"We are here to make cyclists for life, good humans for life—and we just do that through mountain biking." – Amanda Carey

Marley and Ellen sit down with Amanda Carey, National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA) President, to talk about how NICA's programming builds character and community through youth mountain biking. She discusses how they're approaching issues of inclusivity, belonging, equitable access to their sport, and more in today's episode.

You can learn more and donate to NICA on their website, https://nationalmtb.org/

02:55 Coaching and Team Dynamics

07:37 Challenges and Inclusivity

13:42 Philosophy of Coaching

21:23 Community Involvement

26:01 How to Support NICA

30:42 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Oh, hello, Ellen.

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Hi, Marlee.

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How are you?

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I'm good.

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How are you?

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No.

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What time is it?

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It's time for the All

Bodies on Bikes podcast.

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What's my favorite time of day?

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Mine too.

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Mine too.

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Good.

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I'm glad.

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I'm really glad we can edit things

because I'm already sitting here

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I don't know what to say next.

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Let's just bring our guest on.

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Today we are talking with Amanda Carey,

who is the national NICA president.

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So let me tell you all about her and then

we will have an awesome conversation.

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So Amanda Carey has been the NICA

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Amanda became involved with NICA in

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her local Teton Valley composite team

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Amanda joined the NICA national coach

education team, bringing with her a

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deep passion and commitment to NICA's

core values of fun, inclusivity, equity,

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respect, and to make mountain biking

accessible to riders of all ages.

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Amanda has a BA in political science

from Colorado college and a master's in

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sports psychology from Capella university.

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My brain wants to say

acapella, but it's Capella.

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Prior to her time at NICA, Amanda

held multiple positions in nonprofit

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organizations, including time as

both the development director and

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an executive director, which is.

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Different cycling and trail

advocacy organizations.

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Amanda also brings with her many

years as a professional mountain

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bike and cyclocross racer, having won

the national ultra endurance series.

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Breck epic Transylvania epic and

Iceman cometh races multiple times.

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Amanda lives with her husband, Nate

in Victor, Idaho, where they love to

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mountain bike, ski and adventure out

in the mountains with their two dogs.

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Welcome to the show, Amanda.

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Oh, thank you.

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And I'm really glad to be here.

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It's good to see you.

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Yeah.

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Let's back up for a minute.

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I just said I was coaching.

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But what in the heck is NICA?

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NICA, gosh, yeah.

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It's not a household name, which is

why I love talking about it, right?

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NICA is the National

Interscholastic Cycling Association.

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We are a mission based nonprofit that runs

interscholastic so team based mountain

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biking programs for riders in sixth and

12th grade all across the country, right?

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So right now we have about 25,

000 riders and 15, 000 volunteer

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coaches across the United States.

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And we do this.

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Through, community based, which I'm sure

we're going to talk a lot about today.

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Community based and wonderful

volunteers like yourself.

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It's a community driven program.

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It's been around since 2009 and we

have, gosh, we've almost hit nearly

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a hundred thousand riders that have

graduated from the NICA program

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since we started back in the day.

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Hard to believe, but yeah,

that's NICA in a nutshell.

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That's so cool.

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Those numbers are so impressive.

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I showed up to my first practice the

other day and there was nearly 40.

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Kids, 40 students.

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And I was just like, holy cow.

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No wonder you need more coaches

because these students are so

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enthusiastic and so excited.

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And they just accepted me with

open arms and said, okay, coach

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Marley, where are we riding today?

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I was like, I'm not in charge.

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I'm just sweeping.

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So funny too.

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And I'm sure we'll talk about this, as

a coach standing in front of 40 kids,

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20 kids, 100 kids saying, what are we

going to do today can be equally parts

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empowering and terrifying too, which is

why I'm sure we'll talk about our coach

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education and how we work as a community.

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But yeah, that first experience

must have been, I hope both,

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equal parts oh gosh, here we go.

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Because it's.

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Yes.

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And also really cool.

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Like these kids and these

parents are trusting in me and

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we're going to have a good time.

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And we have.

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So it's been awesome.

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How does mountain biking

work as a team sport?

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Yeah, it's interesting.

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What NICA does so well is we take kiddos

at an age where being part of a team,

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being with friends is so important, right?

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What's unique about NICA is we have

turned any an individual sport into

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a team based sport, which is really

what gets kids engaged and empowered.

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And getting that team based

experience, which sports is just

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so famous for and so great for.

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So in the team format, essentially.

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And team practices, but really

where it shows up is, as it are at

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our events and at our races, right?

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So every rider is in their own race and

they essentially score points, right?

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So your varsity, your JV, your freshman,

middle school riders, they go out and

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on the day they give it their best and

they're showing up to be their best.

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And in essentially No matter how many

kids are participating, everyone scores

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points towards that team overall.

