September Greetings NENSA Community ~
It is with great pleasure we introduce The Marty & Kathy Hall $10k Challenge to our NENSA programing this winter! Read all about this wonderful opportunity for our New England schools and clubs, as well for the top athletes in our FIS races this winter, in the box below. In the words of Marty and Kathy, “It is with great pride that we give these dollars to join the fray and journey to international success—we need help though—please join the battle!”
The Hall's have been inspired by our NENSA programing, including our annual App Gap Challenge rollerski race. Read all about this years race, which covered multiple days with both an in-person (local) and virtual component. We are pleased on how well it went, given all the COVID restrictions we are currently under. It has given us faith in being able to continue to offer safe and appropriate regional races and events, following state and local guidelines, this fall into winter.
Also below, is an excerpt from a letter US Ski & Snowboard sent out to members earlier this month, regarding National level XC ski events for the upcoming season. Even with National Championships not happening this winter, NENSA wants you to know we look forward to providing our New England ski community with a robust race calendar this season and we are well into the planning process for providing (following state & local guidelines, and our COVID contingencies) our top athletes regional FIS races and a Regional Eastern "JN's" for our New England and Mid-A juniors. More to come on all this soon!
NENSA's fall and winter programing is fast approaching, so what better time than NOW to renew your NENSA membership! Please take a few minutes to do that, and support the organization that supports XC skiing here in New England, and beyond! NENSA is here for you, running programing for you, our ski community ~ we need your support this year, more than ever!
Click here for MEMBERSHIP: RENEW or JOIN today, and thank you!
Here's what we have in store for you in this week's KickZone in the boxes below ~
- The Marty & Kathy Hall $10k Challenge
- The App Gap 2020 Recap - a full write up, an awesome video, and prizes awarded!
- Save the dates Sept 26 & 27: NENSA's Fall Coaches Symposium may be virtual this year, but there are still so many great offerings!
- US Ski & Snowboard updates: Important Announcement Regarding National Cross Country Events for the 2020-2021 Season
- From Craftsbury Outdoor Center - their new rollerski loop is open! (with guildlines) check out the awesome video below!
- From Cabot Cheese: November is fast approaching! Get the 411 on all your voting questions and needs!
- From TOKO: The Gus Schumacher interviews, part 1 & 2
Be sure to check out the full calendar listings at the bottom of this newsletter.
I hope this finds everyone safe and well ~ and enjoying the start of the school year in your part of New England!
Best,
Amie
Amie W. Smith
Executive Director
New England Nordic Ski Association
Amie@nensa.net
781-864-0545
GIVING: DONATE to NENSA today, and thank you!
MEMBERSHIP: RENEW or JOIN today, and thank you!
Be sure to follow us on fb, Twitter and on Instagram @nensa_nordic
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NENSA News from the Field
Highlights and Notes from NENSA and the Nordic World
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Marty & Kathy Hall step up to the plate with a $10k donation and a $10k Challenge for our NENSA programing this season
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NENSA would like to thank Marty & Kathy Hall for the wonderful opportunity they have given to NENSA, and our ski community, with the Marty & Kathy Hall $10k Challenge! Not only have they helped NENSA financially with a recent $10k donation, but they are also offering this additional $10k Challenge, which will support both individual athletes and the top school or club. Their generosity will add a great challenge aspect to our competitions this year!
The $10k Challenge is split into two $5k awards ~ spreading their generosity over more programs and athletes:
#1: $5000 will be awarded to the top school or club in New England based on the top 20 overall finishes (20 male & 20 female) for our potential Fall Rollerski races, four Eastern Cup weekends, and select Popular Races. At the end of the season, the school or club with the most points will be awarded $5000 by the Hall’s.
#2: $5000 will be used for FIS podiums – NENSA will be supporting a robust FIS schedule this season and, thanks to the Halls, awarding cash prizes to top finishers similar to past U.S. & Snowboard SuperTour events and current Nordique Canada FIS events. For the first four FIS races, December – February, this Challenge will offer $1250 per race which will pay out for podiums ($300/$200/$150 per gender). While there is no national SuperTour series this winter, the Hall Challenge will offer our top New England based athletes much deserved monetary awards this season.
In the words of Marty and Kathy, “It is with great pride that we give these dollars to join the fray and journey to international success—we need help though—please join the battle!” Thank you again to the Halls for these very generous donations!
If anyone else is interested in supporting NENSA, and our programing this winter and beyond, please contact Amie Smith, Executive Director, at Amie@nensa.net or 781-864-0545.
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The APP GAP 2020 Recap!
