NENSA News

Every year, NENSA has the distinct honor of recognizing deserving members of our community for their energy, efforts and community engagement. The NENSA annual awards include the John Caldwell Award, new this year is the Wendall “Chummy” Broomhall Award, the Bill Koch League Leadership Award, the Club of the Year, and Coach of the Year. Please feel free to write in candidates that you feel deserve recognition for each of the specified awards.

Click here for the nomination form open until April 18th

Click here to view last year’s recipients

Click here to view past award recipients

NENSA is busy planning for the 2018-19 season, which includes getting bids from venues and event organizers to host our Eastern Cup race weekends, Zak Cup & Marathon races, and the U16 & EHS Championship weekends.  Bid Sheets are now available for venues and event organizers to bid. We hope you will consider hosting one of these great race events for our New England Nordic community.

Please click here for more info, and to submit a bid.  All bids due by May 1st.  Thank you!

Fantastic weather, an Olympic-caliber morning Supertourevent, and a positive and supportive atmosphere led to a great day at the MNC New England Club Relay Championship, held last Sunday at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center.  Skiers started out with two classic legs, followed by two freestyle legs. Having teams of all ages, men and women, and Masters and BKL skiers all in the same race was a great scene…teams changed position as different skiers took their turn, which kept the excitement high the whole way. Unlike other relays, the NE Club Relay Championship required four person teams to compete in three combined age categories of >199 years, < 200 years, and BKL. In the >199 category, Ford Sayre took the top honors for the women and men while NWVE clinched the mixed team title. In the < 200 year category, it was GMVS for the men, Dublin School for the women, and SMS for the mixed team. The top BKL team was SMS.

After the points were calculated for the 56 teams represented by 17 clubs, it was the Ford Sayre Club who became the 2018 New England Club Champions. Overall 236 racers participated in the relay. Many thanks to our sponsors at Toko, SunCommon, Skirack, and the great folks at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center!

Thank you to Jim Fredericks for sending in this wrap-up of the NE Club Championship.  Jim can be reached at: Jimfredericks2@gmail.com

      

The New England Nordic Ski Association (NENSA) seeks to find a dynamic, outgoing individual to be our new Youth & Introductory Program Director.  This individual will be responsible for NENSA’s Bill Koch Youth Ski League programming, including the New England Bill Koch League Festival, Nordic Rocks for Schools programming, Bill Koch League coach and parent trainings, the U16 and Eastern High School Championship events, and the New England Women’s XC Ski Day. This person should be familiar with NENSA programing, and the New England Nordic ski scene.  If interested, please read more below:

Youth & Introductory Program Director | Job Posting

New England Nordic Ski Association is seeking a Youth & Introductory Program Director to oversee all of NENSA’s youth and introductory programming.  This position will directly manage NENSA’s Bill Koch League and Nordic Rocks programs and position NENSA as a central resource for the New England youth skiing community.  The ideal candidate will bring a high level of collaborative energy to work that will cross generations and engage a broad spectrum of constituent priorities.  Applicants should be self-motivated and able to work independently.  This role requires strong, inspired leadership with a collaborative spirit to galvanize and work with our Nordic community.  This position will work closely with community stakeholders including venues, event organizers, clubs and the NENSA staff team.  Lively and instructive engagement with potential and existing NENSA sponsors and contributors is another function of the job.  The Youth & Introductory Program Director is an empowered position, requiring energy, vision, attention to detail, and the ability to multitask, in advancing all of NENSA’s youth and introductory programs.

Job Summary:

Including, but not limited to, management of the following programs:

• Establish NENSA and NENSA.net as the go-to resource for youth skiing information, events, and resources for the northeast region.
• Providing leadership, education, instruction and guidance to coaches, club leaders, event organizers, parents, athletes, and others
• Work closely with and inspire and support the District Chairs to facilitate communication in support of, and between, the youth ski clubs of the region and the broader community.
• Support a wide base of parent-volunteers and club leaders focused on building inclusive community
• Manage all of NENSA’s direct youth/ Bill Koch League programs, including the annual Bill Koch League Festival and the Nordic Rocks for schools’ program.
• Oversight of all aspects of Women’s XC Ski Day, the U16 Championships and Eastern High School Championships
• Collaborate with NENSA Competitive Program Director on Coach Education initiatives.
• Expand Club Leader & Volunteer Training curriculum
• Manage community communications as liaison, via email, social media, and via regular eNewsletter as well as maintaining the youth program sections of the NENSA.net website.
• Collaborate on additional community building programs, events, and projects, as part of the NENSA staff team.

