Greetings NENSA community,

We conclude our announcements of the 2023 NENSA Awards this week by recognizing and celebrating Roger Arsenault of Chisholm Ski Club as the recipient of the John Caldwell award. It is the steadfast commitment of those like Roger that make our sport and our community so special. Enjoy the wonderful tributes and photos shared with us at the link below and join us in congratulating and celebrating Roger!

The season is ramping up and we have much to share this week including the launch of a NENSA Member Gear Swap, a frequent community request that we are thrilled to be able to address. In the coming days, we are also hosting two rollerski events and an Eastern Coaches Conference, both gathering points for our community that offer opportunities for all. We hope to see you!

In this week’s KickZone

• Congratulations to Roger Arsenault, NENSA's 2023 John Caldwell Award Recipient
• New NENSA Gear Swap!
• 2023 Keys and Climb to the Castle
• 2023 Eastern Coaches Conference
• BKL Parent/Leader Education at NENSA Coaches Conference
• 2024 BKL Festival Logo and Theme Unveiled
• NENSA Club Liability Insurance
• Open Coaching Positions
• NENSA Rollerski Hats
• NENSA Membership
• Scenes from the Community
• FasterSkier, the Memory Clinic, and SMST2 event: Sept. 25 in Bennington
• 2023 Footprints Trail Run at Craftsbury Outdoor Center
• Skirack Winter Swap: October 7
• 2023 Women in Ski Coaching Summit

In the News

• NNF: NNF Awards 16 Skiers Individual Athlete Support Grants
• FasterSkier: Sophia Laukli’s Cinderella Story Continues

Have a wonderful week with some sunshine ahead!

All my best,

Heidi

Heidi Lange

Executive Director

New England Nordic Ski Association

heidi@nensa.net

www.nensa.net

Thank you!

Memberships directly support all of our year-round programming,

backing us in our mission to nurture and sustain an active cross country ski

community for all ages and levels throughout the East. 

Thank you for taking a minute to join or renew your NENSA membership,

and for the important support that it provides!

Please join me in thanking and supporting our wonderful NENSA Sponsors 

for their generous contributions and the ongoing impact that they have on NENSA programming and cross country skiing in New England!

One of NENSA’s finest traditions is presenting the John Caldwell Award. This award annually recognizes a single individual, or entity, which embodies the spirit, dedication, innovation, and pride of John Caldwell. NENSA is thrilled to announce that Roger Arsenault of Chisholm Ski Club is the recipient of the 2023 John Caldwell Award.

Roger hails from the River Valley in Maine, a community firmly rooted in the history and tradition of skiing in the United States. An alpine skier in high school, he left to attend Maine Maritime Academy, but returned and has been deeply invested in the community since. A board member of Chisholm Ski Club since 1985, Chairman of the Black Mountain of Maine board of directors, and CSC Race Director, Roger has played an instrumental role in the operations of the venue, the programming, and innumerable events ranging from a Bill Koch League festival to Junior Olympics to U.S. Nationals and NCAA Championships.

NENSA is excited to announce a new virtual ski swap exclusively for NENSA members! Access to the group can be requested via your smartphone by scanning the QR code or by visiting 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!

Saturday contest or spectate the Keys to the Castle sprint race on @mt.vanhoevenberg world class track - compete in the trails you will race this winter in Eastern Cup / SuperTour and Junior Nationals! There’s fun for kids too, with learn to Rollerski, laser biathlon, bouldering, and the Mountain Coaster! Registration includes event schwag - VanHo always puts on a show!

Sunday is for the masses - come challenge yourself to the climb up the Whiteface Memorial Highway! There are options for freestyle, classic and long and short courses. Oh and some prize money! Come race or just ski.

In less than two weeks, coaches from around the East will gather in Dublin, New Hampshire for a day filled with clinics, socialization and an opportunity to interact with an expert panel of coach and industry leaders. NENSA is proud to offer opportunities for U.S. Ski & Snowboard certifications, and more importantly provide a space for coaches to gather, share ideas, and learn from each other.

We’ve adopted #skiingbettertogether for the 2023-24 season across all of our programming, and the tag couldn’t be more apt for you — coaches — the ones who motivate our community. Your investment in collaborative coaching ensures that athletes receive outstanding experiences, stimulates communication across the region, and make competitive events more inclusive.

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.

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. 

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.) 

