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Camp Feature

Discover how West Virginia NICA’s adventure and GRiT camps create unforgettable experiences and build strong, inclusive communities for student-athletes and coaches alike.

 

Photo by Natalie McBrayer

Many NICA leagues have camps this time of year – from adventure riding camps to GRiT camps to skills clinics, kids have lots of opportunities to ride with their peers in new and exciting situations and places! One league that has been strong in their camp game is West Virginia NICA! This summer, WV held their 4th annual adventure riding camp and their 6th annual GRiT camp!
Adventure Riding Camp

A few years ago, a WV NICA coach reached out to the league director with an idea. At the time, this coach was working for a nonprofit called Experience Learning and thought it would be great to pair the two organizations to create the adventure camp of a lifetime! From this collaboration, a rad experience was born. For the last 4 years, WV NICA and Experience Learning have offered 1-2 weeks of back country camping and survival instruction, a mini tour of some of the most incredible trails WV has to offer (including TWO IMBA Epic trails), and tons of camaraderie and experiential learning all rolled into a traveling camp experience. This summer, one session of the week-long camp was held in June, and the session filled up within days of registration opening. WV NICA coaches Vicki and Jason Sliwa, along with Experience Learning staff, led a group of 8 boys and 2 girls through places like Spruce Knob and Seneca Creek Backcountry, Canaan Valley trails like Promised Land and the Dobbin House trails at Blackwater Falls, and a beautiful hidden Experience Learning campus near the Shenandoah Valley called Sweetwater Farm.

Credit: Julie Samples

To quote Vicki Sliwa, camp was “AMAZING…it was so awesome! Athletes were amazing…weather was outstanding and riding was epic!!”

There is something special about being able to take kids riding in places their families may not be able to take them, and WV is the perfect place to do this! Some fun facts about WV NICA Adventure camp 2024: Four leagues represented (WV, VA, MD, and FL), 56 hours of Teen Trail Corps work, and 600 accumulative miles of riding!

GRiT Camp

This year was a year of growth for WV NICA’s GRiT camp! The five day adventure was held at Big Bear Lake Trail Center in Preston County, WV – a venue situated on a forested mountain top in Appalachia, with a great setup to host a camp and trails to enjoy for days. The camp was filled to the brim with 50 student-athletes and nearly 25 women coaches. Activities ranged from group rides, skills clinics with the legend Sue Haywood, and the first ever GRiT Olympics to a day at the pool, tie-dye, and a huge hill climb that EVERY girl was able to conquer (and earn a rad sticker)!

GRiT camp in WV has become legendary among student-athletes and coaches and for good reason. The sense of community that camp has fostered sends ripples throughout each season, and the girls and coaches remain connected and perpetuate a positive impact on the WV NICA culture from pre-season to the very last event weekend in late October.

Credit: Natalie McBrayer

“My favorite part of GRiT camp is the ‘special magic’ that is born each season for our female student-athletes AND our female coaches. At camp we nurture our friendships, love for each other, our respect for our fellow teammates, and our competition, at camp” says Mia Fox, co-chair of the WV NICA GRiT program.

Kerri Godfrey, co-chair of the WV NICA GRiT program, emphasizes that “What recruits, retains, and encourages females in our sport? A sense of inclusive community – our youth and coach ambassadors reaching out to embrace others regardless of what team they are on”. In West Virginia it sounds like they are doing just that. Female student-athlete and coach retention is at an all time high in Almost Heaven!

Are you interested in bringing camps to your league or being a camp director?

Talk with your league leadership about how to make it happen! It may take time to get camps going, but the effort is well worth the outcome of strong minds, bodies, character and communities!

Special thanks to CHARGEL, a NICA partner.

NICA partners help kids gain access to a thriving and engaged cycling community.
Special thanks to CHARGEL, a NICA partner.

NICA partners help kids gain access to a thriving and engaged cycling community.