Community communications:

• Management and updating of published manuals/forms for event management and youth programing
• Snowflakes eNewsletter
• Social media postings (fb/Instagram/twitter/NENSA.net) for all events and programs

Coach & Parent Education and Development:

• Organize fall coaches’ trainings
• Schedule Club visits as needed

Athlete and Coach Development pipeline, philosophy, and programs:

• Drafting, compiling, and sharing resources
• Implementing and scheduling collaborative programming

Additional Key Priorities, including, but are not limited to, the following:

• Work closely with NENSA staff and Board of Directors
• Maintain program-specific content on NENSA.net website
• Engage NENSAs Bill Koch League and Women’s Day Committees
• Hold a US Ski & Snowboard Coach Certification of L100 or higher
• Obtain Technical Delegate Certification (will train)
• Promote available resources to NENSA community
• Track and share relevant news and updates via NENSA.net and social media
• Other duties as assigned as being part of the NENSA staff team

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree Preferred
• Familiarity with the New England cross country skiing community
• Excellent written, verbal and interpersonal communication skills
• Ability to lift and carry 50 lbs.
• Comfortable working on a computer and online, including proficiency with Microsoft Excel, Word, PowerPoint & google docs, mass email engine, WordPress and NEON (will train), social media and digital media sharing
• Demonstrated ability to work in fast paced multidisciplinary team environment
• Must be eligible to work in the USA
• Valid driver’s license
• Passion for sport of cross country skiing and the ideals of the NENSA mission

Conditions:

• Regular work from home office or other remote location with occasional travel to headquarters in Maine or other locations with staff.
• Ability to work/communicate regularly and effectively from a remote/home office
  • Frequent and extensive regional travel in and around New England
• Work will often be done outdoors, in varying and winter weather conditions

The Youth & Introductory Program Director is a full time, September through May position, although this year, will be half time May and June for training, with July and August off.   Salary for this 9-month full time position is $28,000 to $30,000 commensurate with experience.  This position reports to the Executive Director.   All NENSA staff and coaches undergo background checks.  Start date is negotiable, but we seek to fill this role as soon as possible.  Interested candidates should send a letter of interest, resume, and three references by no later than April 9th to Amie Smith, Executive Director via email at Amie@nensa.net

The last day of the Eastern High School Championship weekend started off the same as the two days before, cold and calm. The “Black Mountain Breeze” started up mid morning, with wind gusts continuing throughout the day. The last day of the Championship weekend was the 4 x 3.3 km mixed medley relay, which started with a slight delay due to circumstances with a team bus. This year the women started the race with a 3.3 km classic leg, handing off to the male skier for another classic leg, followed by a 3.3 km women’s skate leg, and ending with a male skate leg.

After the mass start, the first woman to ski in was Sophia Laukli from Maine with a time of 8:41, tagging teammate Liam Niles. Laura Appleby from team Massachusetts was close behind Sophia with time of 8:45, and tagged Jacob Jampel to head out on his classic leg. The third woman to come in was Phoebe Sweet on Vermont team #1 in 8:49, tagging teammate Ben Ogden, followed by another Vermont skier, Charlotte Ogden skiing the first leg, coming in at 9:12 to tag Will Koch.

Ben Ogden was the first skier from the second leg to ski into the stadium with a time of 7:15, to tag Callie Young. Jacob Jampel came in second with a time of 7:49 handing off to Shea Brams, with Will Koch skiing into the stadium next with a time of 7:46 to tag Rena Schwartz.

Callie Young had the fastest time on the women’s skate leg, coming in first on that leg with a time of 8:14 to keep the Vermont #1 team’s lead, and tagging Greg Burt. Shea Brams skied in next with a time of 8:37 tagging Massachusetts skier James Kitch, with Mae Chalmers from Vermont’s #3 relay team skiing in at 8:17, Rena Schwartz on Vermont’s #2 relay team in 8:26, and team Maine skier Abigail Strienz skiing in at 8:27.

It was Vermont’s #1 relay team winning the gold at the end, with Greg Burt skiing in with a time of 6:31, second place went to team Massachusetts with James Kitch with a time of 6:15, who had the fastest time on the mens skate leg. Third place went to Vermont team #2 with Joshua Valentine finishing with a time of 6:37. Fourth place went to the Maine relay team, with Caleb Streinz skiing in at 6:37, and Fifth place went to Vermont’s #3 relay team with Zander Martin finishing with a time of 6:46. Full relay results are found here.

In the team standings New York had 8,465 points, Maine in fourth which had 10,613 points, third place was New Hampshire with 12,041 points following closely behind Massachusetts who took second place with 12,254 points. Team Vermont had the overall win with 16,540 points to be awarded the Graham Taylor Cup. Graham awarded the cup to Vermont Team Leader Adam Terko.

Find results from all 3 individual races, the relay, individual overall points and the team scores here.

Thank you to all the skiers, coaches, Team Leaders for a fantastic weekend of racing. Thank you to every parent for all your support of these New England skiers!

Thank you to the Chisholm Ski Club members for their dedication to our sport, and for hosting a great event, and thank you to NENSA’s Associate Sponsors L.L. Bean, Swix and Nokian Tyres for making this all possible.