General Liability coverage for clubs under the NENSA Master policy is back. We have worked closely with our provider and are thrilled to be able to restore this community benefit.

A Master policy aggregates coverage for the community, offers better coverage than what clubs may find individually, and saves our clubs the costs of these separate policies. It is a member benefit that we are proud to offer and that we believe will benefit our community directly through the local savings it offers to clubs.

THANK YOU TO OUR SILVER SPONSORS

Seeking Part-time Youth Ski Coaches Winter '24

Open Coaching Positions With EMXC Skiing

Assistant Nordic Ski Coach

NENSA membership is about so much more than licensing and individual benefits. As a NENSA member, you are part of a broader community helping to grow and support cross country skiing in the Northeast, ensuring that the sport we love continues to grow and thrive.

our organization and directly supports our year-round offerings and subsidizes low and no-cost programs that make our New England ski community vibrant and inclusive.

U.S. Ski & Snowboard works to provide a safe environment in which athletes can train and compete, free from abuse and inappropriate behavior. Please review U.S. Ski & Snowboard's Athlete Safety policies, the SafeSport Code, and the Minor Athlete Abuse Prevention Policies and join us in sustaining a culture of safety.

If you are an athlete who has experienced inappropriate behavior or know of an athlete who has experienced inappropriate behavior, report a concern:

The U.S. Center for SafeSport

Hotline:  833-587-7233

Report:  CLICK HERE

U.S. Ski & Snowboard

Report: CLICK HERE

We all are part of promoting a culture of safety through education, listening, and speaking up.

THANK YOU TO OUR BRONZE SPONSORS

FasterSkier is excited to team up with The Memory Clinic to present an evening with Olympic Athletes Julia Kern, Jessie Diggins, and Ben Ogden to discuss the Integration of Physical and Mental Health. On Monday, September 25, in Bennington, Vermont these SMS T2 team members will be on hand to discuss the importance of goal-setting and maintaining motivation for athletes and non-athletes, alike.

Saturday, September 30, 9:30 AM 2:30 PM

We invite all trail runners to join us for the Footprints Trail Run. We’ll start the day off with a trail race, winding from the Outdoor Center through singletrack, ski trails and dirt roads up to Craftsbury Common on either a 5 or 10-mile course. But the race is just the starting point for a broader conversation. 

NNF Awards 16 Skiers Individual Athlete Support Grants

September 8, 2023 | by Ben Theyerl

The National Nordic Foundation (NNF) is excited to announce the awarding of Athlete Support Grants to 16 skiers that represent the breadth, and depth, of talent among the next generation of American skiers.

NNF Athlete Support Grants are intended to boost committed athletes who exhibit a propensity for international racing success as a nordic athlete, and face circumstances critical to that mission that require support beyond categories captured in our Pillar Projects.

This NNF Athlete Grant cycle saw an especially talented application pool, drawing from a diverse set of US ski communities. The selection committee overseeing this grant cycle was comprised of NNF Board members Sophie Caldwell Hamilton, Kikkan Randall and Colin Rodgers, who, with the backing of our generous supporters, were able to award a total of $20,000 in NNF grant funding among the recipients.

The cross-section of NNF grantees demonstrates US Skiing’s growing success at developing internationally competitive nordic skiers. Represented among those selected for funding are skiers with World Cup starts, top World Junior Championships finishes, OPA Cup podiums, and U18 Nordic Nation’s Cup wins. The breadth of programs with athletes receiving funding geographically spans from New England to Alaska, and includes clubs and schools from the junior, collegiate, and elite level. Taken together, the NNF Athlete Support Grants awarded this cycle point towards an auspicious future for US skiing, and the continued success of supporting our developing athletes on a national scale through NNF.

Sophia Laukli’s Cinderella Story Continues

September 16, 2023 | by Ken Roth

When Stifel U.S. Ski team member Sophia Laukli’s foray into the world of professional trail running began, the prevailing question was when would this fairy tale string of world class domination end? The answer to that question is now clear; it will end when Sophia Laukli wants it to end.

That conclusion reached a thundering crescendo when Laukli notched another victory in the Golden Trail Series competition. Laukli took first place today in the Pike’s Peak Ascent, winning by almost four minutes.

THANK YOU TO OUR OFFICIAL SUPPLIERS

New England Nordic Ski Association

P.O. Box 97

Lyme, NH 03768

Phone: 802-331-0762