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And I'll tell you, very few actually focus

on this, but that's the whole element

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of what the team base is all about.

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You're not just riding on your own.

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And I think back in the day when

Nyko was founded, That was the

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idea with the founders, right?

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It's back in California

where this started.

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It actually started with the, from a a

high school math teacher wanted to start

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a road team and Matt got all the flyers

together, invited a bunch of kids and

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they all showed up and said actually,

can we make this a mountain bike team?

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Cause it's way cooler than road.

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Essentially what they were doing

was, just trying to form a club.

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But what they also found was that as

part of that experience, and I'm sure

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a lot of kids get this, too, until they

enter NICA, is they were just showing

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up at events made for adults, right?

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And that's a very different

experience, especially for a kiddo.

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So I think NICA grew out

of that desire, right?

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It was to create an experience for kids

that was not only unique, that was meeting

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their needs at the time of adolescence

where you just want to be with your

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friends, you want to be doing something

cool with great coaches, great mentors.

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And so we are trying to make,

mountain biking like joining the

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volleyball team or the basketball

team and getting that team experience.

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Also getting to show up on the

day and really engage in the

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individual sport, but as a team.

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What drew you to NICA and what

does being president mean to you

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both personally and professionally?

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Gosh, so much a great question.

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And I, it was funny, I was

thinking about this the other day.

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Because it's coming on my third

anniversary of being president.

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And I remember having this conversation

with my dad and saying, I just don't

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even understand how I ended up here.

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And he just looked at me, he was

like, kiddo, your entire life.

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Has led you here.

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Are you kidding me?

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And it was a little bit of this aha

moment where I've always operated this

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way and my personal and professional

meld, because it's hard for me to

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do anything professionally if I'm

not personally interested in it.

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Cause my whole ethos is I'm going

to work myself into the ground

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for causes that I believe in.

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And so I've been, this is the sixth

nonprofit that I've worked for

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since, I was 16, but really what

I think NICA has done for me on

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both a personal professional level is that

I can take a ton of personal interest.

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I love mountain biking.

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I love the outdoors.

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I love kids, even though

we don't have our own.

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We joke when my husband and I

were running the the team that we

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started, we had 80 children, right?

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But they weren't our own, right?

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My involvement in NICA then and my

involvement in NICA now is really just

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this culmination of everything that I've

done with just, it blends my leadership,

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it blends past experience with non

profit cycling advocacy organizations.

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And it was just this, I don't know,

this just beautiful moment back in

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2015 when I learned about Nike, I think

that day I went home and maybe have

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voluntold my husband we're doing this.

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Not a, do you want to do this?

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So we are doing this cause he's a 20

year ski instructor comes from the

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bike industry background as well, too.

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Runs a, he runs it adaptive sports

organization, a non profit himself

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too, but we just synced up on this.

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He was feeling burnt out on mountain

biking and so was I, but it was just

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this, I think it was mostly hope, right?

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It was this hope of let's work with

not only the next generation, but

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let's make it into what we want it

to be, what we want it to become.

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And that's what I get to do as

president every day at NICA.

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I know that it's you know, it is just

mountain biking, but I think for the 40,

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000, I hope soon hundreds of thousands

of people that will find you know, the

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joy and the community and the acceptance

and the welcoming of our community.

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That's what I get to do every day.

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Yeah, I can totally relate to that.

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I think that's really important

though to like, to note that it's

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like, there's a reason that you're

here and that it's future looking is

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the other thing that I heard and that

it's like driving so much purpose.

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So can you talk a little bit about

some of those the key challenges

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that you're facing as you try to

expand the reach and like work

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with any underserved communities?

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Sure, gosh, challenges are many, and I

don't mean to say Nike is unique in this

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because it's the old story, not enough

resources, too much need but I do think

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at this point, we have many challenges,

but I think looking into the future,

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probably our biggest challenges is going

to be places to ride and I meld that with

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our efforts to be inclusive our efforts

to be, to be equitable, to meet people

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where they're at and invite them to ride.

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Trail infrastructure and where

trails exist is a huge part of this.

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And I'd be remiss if I didn't note that

we are one of the largest trail users in,

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as an organized body in the United States.

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And we take that really seriously, right?

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We focus a lot on trail advocacy

and being, polite and having

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good, trail etiquette behavior

and things like that too.

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But The biggest limiter to our

growth right now that I see is

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that equitable access, right?

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And I'm not talking about someone

who can afford a bike or not a bike.

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That's, that is a separate

and additional problem.

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It's access.

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It's a bike.

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It's a place to ride.

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It's parents with leisure time

to drive you to the trailhead.

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They can afford a bike

rack, things like that, too.

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We know that those things are stacking

and stacking, and the easiest thing

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for us to address, quite frankly,

is actually the equipment, right?

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The equipment is funding.

