Greetings NENSA community,

It is truly a privilege to partner with others in building community. Concept2’s commitment to local and athletic communities has meant a long-standing partnership with NENSA and shared explorations about making sport accessible and serving our New England ski community in meaningful ways. It’s a pleasure to welcome them back as a Silver Sponsor and to continue thinking about our shared communities. NENSA members remain eligible for a discount on any SkiErg purchase. Also, save the date for the 2023 SkiErg World Sprint competition November 9-12 (an announcement is below). Plan to join Team NENSA this year and be part of a collective New England ski community effort! There will also be prize boxes awarded to the individual clubs with the highest participation numbers. All details will all be shared soon.

NENSA staff enjoyed a weekend of events in Lake Placid that brought together skiers 11-79 years old, novice to stand-out. The weather and scenery were unbeatable and the skiing a sure sign of the approaching season. That is no surprise to us at NENSA where we are in a beehive of winter planning and preparation, but a sight to behold nonetheless as we all convened and previewed the course that will soon host an Eastern Cup/Supertour and 2024 Junior Nationals. The on-ramp to winter continues in the coming weeks. You will find evidence of that below and in the coming weeks with events such as our Eastern Coaches Conference on Saturday, the final 2023 rollerski events in Maine and Massachusetts, and NENSA’s Annual TD and Event Organizer Seminar (save the date: December 2-3) all approaching. We hope to see you!

In this week’s KickZone

• 2023 Eastern Coaches Conference - online registration closes Friday
• 2023 Keys and Climb to the Castle Recap
• New NENSA Gear Swap!
• An Evening with Olympic Athletes Julia Kern, Jessie Diggins, and Ben Ogden, A Discussion on the Integration of Physical and Mental Health: Video
• NENSA Club Liability Insurance
• Open Coaching Positions
• NENSA Membership
• Scenes from the Community
• Toko Team Orders
• SkiErg World Sprints: Save the Date
• 2023 Footprints Trail Run at Craftsbury Outdoor Center
• US Ski & Snowboard Club Excellence Fall Summit
• Skirack: Winter Swap, Junior Lease, and Nordic Team Night
• LL Bean Ambassadors
• Nordic Team Solutions Membership
• 2023 Women in Ski Coaching Summit

In the News

• Nordic Insights: Domestic Teams Preview 2023: Stratton Mountain School
• Nordic Insights: Julia Kern, Ben Ogden, Jack Lange Take Wins in Lake Placid Rollerski Race Weekend
• FasterSkier: Inaugural Caribbean Roller Ski Festival Draws on Local Experience and Advice

Have a wonderful week!

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!

Continuing Education and Community Building

Come “Join the Conversation” this Saturday at the Eastern Coaches Conference to be hosted at the Dublin School.

Throughout the day there are many opportunities to interact with coaching peers from Bill Koch, High School, Club, College and Masters programs.

Share a day filled with Continuing Education or fulfilling in-person USSS certification. Dialogue will expand through lunch and dinner.

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.

#SkiingBetterTogether

There is always magic in the air in Lake Placid — last weekends doubleheader rollerski weekend highlighted two impressive venues and the enthusiasm for cross country skiing in the East. Saturday boasted several of the top skiers in the world competing alongside developing junior and senior athletes, in the third Keys to the Castle, a sprint race that includes agility features in the starting corridors. Sunday, the 16th running of the Climb to the Castle drew a stellar crew of 87 competitors, who gracefully ascended the Whiteface Veterans Memorial Highway on the clearest weather day many can remember.

NENSA members are invited to join the new NENSA Gear Swap group!

Simply scan the QR code or visit this link. Current NENSA membership number (or your child's) must be provided. Please contact us if we can help locate that: staff@nensa.net

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!

THANK YOU TO OUR SILVER SPONSORS

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.

Stowe Nordic Hiring BKL/Youth Ski Program Coach

Seeking Part-time Youth Ski Coaches Winter '24

Open Coaching Positions With EMXC Skiing

Assistant Nordic Ski Coach

Designed by Kait Miller. Cost is $25 per hat (includes shipping and handling). All proceeds go to supporting NENSA's community-based programming and events.

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.

Membership revenue sustains 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

We at Toko are continuing with our popular team night program to facilitate team orders through Toko dealers. We offer this program using two order forms:

1. Gloves and Bags
2. Waxes and Tools.

Team orders can be collected and submitted by a coach or volunteer to a local ski shop (hopefully a Toko dealer). The shop can then place a special order to us at discounted pricing, receive the team’s bulk order, and collect payment at pickup.

Whether you use the SkiErg for general fitness, CrossFit, adaptive conditioning or to train for competitive cross-country skiing, the 15th Annual SkiErg World Sprints on November 9–12, 2023 is a great challenge to look forward to. In addition to being an excellent training goal, it gives you a chance to put down your personal best for the 1000-meter distance and see how you stack up with others of your age and gender around the world. Check out our 4- and 6-week training plans to get you in the best shape ever for the SkiErg Sprints or for any of your athletic pursuits.

