Games increase fun, joy, and skill development. Allowing our athletes to play supports connection to their teammates and the sport of mountain biking. Coaches work in a dynamic environment, and your games will often need to be revised or adapted. Making a change doesn’t mean that you did something wrong, […]

Injuries are common during athletic activities, including sports like mountain biking. As coaches, we know crashes are inevitable and that part of our duty is to try and mitigate risk as much as possible. We can use training zones to help us manage these risks thoughtfully.

This classic game with endless creative progressions can help athletes learn balance, coordination, ratcheting, and ultimately, track stands. How does your team play foot down?

March is brain injury awareness month, a great reminder for coaches to refresh their knowledge on concussion protocols and training. Check out these concussion-specific resources and tools to ensure you’re doing everything you can to keep athletes safe and healthy.

On and off the bikes games are great! Especially if you play the right game at the right time. The athletes will be engaged, they will have fun, and they will learn something. If we play a game before our athletes have the social and MTB skills necessary to play […]

As NICA coaches, it’s part of our job to create welcoming and inclusive spaces on our teams, but it can be hard to try to explain every aspect of riding to someone who has never heard of mountain biking before. It can be an intimidating space to be a beginner, […]

This familiar playground game gets a twist when you add bikes and balance!

While sport should be a safe place for athletes to grow and thrive, the devastating reality is that there are times when that’s not true. That is why it’s so important for the many adults who surround young athletes to understand what qualifies as misconduct, intervene when necessary, and report […]

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!