In-Person & Virtual Vertical Challenges
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NENSA just wrapped up a hybrid App Gap Challenge with invitational in-person and all-inclusive virtual components. This rollerski competition was important for both the competitors and NENSA as we start to implement protocols of how our winter events will be conducted. Athletes, parents and coaches were energized by and thankful for this iconic event. Due to the event’s success and the safety compliance of all involved, we look forward to hosting several more rollerski events this fall – stay tuned! As part of our strategy to continue fostering the competitive and social components of our programs during this health crisis, we were happy to support a strong showing of virtual competitors of all ages who were not able to physically attend – this model will remain in place until we are no longer in a pandemic...Click HERE for full recap, results, winners, awards & and check out this AWESOME VIDEO (edited by Bill Harmeyer, SMS T2)!
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Save the Dates: September 26 & 27th
NENSA Fall Coaches Virtual Symposium
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Stay tuned for final details and zoom links to our upcoming virtual
- US Ski & Snowboard (Bryan Fish) will be hosting a virtual L200 Coaching class that weekend (sign up at US Ski & Snowboard)
- NENSA will be hosting a virtual Coaches Roundtable at 7pm on Saturday 9/26 with some special guest speakers!
- NENSA's Youth & Introductory Program Director, Kait Miller, will be hosting a virtual BKL Leaders and Parents coaching clinic as well!
- Possible in-person L100 Technique clinic - details still being worked out - stay tuned!
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NENSA COVID-19 Considerations ~
Contingency Planning
for our Events and Races
this coming season
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The Covid-19 pandemic poses significant challenges to NENSA’s 2020-21 winter event schedule. We are committed to hosting races and will make every effort to safely put on events in whatever form they might take. Our first objective is to ensure the health of our community in New England. Our second objective is to host our major events: Eastern Cups, Popular Races, U16 and Eastern High School Championships, the Bill Koch Festival, and Women’s Day as scheduled. To further foster excitement and an inclusive and community-centric atmosphere around skiing, NENSA will also be organizing some new fun season long challenges and goal-oriented activities. Skiers are encouraged to limit their travel and attend events that are within their region and state.
State and regional guidelines will dictate how we conduct events. We understand that the course of this pandemic, and thus the guidelines put in place to keep us safe, might not progress linearly. While the nature of competition will remain the same, we must operate our events in a manner that ensures the safety of all athletes, volunteers, staff and the communities in which our events are held until the end of the Covid-19 pandemic. Below you will find detailed information outlining our event contingency plans - please note all of these outlines require that participants abide by the New England Cross Country Promise (NECCP) - failing to follow these guidelines may warrant removal from an event and jeopardizes our community and the entire event calendar. Our goal is to be transparent and keep our community informed and up-to-date on our evolving thoughts and plans. Please note participation may be limited by what state and/or county you are coming from and the duration of your stay (ie. day trips vs. lodging).
....click HERE for the current plans for Eastern Cups, Popular/Citizen Racing, U16 & EHS Camps, BKL Festival and Women's Day
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Current NENSA Member Discounts from some of our awesome Sponsors!!
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How Fantastic is this??!!
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From Concept2, Morrisville, VT:
NENSA members will receive $40 off the retail price of a Concept2 SkiErg. Just mention this NENSA member discount when placing your order by phone. 800.245.5676 Concept2.com/ski
From EnjoyWinter.com:
Bliz, Swenor, Anti-Freeze Face Tape and Start poles, as NENSA partners, are pleased to offer NENSA members a 20% discount at their website www.EnjoyWinter.com. Just type in NENSA20 at checkout. EnjoyWinter every day of the year!
From UnTapped Maple:
All NENSA members receive a 10% discount on all nutritional products, use code NENSA10 at checkout. Go to untapped.cc to place your order today and fuel yourself naturally with the organic simplicity of maple syrup.
From SIDAS, your Foot Company:
From BRIKO:
This week, BRIKO is having a Tour de France Promo SALE! 20-50% off all bike helmets and all their sunglasses! Go to: https://brikousa.com
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An Update from US Ski & Snowboard:
September 3, 2020
Dear Cross Country Skiing Community,
In light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Cross Country staff has been meeting frequently with many members of our community, including the various event organizing committees, regional leaders, members of the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Cross Country Sport Committee, athlete representatives, etc. We have created solutions that work for our Cross Country community pertaining to competition this season amidst the ongoing pandemic. We are developing a robust calendar of racing that will continue to motivate, develop and provide qualifying opportunities for international competition for cross country athletes.
Decisions for all other U.S. Ski & Snowboard domestic event calendars will be made independently and based on an assessment of each sport’s unique set of circumstances and variables.
