Greetings NENSA community,

The winds of change typical of early fall are upon us, if even in contrast to the beautiful summer weather Labor Day bestowed! NENSA has been abuzz with fall planning. Our fall rollerski events are designed to offer opportunities for all across the ability and experience spectrum. Next up are two days of highly varied formats in Lake Placid (see the news below) and an exciting new location and festival format for the Maine Event in Rumford, October 22, offering ski play, a youth clinic, food, music, and fun racing for all! Please mark your calendars and stay tuned.

We are also thrilled to announce a full Coaches Symposium in Dublin on September 30 that offers opportunity and connection to everyone from community members to parent leaders to volunteer, high school, and club coaches. Join us, reunite, and prepare for the ski season through a day packed full of clinics and fun activities, expert guest speakers, social opportunities and mealtimes, and a film debut.

Last, but definitely not least, I’d like to extend a heartfelt welcome and thank you to NENSA’s newest Gold sponsor, Nordic Skater! Support at this level sustains our organization and grows all of our year-round programming. Please see the Press Release below for much more about this community-focused business and a wonderful store- and site-wide offer for NENSA members - and please join me in welcoming Nordic Skater to the NENSA family!

In this week’s KickZone

• #SkiingBetterTogether, NENSA's 2023-24 Tagline
• Nordic Skater Signs on as NENSA’s Newest Gold Sponsor
• 2023 Eastern Coaches Conference
• 2023 Keys and Climb to the Castle
• NENSA Club Liability Insurance is back!
• Open Coaching Positions with EMXC Skiing
• NENSA Rollerski Hats
• NENSA Membership
• Scenes from the Community
• Sidas: Insole finder and NENSA member benefit
• Skirack Winter Swap: October 7
• 2023 Women in Ski Coaching Summit
• Fischer: 300 Miles Melting film debut

In the News

• FasterSkier: Back to School

Enjoy this beautiful weather and the transitions heralded by shorter days and bits of foliage.

All my best,

Heidi

Heidi Lange

Executive Director

New England Nordic Ski Association

heidi@nensa.net

www.nensa.net

Thank you!

Memberships directly support all of our year-round programming,

backing us in our mission to nurture and sustain an active cross country ski

community for all ages and levels throughout the East. 

Thank you for taking a minute to join or renew your NENSA membership,

and for the important support that it provides!

Please join me in thanking and supporting our wonderful NENSA Sponsors 

for their generous contributions and the ongoing impact that they have on NENSA programming and cross country skiing in New England!

The NENSA staff are excited to unveil this coming season’s tagline. This year we solicited entries from our community and we received so many great responses! Thank you to everyone who submitted entries via Instagram. Our tagline each year is used for fundraising campaigns, hashtags, events, and more! It is meant to capture the spirit of the season ahead in a way that is unique to New England skiing. 

The winning tagline is #SkiingBetterTogether, submitted by Jacob Huseby!

In the coming year, we are buoyed by the momentum of a season that saw record participation across the spectrum of NENSA events. As we continue to expand our programing, we aim to have all of our events welcoming and accessible to participants of many backgrounds, identities, and physical abilities. Along with our proven event offerings, we will launch a new series of community events this season: family-friendly and untimed ski tours as well as recreational/introductory opportunities. In a few short weeks, many in our community from BKL parent leaders to some of the nation’s most seasoned coaches will gather for a full day of clinics, presentations, activities, and social opportunities at NENSA’s Fall Coaches Symposium.

We celebrate the community and the synergy that results when we gather, #SkiingBetterTogether in 2023-24!

The New England Nordic Ski Association is proud to announce our new partnership with Nordic Skater for this upcoming 2023-24 season at the Gold level of sponsorship.

Nordic Skater has provided racers from New England and beyond with high quality equipment, excellent customer service and great prices for over 23 years. As a centrally-located and online New England retailer and exclusive North American distributor of Nordic ice skates, Nordic Skater is well positioned and has a passion for serving your gear needs for every season.

The New England Nordic Ski Association is excited to produce an Eastern Coaches Conference with the main goal of bringing our community together in anticipation of the 2024 winter. This years Conference will take place at the Dublin School in Dublin, New Hampshire on September 30th.

Throughout a jam packed day: there are options for technique clinics, U.S. Ski & Snowboard Certification, BKL Leader Training, expert insights, a forum and question period from an expert panel, and an artistic movie following a community dinner.

