Greetings NENSA Community!
Cross country skiing is an international sport, and with that in mind NENSA is very excited to announce that we are bringing Ludvig Sognen Jensen to New England for a week of high visibility rollerski events. Known to some by his social media handle @luddeyo, Jensen is the world’s fastest cross country skier in the new discipline of supersprint racing. Check out the box below to see the scheudle of events planned, and we hope you will make plans to join us at one or more of them!
This visit from @Luddeyo will include a guest appearance at our season opening NENSA Rollerski Race Series. This first race of the season is fast approaching and registration is OPEN on
SkiReg.com
for the App Gap Challenge to be held August 11th in Fayston VT. The field is limited to the first 200 entrants, so do not delay ~ register today! Want even more info on our upcoming Rollerski Race Series? Check out our new
NENSA Rollerski Program Page
on NENSA.net.
NENSA's Eastern Regional Elite Group (REG) Camp and Olympic Day was held the last week of June in Lake Placid NY. It included 47 athletes, and an array of top New England Coaches, former Olympians, as well as special guest coach/athlete Andy Newell. See box below for a full write-up and link to video and photos on NENSA.net.
The NENSA award season continues with a very deserving woman, Nancy Jean Steffan, of Prospect Mountain Ski Club, who was awarded the NENSA BKL Lifetime Achievement Award for her 47 years of coaching BKL lollipoppers! Congratulations to Nancy Jean and many thanks from all the children you have inspired over the years, including me! Read the full write-up on Nancy Jean below.
At the end of June, NENSA said a bittersweet farewell to our Youth Program Director, Amber Dodge Freeman. Amber leaves NENSA after 4 seasons with us, and she will be sorely missed. We wish Amber and her husband Kris all the best as they prepare for "Baby Freebird" to join them this September! We know we will see a lot of Amber again once Baby Freebird is old enough to join their local BKL club! And, my guess is we will be seeing Amber at every NENSA Woman's XC Ski Day too!
Hope you are all enjoying this beautiful summer, and don't forget to take a few moments to
renew
your NENSA membership for this coming season!
Best,
Amie
Amie W. Smith
Executive Director
New England Nordic Ski Association
Amie@nensa.net
Be sure to follow us on fb, Twitter and on Instagram @nensa_nordic
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Sending Kikkan Love & Support from the NENSA Community
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NENSA News from the Field
Highlights and Notes from NENSA and the Nordic World
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Ludvig Luddeyo's arrival in Boston on August 6th will kick off a week of events across the Northeast for the start of our NENSA Rollerski Race Series. The tour will include a stop at the U16 National Camp in Lake Placid, NY where Ludvig will face off head-to-head in a “celebrity deathmatch” sprint with Andy Newell, and a guest of honor appearance at our App Gap Challenge rollerski race in Fayston, Vermont on August 11.
Ludvig’s agent Steffen Aabel tells us “the absolutely funnest thing about working with Ludvig Søgnen Jensen is to push our national sport forward with supersprint where I can be witness to, and support the pioneering work he puts down. Therefore it is incredibly cool to be able to announce that we together have created a collaboration that is part of developing sports on another continent.”
The NENSA Rollerski Race Series is part of our push to fill a gap in the programming available to US skiers in the off season. Earlier this summer we announced our new partnership with Swenor Rollerskis, as well as our continued collaboration with SWIX, in supporting our summer and fall NENSA Rollerski Race Series which will bring together elites, juniors, and masters to strengthen our ski community. NENSA Competitive Director Justin Beckwith is also creating a bridge to Europe and international competition with the inclusion of Ludvig at the App Gap Challenge.
It’s an exciting time to be a cross country skier in New England. Mark your calendars and make plans to join us at one or more of these great events:
Wednesday August 8th:
Lake Placid Olympic Ski Jumping Complex & Roller Ski Track, Lake Placid NY 2 pm celebrity match between Luddeyo and Andy Newell.