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The harder thing for us is

getting participation closer

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to where teams exist, right?

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And closer to home.

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We have many teams right now that are

doing the very best with what they have,

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which is not, very close access to trails.

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And we have part of our 101 curriculum

where we teach, and I don't know, Marley,

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if you've hit this point in your coach

training yet, but we actually have,

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as part of our curriculum, we teach

coaches how to set up a mountain bike

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course, but in a grass field, right?

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And how to teach, we, and

we call it the short cut.

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So we actually teach biking

and tons of games and we have

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bike soccer and bike limo.

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We've endless ways to to meet the needs

of, basically setting up a practice

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where you don't have trails, but

that as I see is one of the biggest

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limiters and underserved communities

are underserved in so many ways.

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But when you see the biggest

barriers to participation right now,

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that is one of the biggest ones.

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And I Tell folks, what is the what's

the holy grail of what you would have to

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have unlimited participation opportunity?

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And that's trails right out the

back door at the school, right?

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So I equate that oftentimes with

Think of baseball, basketball,

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all these other things.

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You've got your public school has

built the field, they maintain it, they

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actually reserve it for you, right?

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So if you're playing volleyball,

you're not going to get 40 other

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volleyball players coming in and playing

volleyball on your court too, right?

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So we also have those challenges of

sharing the trails that we do have.

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So it is unique, but I do think

that the, collectively, what we

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need to do at NICA is not only be

better advocates for our needs, but

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it's going to get more involved.

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Those places to ride need to

be in communities where we

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don't already have access.

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Yeah, something that is opening the

door to more kids versus improving the

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existing doors that the kids who are

participating could already get to.

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Yeah, absolutely.

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It's a really interesting point

about like, all of the other

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curricular activities exist in

schools in one way or the other.

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I don't know that it feels a little

bit like, it's publicly funded.

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It's acknowledged that this is a

way that your kid would want to

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participate in a sport, participate

in some kind of afterschool activity.

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So therefore build it and they

like build it so they can use it.

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So I think that's just such an

interesting connection to draw.

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It's like bikes are something that's

going to be accessible to you throughout

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your entire life, but they're not

given like the access is basically

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what you're saying is not there.

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easily at such a young age.

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So without like purposeful action in

your family's life or your own life

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it's not something that you're going

to do without this kind of access.

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That's really interesting.

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What were you going to say Marley?

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Oh, I was going to say, I hadn't thought

about it from that perspective of the

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schools building the and reserving,

especially that's a challenge we run

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into in Bentonville all the time.

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And I Should not be complaining at all

because we literally do have mountain bike

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trails coming out the back of schools.

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It's incredible.

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But we do run into the challenge

of crowded trails and shared

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access and making sure that

we are riding with respect and

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keeping our wheels on the ground.

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Because a lot of the kids around

here ride every single day, even if

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they're not it at a NICA practice.

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Yeah, absolutely.

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I always know when I'm out and

I'm riding on a trail and I run

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into a NICA kid or a NICA family.

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It is so apparent to me the

behavior because I think.

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Think, and it's, we don't get it

all right all the time, right?

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But the conscientiousness, the

courteousness, and the pulling over to

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the side, looking you in the eye, smiling,

and say, thank you, is way different

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than most of the experiences that I have

with people who aren't involved in it.

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How we behave on trails and how

we treat each other is one of the

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biggest determinants of whether

we continue to get access to that

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trail or we get future access.

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I think it's one of the most unknown

things about mountain biking in general,

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but the land manager, or, anyone who owns

a private land is opening their trails to

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users and they start getting complaints.

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Gosh, it's like why would we

reward bad behavior is a little

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bit of a mentality that I've seen.

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And so we do ourselves a service.

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And quite frankly, it's more

fun to smile and say, thank you.

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And to be courteous and share the trail.

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But that is not going to

go away as part of being a

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mountain biker and a trail user.

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And being courteous and having

good etiquette is a really big part

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of what we do and what we teach.

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And then those expectations of

how we interact on the trail.

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Yeah, that's been one of the

biggest surprises to me as I've

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gone through the coach education is

very little, at least of the initial

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curriculum I guess backing up.

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So when you sign on to be a coach

there is a fully built out curriculum.

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There's kind of three levels of coaches

and ascending levels of responsibilities

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and roles within the team.

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that come with those additional.

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learnings, but at least for the level

one very little of it is focused

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on the actual on-the-bike coaching.

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It's more about, what

is the purpose of NICA?

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It's to build good character

through cycling through

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these kids or in these kids.

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And I've just been

really impressed by that.

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Can you talk a little bit about the

philosophy behind NICA and the coaching?

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And yeah, why do you guys

do it the way you do it?

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It's funny.

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I feel like that's the way it should be in

all youth coaching right and I think if I

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can encapsulate how we recruit and retain

coaches, I often try and remind folks

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that to be a great mountain biking coach,

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let's just take out the mountain biking.

