JHYMB & NICA Season Update
Here’s hoping that you and yours are all weathering this new era well and that this note finds you remaining healthy and optimistic. We know that all of us are receiving many emails like this these days, so we’ll try to keep it to the pertinent info – but we wanted to check in and let you know that planning progresses for a full NICA season in 2020! Much remains to be determined, however, so let’s get to it.
FUN FACT: You’re part of an org (NICA) that’s just celebrated its 10th anniversary and is one of the fastest-growing youth sports in the country. With 31 leagues nationwide, and more than 1,200 teams, 24,000 student athletes, and 11,500 registered coaches, NICA continues to develop strong minds, bodies, character, and communities through cycling – exactly what we’ll need to roll out of COVID-19!
The JHYMB board has continued to meet regularly, and we just had an initial (Zoom) meeting with some of the returning Level II & III coaches to discuss what we’ve learned from the winter survey, where the league is at with planning, and what a 2020 season might look like. Registration and licensing is NOW OPEN in the PitZone for coaches, so we strongly encourage coaches to get in there and begin working through your licensing. As Andy wrote to coaches last week, we would love to see many of you “level up” to Level II and even Level III this year – it will greatly help the program to have Level II coaches as ride leaders, and Level III coaches who can help Andy with organizing the practices, dialing us in at races, etc. Several coaches have already renewed at Levels I and II, so we thank you for that and hope to see others of you consider the online Leaders’ Summit opportunities to reach Level III. (The Leaders' Summits are online at varying times over the next month or so - 1/hr in the eve's for 5 days M-F, or 1/2 day Saturdays - please consider attending this great resource!)
For reference on some of the info below, please bookmark and become familiar with these two sites for NICA and the Idaho League – they both contain excellent info and numerous resources for coaches, student athletes, and families participating in our programs, as well as their statements on COVID-19: NICA National Program, and Idaho League (IICL). On that note, student athletes, families, and coaches should also become familiar with the NICA Handbook – 2020 Rules & Guidelines.
At this time, the Idaho League will not open registration for student athletes until
May 1st at the soonest. They are looking to 3 main sources of info when determining the feasibility of opening up registration and beginning a 2020 season – the CDC, the State of Idaho, and NICA National. Accordingly, JH Youth Mountain Biking (JHYMB) will hold off on opening registrations to returning and new student athletes for participation in our programs, including the JH Composite race season until we have a go-ahead from IICL. (For reference, USA Cycling extended its suspension of permitting of all USAC events until May 31.) IICL planning is in place to operate some level of a season, even if registration is not able to open until June or even July.
Once IICL registration is open, we will likely open JHYMB registration to returning student athletes and younger siblings entering the program first, and then open it up to new families a week or so later. Please let Mike or Andy know ASAP if you have friends who are looking for info on the program, or intend to sign-up. We will again offer scholarship opportunities for those families who may need it, and are even hoping to put together a small bike loan/lease program for student athletes who may need access to a safe and reliable bike.
While we cannot organize any practices or events at this time (under NICA guidelines), we encourage you to get out and get some exercise according to your family and communities’ comfort levels and recommendations – we’re confident that a season, even if abbreviated, will happen this year and are moving forward with the hope to be riding and racing with all of you soon. Along those lines, JHYMB does have a Facebook page and Evalyn Wogoman setup an Instagram page – share your ideas and adventures with us (tagging those pages and #jhymb, #jacksonholemountainbiking, our sponsors, and other creative tags) while we wait to get back out on trails together!
[ Coach Section - and if you’ve got potential interest as a new coach, please let Mike or Andy know ASAP! ]
Note on Coaching Info from Idaho League Director, Eddie Freyer
NICA Handbook – 2020 Rules & Guidelines
NICA Coaching Page
Idaho League (IICL) Coaching Page
Leaders’ Summit opportunities
Please Note: the CDC Concussion training webinar linked from PitZone does not work well in Safari – if you can, please use Chrome or Firefox to access this info.
[ Coach Section - and if you’ve got potential interest as a new coach, please let Mike or Andy know ASAP! ]
Thank you,
Mike, Andy, Andrea, Doug, Nola, Robin