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. 

Please join us every Wednesday in October for our four-part 2023 Club Excellence Fall Summit Webinar Series - 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM MDT 

Each of these 4 sessions will provide content for coaches, administrators, parents, and volunteers to further their understanding of best principles and practices that are the foundation of a culture of continued improvement. Prior to each session, there will be an opportunity to consider your current level of knowledge; following each session you will ask and discuss questions and reflect on what you have learned. We hope you will join us for a great way to kickoff the 2023-24 winter season and we look forward to your engagement!  

• Session 1 - October 4th – Dave McCann, U.S. Ski & Snowboard Sport Education Director – “Unlocking Potential: The Blueprint for Long-Term Athlete Development”
• Session 2 - October 11th – Moderated Panel Discussion – “Elevating Excellence: The Comprehensive Program Plan” 
• Session 3 - October 18th – Bob Poehling, U.S. Ski & Snowboard High Performance Manager – “Striking the Right Balance: Achieving Peak Performance while Nurturing Long-Term Athlete Growth.”
• Session 4 - October 25th – Nadia Kyba BA, BSW, MSW, RSW, President, What Now Foundation – “Moving Your Team from Conflict to Cohesion” 

Winter Swap is a consignment type sale - you can buy, or sell, or both! Aligning with our mission of inspiring our community to pursue a lifetime of outdoor activity and environmental stewardship, we facilitate finding new homes for gear that would otherwise sit in a basement, garage or end up in a landfill.

Junior Cross Country Ski Lease

Are your kids first-time Nordic skiers? Or are they rapidly outgrowing their old equipment? If you're looking for high quality gear that fits and performs well, but don't want to break the bank, Skirack’s Junior Nordic Ski Lease Program is a great solution.

#llbeanambassador #beanoutsider

It’s the beginning of fall! 🍁

A perfect time to join NTS and prepare for the ski season.

New this week: learn to use your body weight while poling, L3 intervals, and we start a new max strength plan.

Domestic Teams Preview 2023: Stratton Mountain School

September 21, 2023 | by Nordic Insights

What is the official name of this ski team? SMS T2 Team (aka SMS or Stratton)

Where is it located? Stratton, Vermont

Who’s on the coaching staff? Perry Thomas is the head coach. Maria Stuber joins the team this year as Program Director. Jason Cork continues his longstanding coaching work with Jessie Diggins.

Who’s on the roster this season? Jessie Diggins, Ben Ogden, Julia Kern, Will Koch, Alayna Sonnesyn, Adam Witkowski, Lauren Jortberg, Fin Bailey, Sydney Palmer-Leger, Lina Sutro, Ava Thurston, and Jack Lange. Diggins, Ogden, and Kern are on the U.S. Ski Team A-Team; Palmer-Leger is on the B-Team; Koch is on the D-Team.

What’s different from last year? No one has left the team. Here’s head coach Perry Thomas on some of the team’s new strengths...

Julia Kern, Ben Ogden, Jack Lange Take Wins in Lake Placid Rollerski Race Weekend

September 25, 2023 | by Nordic Insights

Any time most of the SMS team shows up for a rollerski race, you’re going to have a legit competition. That was the theme in Lake Placid over the weekend, as Stratton Mountain School skiers headlined deep New England fields in the third annual Keys to the Castle sprint race and the 16th annual Climb to the Castle hillclimb, held on the Mt Van Hoevenberg rollerski trails and up Whiteface Mountain, respectively.

The women’s field saw Julia Kern race, and win, on both days. For the men, Ben Ogden won everything in sight in Saturday’s sprint, then Jack Lange led the way in Sunday’s hill climb.

All three athletes are members of both SMST2 and the U.S. Ski Team. The weekend featured, by my calculations, the country’s deepest fields for any formal rollerski race so far this summer. (I’m not trying to litigate Keys to the Castle vs. sprint day at Alaska REG; just, I don’t have public results for the latter that I can share, so I’m calling it not a formal rollerski race. Keys to the Castle it is.)

Inaugural Caribbean Roller Ski Festival Draws on Local Experience and Advice

September 22, 2023 | by FasterSkier

The first full week of May 2024 sees the launch of the inaugural roller ski festival on the Dutch Caribbean island of Saba. The event is likely the first ski festival anywhere in the Caribbean.

The courses were tested earlier this year by a team comprising Jackson, NH, XC head groomer Silas Eastman, Colby College Head Coach Tracey Cote, Quarry Road, Waterville, ME, program Director Patrick Cote, and Jackson ski patroller Deeanna Eastman. In addition to the (roller) skiing they made use of hiking and running trails that abound on this small but mountainous island, and enjoyed the hospitality, swimming and snorkeling, and uniquely uncommercial island vacation experience.

THANK YOU TO OUR OFFICIAL SUPPLIERS

New England Nordic Ski Association

P.O. Box 97

Lyme, NH 03768

Phone: 802-331-0762