and portaged in a canoe in previous summers. Under blue skies, I stayed out until the sun was low. My last few kilometers were heading south to north on an arm of a large lake. A stiff wind at my back, my home stretch was a wide-open, buttery-smooth exhilaration that felt like flight.

While working for Yellowstone National Park, I lived in Mammoth Hot Springs, the north entrance of the park. After work, I regularly skied into the park on the winter roads, “groomed” by snow coaches and snowmobiles. As I ventured deeper into the park, I began formulating a plan to ski across the park to West Yellowstone, about 75k away. It came to fruition one weekend when I had a friend driving to “West” who could give me a ride home that evening. Now, it can feel pretty remote in Yellowstone in the winter. I skied with food, water, lots of extra layers, and emergency supplies. About two hours into the ski, I came upon a herd of bison in the middle of the road. With no way to get around them, I thought I was in trouble. Fortunately, as I was contemplating turning around, two snow coaches approached, heading in my direction. I waved them down, asked if I could ski in between them as they parted the herd, and made my way through to the other side. I arrived at West Yellowstone late in the afternoon, pretty tired, hungry for hot food, and proud to have pulled it off.”

The New England ski community is looking ahead to a big winter in the East when the region will welcome skiers from around the globe to major events including U.S. Cross-Country Ski National Championships (January 1–9, 2026, Lake Placid, NY), FIS Cross-Country World Cup Finals (March 19–22, 2026, Lake Placid, NY), and U.S. Ski & Snowboard SuperTour Finals (March 27–29, 2026, Craftsbury, VT).

As for Steve and what he most looks forward to this season, “I’m super excited to attend another World Cup race in Lake Placid in March. The energy in Minneapolis in 2024 was out of this world. I’m also looking forward to coaching with Stratton Mountain School (where my daughter, Zola, is a senior) and attending Carnival races (my son, Micah, is a freshman skiing for Dartmouth).”

Please join us in welcoming Steve to NENSA and keep an eye out for him on the trails (and in your inbox) this winter!

The Operations & Programs Director oversees NENSA’s day-to-day organizational operations to advance the mission and values of the organization. Working closely with the Executive Director, staff and board, sponsors, clubs, and event organizers, the Director keeps NENSA running smoothly by stewarding contracts and negotiations; managing sponsorship fulfillment; leading technology systems and integrations; supporting logistics and select events; providing development support; overseeing CRM and data management; producing clear reporting and analytics; and supporting series scoring. The role builds efficient processes and systems that enable the organization’s work.

SMS coach Alex Jospe is one of three New England coaches awarded a 2024-25 Trail to Gold fellowship by The National Nordic Foundation, The Olympic Women’s Book Project, the Women’s Ski Coaches Association, and the U.S. Ski Team. A continuation of the Trail to Gold Olympic Book Project, the T2G Program funds World Cup coaching grants to talented women coaches, allowing them to join the US Ski Team coaching staff during the course of the World Cup season. Here she shares her reflections on this experience and the lessons she brings to the athletes who have the privilege to work with her at SMS and at NENSA. Congratulations, Alex!

I am sitting in a flying tube somewhere over the North Atlantic, en route home from a whirlwind week coaching at the Tour de Ski. My younger self had no idea that future-Alex was going to do something this cool in her life! I was granted the opportunity to take part in this fellowship program known as the Trail to Gold, a brainchild of the National Nordic Foundation and the Women’s Ski Coach Association. 

The Tour de Ski, for anyone who hasn’t followed this sport as avidly as the true nerds, is a stage race in Central Europe, modeled after the Tour de France, but scaled back and smooshed into the regular World Cup season. What started as nine races spanning three countries and 12 days has been streamlined in the last two decades to seven races, two locations, and nine days. Despite the narrowing of scope, the Tour still represents a huge feat of endurance, logistics, and energy management to complete, and the athletes are now at a carefully managed “recovery camp” to ensure that their bone-deep exhaustion from completing this beast turns into a supercompensation bump, rather than a season-ending dysfunctional overreach. The techs… are probably managing their own recovery camps, after doing 20+ km of glideouts each morning! 

Somewhere along the way, I started to pick up on a central theme. The team culture currently in place on the US Ski Team is no accident – it is a deliberate practice of excellence, in every aspect, led by Matt Whitcomb (an SMS alum!). The higher an athlete rises in sport, the broader their network of support, and it was a true pleasure to get to be part of such a large, integrated, and positive team. I get to watch Jessie and Julia and Ben train in the summer with the SMS T2 Elite Team when they train with our SMS juniors, so I am well aware of how much work these athletes are putting in, but it becomes so clear that it’s not just the athletes doing athletic things that puts them on the podium. From a nutritionist who wrangled Italian chefs into feeding us at very American suppertimes, to a masseuse, a PT, and a doctor who donated their limited vacation time to come here and work to the bone, to two professional coaches, seven professional wax techs, one Trail to Gold fellow, and a slew of diehard friends and family cheering wildly, it really takes a village.

You can list out the roles in that village, put the schedule on the wall, and hit the play button. Very functional. Very efficient. But when each little villager takes the effort to truly buy in, the music feels louder and the colors look brighter. Despite the exhaustion that was creeping through each and every one of the villagers, and the athletes are central to that statement, the vibes were great. I heard giggles, and gentle ribbing, and saw tears get hugged away, and thank-yous meant from the heart, and illness met with kindness and support. In the wax truck, I was surprised (though I shouldn’t have been) by the frank and open debriefs at the end of the day. Techs would share what they thought worked, what didn’t, things they were psyched for. And, importantly, nobody shied away from admitting a mistake if they thought they made one. But what truly warmed my heart was the passing of the trophy. I don’t know its heritage, but there is this janky wood and plastic trophy that might be a pair of skis (?), that lives in the truck. And you can award it to anyone who deserves some recognition for the day. This part is important – you need to award it unironically, and the recipient has to give a speech. There is also a backup trophy, which appears to be a hockey puck, that can be given to multiple people on a given day. No speech required with the backup trophy. It’s the little things like this that help create an environment where each villager feels supported, encouraged to speak their mind, and ready to give their all. This is a similar vein of our primary team culture goal at SMS, where every team member should feel valued and supported. That environment is part of the foundation for each athlete’s success.

Of course a race has winners and losers. Your name on a results sheet is pretty cut and dry, and even if you have cultivated the mindset where you can celebrate the small wins, any racer is bound to be disappointed some days. This is magnified when it’s your job to ski, and it takes a lot of mental fortitude to turn around a disappointment for another race in less than 24 hours. But I watched the athletes (and techs!) manage that feat, and their villagers supported them in the little ways they could, time and again. In addition to all the new technical ski service knowledge, I think these are the lessons I take forward with me to the SMS junior team and beyond. In the end, the Tour de Ski was just another set of ski races, but watching the USST functioning from within was an experience that sets it apart. Thank you to everyone in my village for making the trip possible for me!

As we round the corner into a New Year, we want to take a moment to remind you that you can find up to date information about Para Skiing and Para events in New England at this page. NENSA is excited to announce that for the second year in a row Eastern High School Championships will also serve as a National Para Junior Invite. Additionally, in an effort to continue expanding Para opportunities in the region, this year we will be having a Para component at the BKL Festival.

A big thank you to the staff of U.S. Paralympics Nordic Skiing for been very helpful compiling resources and creating opportunities. We want to encourage anyone with a Para athlete in their life to reach out to our regional and/or national partners for opportunities to become involved or to better support this amazing group of skiers!