Julie is a super-coach! Read about her role as a NICA leader and as a co-founder of Trails for Youth, an organization that provides opportunities for children to explore biking trails in and around Washington, D.C. Julie empowers riders with life lessons on and off the bike, and shares her best coaching advice at The Trailhead.
As coaches, we dedicate a lot of our time to preseason events that are focused on student-athletes. Don’t forget that coaches are a key part of our team communities, and that more than 90 percent of an athlete’s time is spent with coaches in team-level practices and events. It’s important to ensure your coaching team feels confident, connected, and prepared as a new season begins! Hosting coach-only practices and events can help everyone get on the same page, build stoke for the adults within your community, and ensure that everyone feels empowered and ready to jump into team activities.
As we welcome our spring leagues back to their preseason, we wanted to do a little resource round-up to highlight our newest templates, tricks, tips, and links for our amazing coaches. Our goal in the NICA coach education department is to help our volunteer coaches with everything they need to be successful, competent, and confident coaches! These new resources and tips are especially relevant for our team leadership (team directors, head coaches, etc.). We hope you can share these resources with your teams so you can do less admin work and more rad coaching and riding.
Get ready for the races! This month we’re covering everything you need to know to create a great event experience for your NICA team.
As our spring leagues start planning for their upcoming season, and our fall leagues begin racing, we’re sharing ways to create amazing race-weekend experiences for your entire NICA community – from riders to families to coaches!
We all have that one thoughtful, crafty, or creative friend who knows how to level-up any occasion. Maybe that person is YOU! We want to share a few team-level ideas for how to elevate your next race weekend and turn up the FUN-o-meter to eleven. And beyond!
We all know that NICA events are exciting, full of energy, and just plain fun. But how do we share this stoke with people we know who may not be familiar with mountain biking?
Coaches, we are excited to announce the launch of our newest NICA course: the GRiT CEU!
As coaches, it’s our responsibility to know and understand our athlete’s skill levels before bringing them to singletrack trails each season. We all know how awesome it is to ride trails – and it is SO exciting to share that joy and experience with our student-athletes. That said, the beginning of the season is a critical time for revisiting (or, in the case of new athletes, introducing) the fundamental skills of mountain biking…
Share this template letter with your teams to ensure riders know what is expected before their first practice.
PLUS: A printable ABCDE handout for your student-athletes! Check out NICA’s best practices for creating an enjoyable ride by starting with a functional and safe bike.