Modification of 2020-21 XC National Events Calendar:
The U.S. Ski & Snowboard Cross Country Sport Committee has voted to formally restructure many of our national-level competitions for the 2020-21 season. This includes the SuperTour, U.S. National Championships, and the Junior National Championships. These events will be replaced with high-level regional and divisional competitions-including season ending Regional Junior Championship in each Region of the country, at the discretion of local organizing committees and regional governing bodies.
As such, these event organizers are no longer obligated to pay prize money equal to national levels of competition, nor will they be sanctioned as National Championship-level or Continental Cup (COC) level events. This will alleviate these organizers of the financial restraints that are tied to hosting a national-level event, which in most cases include attracting a significant number of participants required to balance their event budgets.
This decision has no bearing on NCAA competitions, which are governed separately by the NCAA. We recognize that this comes as challenging news for everyone in our community, but we have been working hard to create strong regional calendars and practical solutions to selection criteria.
Reasoning and Considerations:
- We recognize that the nature of the sport of the Cross Country ski racing in our nation has special considerations that are dissimilar to other U.S. Ski & Snowboard disciplines:
- Race Format: Even in individual start racing, social distancing challenges exist in race formats where athletes are in close proximity (i.e. passing each other) and therefore, do not easily allow for combined fields of athletes from different geographical regions.
- Lead Time: Some of our key Championships and selection events come early in the season, and likely too soon for a vaccine to be in place and widely available.
- Host Venue Regulations: A majority of existing cross country host venues have local regulations that create numerous challenges for hosting national level events. These venues cannot tolerate the financial risk in the event of a cancellation (see next point).
- Financial Model: The number of competitors required - sometimes in excess of 400 - for events to be financially viable.
· We have heard from multiple coaches and clubs that they don’t have the ability to currently travel to a given race location.
· By restructuring our national events calendar now, before the race season, local organizing committees, divisions, and regions are better positioned to start planning an effective and motivational race calendar for their area, potentially sanctioning races via U.S. Ski & Snowboard and/or the FIS to attract quality competition. We also assist our SuperTour, U.S. Nationals, and Junior Nationals organizing committee partners by allowing them to suspend portions of their planning and potentially avoiding the commitment of further financial and time investments.
· By developing strong regional calendars now, we take away some of the uncertainty surrounding the race season, providing athletes realistic targets to train for, while keeping them motivated for racing.
· We have already modified our selection criteria for all international events to consider regional racing, rather than national-level racing. We have the ability to consider races happening across the country, assess performances from those regional events, and name teams for international trips via discretion. We have already created Discretionary Selection Review Committees for all of these selections, as well as mechanisms to solicit community feedback from the divisions prior to many selections. This system will allow for stand-out regional and divisional competition results to be recognized and considered for international team selection. The move to utilize much more discretion in these selection criteria is intended as a fix during the current pandemic only, and we will return to criteria that focus principally on objective selection when we can.
Development of Regional, Divisional, and Local Competition Calendars:
We have spent the past few months discussing the importance of developing robust regional, divisional and local race calendars with local organizing committees and regional leaders. In many cases, these regional leaders have been extremely proactive in calendaring races. Like all of us, they want to see local race calendars which motivate athletes and coaches, while providing a safe competition environment. I’d like to applaud all of the incredible foresight and creativity of our community in planning calendars. Many regions are in the process of sanctioning races with U.S. Ski & Snowboard and with the FIS to make sure there are high-quality events with point scoring opportunities within reach of every athlete. If you haven’t already, be sure to reach out to your coach or regional coordinator to find out what’s happening in your area.
(A note from NENSA: We look forward to providing our New England ski community with a robust race calendar this season and we are well into the planning process for providing our top athletes regional FIS races and a Regional Eastern "JN's" for our New England and Mid-A juniors. More to come soon!)
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NOVEMBER IS FAST APPROACHING!
Voting is a civic right and responsibility.
Get the 411 on all your voting questions and needs! From our partners at Cabot Cheese!
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The new Rollerski Loop at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center is here! WOW! Enjoy this video ~ armchair travel is still a great thing until we can all safely get there in person!
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From TOKO ~ two recent interviews with Gus Schumacher ~ enjoy!
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Upcoming Events
A Look Ahead at the NENSA Calendar
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Date TBD (later this fall): TD & Event Organizer Training (virtual)
Full NENSA.net Calendar Listing HERE
Link to our NENSA Virtual Resources Page HERE
Link to our NENSA BLM Resources Page HERE
Link to our NENSA Equality & Diversity Policy HERE
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New England Nordic Ski Association (NENSA)
49 Pineland Drive, Suite 301A
New Gloucester, ME 04260
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