Oregon League Leaders' Summit

The Oregon Interscholastic Cycling League’s Leaders' Summit will bring together coaches, assistant coaches, ride leaders, and parent volunteers—both new and experienced—to develop skills and knowledge, share strategies, and build community. This conference will promote a holistic approach to coaching that creates an environment in which young people can grow and thrive. 

The Oregon League is part of the National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA) family. NICA develops interscholastic and community-based cycling programs for student-athletes and coaches across the United States, and provides leadership services and governance for local leagues to produce quality mountain bike events. NICA has served approximately 40,000 student-athletes since 2009. Currently, NICA has 31 state and regional leagues and nearly 10,000 volunteer coaches who are working annually with over 20,000 student-athletes from nearly 1,000 high schools and middle schools in the USA. 

New coaches: The focus of the Leaders' Summit will be about how to establish your team. The Leaders' Summit will equip you with the knowledge, skills and resources available to assist you in establishing an official club sport at your local middle or high school.

Currently over 20,000 student-athletes participate in leagues across the country with league growth averaging 35% every year. This is an exciting time for kids and adult mentors in Oregon to be apart of the fastest growing youth mountain bike program in the US!

Returning coaches: We've got some good things lined up for our returning coaches, too. Topics may include how to manage team growth, succession planning, working with school administrators, fundraising and managing large teams, and goal setting for student-athletes.

We're proud to offer NICA Certified First Aid training on Sunday from Adventure Medics. This course counts towards your level 2 or 3 coach licensing.

Notes: Price for this summit includes breakfast, lunch, and conference materials. Pre-season begins April 1st. In-season practices starts July 1st 2018. Our race season runs from September through October in 2019, with race venues located across the state.

May 30 (Saturday): Leadership, Risk Management, and Sustainable Team Structures

Saturday's seminars cover the nuts and bolts of working with middle and high school student-athletes in the context of a NICA mountain bike club. We'll also have a couple new guests this year, including a Positive Coaching Alliance representative to discuss double-goal coaching and Jenifer from WiseMind leading an open conversation around fostering resiliency in youth. 

Returning coach will be offered a dual track to build on skills learned last year.

May 31 (Sunday): Season Planning and On-The-Bike Skills 101 or NICA Certified First Aid 

New Coaches: Sunday's schedule includes some information about how to plan out your season. After lunch, you'll learn the NICA-endorsed On-the-Bike Skills 101 training method, which includes the progressive steps needed to teach anyone (even yourself) both basic and advanced mountain biking skills. You will also learn about experiential teaching techniques, how to accommodate different learning styles, and how to create a positive learning environment for young riders. The majority of this clinic will be held outdoors, so please bring your bike and appropriate riding and safety gear for the weather.

Returning Coaches: Mountain biking is a sport of inherent risks and injuries can happen away from municipal emergency medical services. Our license program meets industry standards for first aid training to ensure NICA student-athletes (and fellow volunteers) receive appropriate care and response when emergencies occur. The NICA Certified First Aid course is a combination of basic First Aid and Wilderness First Aid training that we require for teams practicing in front country and/or urban environments. Completion of this 8hr course is one of the qualifications you'll need to become a level 2 or 3 coach.

For returning coaches, if you'd like to take the On-the-Bike Skills 101 again to brush up on your skills, you are welcome to do that!

Scholarships

A limited number of partial and full scholarships are available for those who need financial assistance. Please fill out this form and we'll let you know how we can help!

Lodging

We are working on host housing for the Leaders' Summit weekend. If you're able to offer a place for attendees to stay, let us know and we'll add your info to our host housing list. Similarly, if you're looking for a place to stay, let us know and we'll connect you with some hosts.
Other accommodations include hotels and Airbnb. If you're looking for an RV site, check out this list.

**REGISTRATION CLOSES ON APRIL 23 @ 11:30pm**