Much more at the link below! #SkiingBetterTogether 

There is getting to be quite a history of Rollerski Racing in Lake Placid, NY. Registration is now live for the 2023 Keys and Climb to the Castle on SkiReg.

We hope you come join us the weekend of September 23rd & 24th ski, cheer and celebrate!

Keys to the Castle is Saturday: Sprint racing has evolved to include ramp features spurred on by the Celebrity Duel of @andynewellskier and @luddeyo in 2018. Since then we’ve hosted skiers from across North America and now on one of the worlds best roller tracks @mt.vanhoevenberg ! Court format - everyone continues to ski.

Sunday is the 16th running of the Climb to the Castle: This iconic hill climb brings racers to the top of the Whiteface Toll Road and the 5th tallest mountain in New York State. Teams and masters come each year to test their fitness and take on the inspiring route. We also have a short course for those who want a more manageable challenge with the same reward.

There will be a lot of excitement at Van Ho on Saturday including kids ski play and laser biathlon, luge activities and more. That evening stop by @highpeakscyclery and socialize with friends. Sunday we start bright and early.

General Liability coverage for clubs under the NENSA Master policy is back. We have worked closely with our provider and are thrilled to be able to restore this community benefit.

A Master policy aggregates coverage for the community, offers better coverage than what clubs may find individually, and saves our clubs the costs of these separate policies. It is a member benefit that we are proud to offer and that we believe will benefit our community directly through the local savings it offers to clubs.

THANK YOU TO OUR SILVER SPONSORS

Eastern Mass Cross-Country (EMXC) is seeking two positions for its Juniors (high school) program. EMXC is seeking a new Head Coach and Program Director and has recently added a second position, Assistant Coach and Program Coordinator, to provide leadership and support to our growing cross country ski community.

EMXC supports approximately 350 skiers ages 7 - 18 across our Youth and Juniors programs in the Greater Boston area. The two coaches for the Juniors program will directly support over 50 high school age skiers and will work to uphold the mission and vision of EMXC.

NENSA membership is about so much more than licensing and individual benefits. As a NENSA member, you are part of a broader community helping to grow and support cross country skiing in the Northeast, ensuring that the sport we love continues to grow and thrive.

our organization and directly supports our year-round offerings and subsidizes low and no-cost programs that make our New England ski community vibrant and inclusive.

U.S. Ski & Snowboard works to provide a safe environment in which athletes can train and compete, free from abuse and inappropriate behavior. Please review U.S. Ski & Snowboard's Athlete Safety policies, the SafeSport Code, and the Minor Athlete Abuse Prevention Policies and join us in sustaining a culture of safety.

If you are an athlete who has experienced inappropriate behavior or know of an athlete who has experienced inappropriate behavior, report a concern:

The U.S. Center for SafeSport

Hotline:  833-587-7233

Report:  CLICK HERE

U.S. Ski & Snowboard

Report: CLICK HERE

We all are part of promoting a culture of safety through education, listening, and speaking up.

THANK YOU TO OUR BRONZE SPONSORS

Ready to take your gear to the next level? For over 30 years, Sidas has been working hard to create innovative products to enhance performance, combat foot fatigue, and support your movements. Our Insole Finder will help you find the insole and support your feet deserve. 

300 Miles Melting is a new film from Eastern Adventure and Ovrlnd Studio that follows Torey Lee Brooks' attempt to ski Vermont’s Catamount Trail in a single push. The film will premiere in Burlington, Vermont on Sept. 16 and be available online in October.

Back to School

September 4, 2023 | by John Teaford

And, so, it’s back to school . . .

The day after Labor Day: it’s always been the day of packing lunches and organizing pencils, of combing cowlicks and catching buses, of searching for new classrooms and picking new desks. Friends re-met after a summer off, and teachers newly met in topics as yet un-mastered. But every few years—every six, or eight, or twelve—the first day of school is a different sort of thing. Some level of graduation lies behind us, and some level of new challenge lies ahead. For him, it’s the college thing, next. Back to school, again.

He’s off to do what he said he wanted to do: ski in college. For the last six years, he’s been a lucky kid enrolled at a noted ski academy, lucky enough to train with friends and race alongside teammates, lucky enough to watch Olympians roller skiing up and down the road at the end of his driveway, lucky enough to have legendary coaches lending their voices to every workout, lucky enough to reside in a Vermont-backroad community that values Nordies the way big cities value NBA stars.

THANK YOU TO OUR OFFICIAL SUPPLIERS

New England Nordic Ski Association

P.O. Box 97

Lyme, NH 03768

Phone: 802-331-0762