Welcome to our 3-part Coaching with Games series! We’ll highlight skills, methods, and best practices for using games with your teams.
As NICA coaches, we know that fun is an essential part of learning and whole-athlete development. Here’s how you can become a pro at COACHING WITH GAMES!
Whether it’s through a tight section of singletrack or along a narrow log skinny, riding a consistent line is an important ability out on the trails. The Between the Lines game builds that skill, while allowing you to control the challenge and ramp up the fun!
In the fall of 2025, NICA student-athletes had the opportunity to participate with young people around the country in a study of youth sports. The National Youth Athlete Survey, conducted by the Aspen Institute’s Project Play initiative, polled almost 4,000 kids and teens age 10-17 about their experiences and attitudes on the subject.
What happens when girls are not just included, but centered? When a team is built around their experience, their voices, and their growth? The result is something powerful.
Preseason is the perfect time to get coaches together and begin building camaraderie, team culture, instruction skills, and a focus on fun. Are coach group rides the best way to do so, though, or do we take a page from athlete practice plans and apply it to ourselves?
Looking for a simple way to welcome new riders to your team this season? Try It Out events are now called Give It a Go events, and we’re introducing a new GRiT Give It a Go event designed to help more girls feel comfortable trying mountain biking for the first time.
Inspired by a fast-paced rodeo event, the flag racing game tests student-athletes’ timing and coordination as they race to place flags in a series of cones or buckets. Don’t be surprised to hear a YEE-HAW or two from riders cheering their teammates to the finish line.
Ever noticed that quiet pause? You see it in a rider who lingers, maybe breathing just a bit harder than she’d like to admit. She’s weighing the next challenge, wondering if she should speak up about the pace or the obstacle ahead. That hesitation? It’s where NICA coaches can shine.
Despite having just seven student-athletes and five coaches, the Spooner Composite team posted the most Teen Trail Corps hours in their league last season. What effect did their efforts have on local trails, and how did they inspire their community to pick up shovels and lend a hand? Find out in this Q&A with the team’s head coach and team directors.
This is the second article of a two-part series on creating and using practice plans with NICA teams. Following up on a piece about plan benefits and roles, this installment delves into what to include when creating your own.
The GRiT Coach Lead helps organize GRiT recruitment events, connects with the league’s GRiT Coordinator, and makes it easier for new girls and female coaches to find their place in NICA. It’s a simple role with an outsized impact, and every team benefits from having someone in this position.