The 2026 NICA Regional Events are coming!

Time for your team to prepare! For most who will be attending, it’s a lot of “new”—new trails, new faces, new challenges, and new ways of participating in a NICA event. So much new stuff could be overwhelming for athletes and families, or it could be the recipe for an exciting Regionals experience that they’ll make the most of and remember fondly in the years to come. As a coach, you can play a huge part in making it the latter by supporting your team prior to and during Regionals weekend.

Here are a few practice ideas, pulled from the guide:

• Staging and starts – Walk athletes through the staging process, and practice starts mimicking the countdown they’ll experience at Regionals (announcements at 1 min, 30 sec, 15 sec before start time and then whistle anytime between 10-0 seconds).
• Passing – Focus on safe passes using clear communication as both passer and passee; have coaches roleplay different temperaments and challenging passing situations.
• Terrain-specific repeats – Learn the defining characteristics of the Regionals course profile and spend time on appropriate trails. If the course has more elevation change than your home trails, do hill repeats. More technical? Get comfortable with the tech trails near you.

For more ideas and tips, search the NICA Education Center for “Supporting your team for NICA Regionals.” To get there, log into your Pit Zone account and click the “Education Center Link” button.

And to register for Regionals, head over to the NICA Regionals website!

This content was authored by NICA’s coach education team. NICA’s comprehensive coach education program provides new and existing coaches with the high-quality training and resources they need to be confident, competent, and empowered leaders on their youth mountain bike teams. NICA coaches not only create amazing experiences for student-athletes, they create a foundation for building healthy mountain bike communities. NICA coaches change lives! 

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