Friday August 10th:
Waterfront Park, Burlington VT 3-5 pm NASTAR-style sprint to compare to Luddeyo's time, followed by autograph session at the Ski Rack. Then stay for live music and food at the Skinny Pancake.
Saturday August 11th:
App Gap Rollerski Race in Fayston VT. Special guest Luddeyo along with many other of our top New England athletes, including USST members, Elite Team members, junior and master skiers, will be toeing the line and racing against each other to try and break the course record. Registration open now on
SkiReg.com
.
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NENSA has created the first Roller Ski Series in North America ~ We are also creating a bridge to Europe and international competition.
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2018 EASTERN REG CAMP & OLYMPIC DAY RECAP
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Last Tuesday morning in Lake Placid, New York, 46 athletes toed the line for an uphill run test on Whiteface Mountain. The workout was part of our annual Eastern REG camp and was a grueling uphill grind in the late June sunshine. The camp brought skiers together from New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, Massachusetts and New York for a week of training with an all star cast of coaches and guests, hosted by the Northwood School, right in the heart of Lake Placid.
Link to full story, videos and more photos
HERE
.
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The 2018 NENSA Lifetime Bill Koch Leadership Award goes to
Nancy Jean Steffen
of Prospect Mountain Ski Club!
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Every year NENSA honors leaders in the New England skiing community with traditional annual awards. This chance to formally recognize the energy, effort, and engagement of some of our community leaders is one of the highlights of the year for the NENSA staff.
Please join NENSA in honoring Nancy Jean Steffen for her 47 years as the treasurer and lollipop leader at Prospect Ski Club with a Lifetime Bill Koch League Leadership Award. Nancy brought many young people along as the first coach they came into contact with by gently teaching them the ways of Nordic skiing, through fun activities and thoughtful, well organized practices.
“Nancy epitomizes the backbone of the Bill Koch League- volunteers who spread the love of XC to new generations of skiers. People like Nancy show that cross country skiing is a lifelong passion!” Bill Koch
Link to full story
HERE
on NENSA.net Breaking News
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SafeSport Programs
SafeSport, a program we have been offering NENSA clubs for a number of years now, is first and foremost on the national agenda for all sport national governing bodies, including US Ski & Snowboard, to ensure that all athletes are protected, and coaches and volunteers are educated, to the importance of SafeSport. NENSA urges ALL New England coaches, parent volunteers, venue volunteers and anyone working with youth to take the SafeSport on-line course (it only takes about an hour) and get certified. NENSA has been requiring this of all our staff and volunteer coaches and wax techs at JN's and REG Camps for several years now, and now it is federal law. So please take time this summer to be sure all your club volunteers and coaches are SafeSport certified. Do it today.
The USOC provides a wide range of SafeSport resources, including
online education and awareness
. All coaches and those in a position of authority over athletes are required to take the online SafeSport course. To create an account with SafeSport, please use the following access code and follow the instructions on the SafeSport registration page.
Go to
usskiandsnowboard.org
, scrool down to the bottom of the home page, and under Governance, click on the
SafeSport
link.
- US Ski and Snowboard SafeSport Access code: NBUD-E6QB-WGT3-BW7Z
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Renew
your NENSA Membership today, and THANK YOU!
June 1st officially starts our new membership year. Take pride in joining the New England Nordic community with your NENSA membership and in knowing your dues are coming right back to you in the form of NENSA programming and our ongoing support of venues, clubs, athletes and coaches across the region.
There are more reasons than ever to re-new your NENSA Membership! We now have
NENSA Members Only Benefits & Offers
on our website ~ Check back often as we will be adding more from our wonderful sponsors as the season progresses! Go to our "NENSA Members Only Benefits and Offers" tab, under Membership, on NENSA.net to see the latest offers!
Questions about renewing your membership?? Email
george@nensa.net
or call (207-688-6503) George in our NENSA office - he is there to help you!
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Upcoming Events
A Look Ahead at the NENSA Calendar
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Full NENSA.net Calendar Listing
HERE
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New England Nordic Ski Association
49 Pineland Drive, Suite 301-A, New Gloucester, ME 04260
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