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Let's just talk about what

it means to be a good coach.

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And I think a lot of educators know this.

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But it's, are you kind?

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Are you fun?

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Are you patient?

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Are you a good listener?

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Are you going to show up and be able

to put whatever it is going on in your

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life aside, or your workout, or your

ride, or whatever it is, and show up

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for these kids in a way on a daily basis

that they need you to show up, right?

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And most of that is just being a

great person to hang out with, right?

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And being a good mentor.

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And again I'm glossing over the

fact that Yes, character development

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is at the core of what we do.

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It's the most important thing that we do.

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And, we mostly describe

ourselves, I think, as a youth

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development organization.

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We're not a youth mountain

biking organization, right?

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We just so happen to think that, at least

I think, the mountain bike is the best

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tool possible to teach, to teach character

development and to do youth development.

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And so our coaching philosophy really

is grounded in Human first, right?

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We are here to make cyclists for

life, good humans for life, and we

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just do that through mountain biking.

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And yeah, the progression of our

coach education is so squarely focused

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on what is your coach philosophy?

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We make it easy.

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We don't even make you come

up with your own core values.

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Our values are fun, inclusive,

equitable, respect, and community, right?

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And having core values at the

center of coach ed, everything

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comes out from there, right?

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So we don't need to actually be

that prescriptive with until later

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on in your coaching journey with,

here are your practice plans and

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here's how you teach level pedals

and here's how manage a group of 10.

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It's about how you approach it.

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Cause at the end of the

day, kids remember you.

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How you treated them.

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Not exactly what you said, right?

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That old saying is you remember how

people made you feel not what you said.

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And to be a great coach.

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That's really what's fundamental.

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And I don't know if I don't think

Marley, when you were at our national

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conference, you had the opportunity

to listen to John O'Sullivan

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speak, but I would, I didn't know.

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Yeah, I would put him on anyone's radar.

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He is our, he's our, grandmaster of all

things, character development, and he

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always puts us through this exercise.

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We do it through a lot of coach

education workshops as well, too, where

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we have people write down the five

best qualities of the best coach or

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the best teacher you ever had, right?

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And so you write down all these

qualities and you stick them on the

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wall and you see the difference in it.

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About 90 percent of the

stuff, usually, is character.

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They were fun.

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They held me accountable.

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They were compassionate.

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they were great leaders.

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And very little of it actually is the

technical and the tactical, right?

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They, taught me how to shoot a foul shot.

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Okay, that's important too, right?

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But that really is at the core of

what we're trying to do, right?

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It's great humans for life and everything

in our coach education is based in

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that approach to youth development, but

then I think it's also self sustaining

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and the culture that we create

and the expectations that we have.

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And I think when we get the random coach

or the random parent here or there that

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is not coaching to our core values,

they stick out like a sore thumb.

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It's pretty apparent.

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They also get the opportunity, which

is one of the most undersold parts

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of NICA, I think, is that we do just

as much, if not more, for the adults

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that participate in our programs than

we do the kids, believe it or not.

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And I've seen that.

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Cause again, I was a level three coach

and I was a head coach for many years.

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Again, my background is in

coach Ed and sports psych.

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And I think that the, this idea

that you're showing up in service

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of kids, you end up showing

up in the service of yourself.

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And then it just becomes this, I don't

know, Marla, you're probably just

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starting it, but just this super cool.

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It's like a co learning

opportunity, right?

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And it becomes, it just becomes

this thing where you're working

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on yourself just alongside.

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As much as the kids are alongside them and

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I got to it's got to like, provide this

opportunity for self reflection, right?

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Of like catching yourself when you are

about to be mean instead of kind when

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you're about to say if you're about to

coach in a way that's in anger, and that's

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not part of the core, it's that gut check

is a big part of changing your behavior.

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So it's really cool.

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It's like Ted lasso for kids on bikes.

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A hundred percent.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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The podcast on that, I hope, what

we teach coaches to model just as

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much to their student athletes for

themselves is that failure is expected.

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It's okay.

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Because if you hit a rock and

you fall over you just got to get

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back up and keep trying, right?

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And I think that's just the

beauty of mountain biking is

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it's such a quick, rapid sport.

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And I always tell kids, it's

every single pedal stroke is a new

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opportunity for you to do something

new and better and different.

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And coaches, gosh, I don't want to

say I used to crash all the time,

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but When I crash in front of the kids

or fall over, it's yeah I'm human.

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Not only human too.

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I'm learning alongside with you.

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Like I didn't know how to do

a wheelie or a track stand

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before I started coaching Nika.

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Kids taught me how to do it.

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It's this whole philosophy that we

are all working on our character

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together and we're all working on being

better mountain bikers in general.

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There's no end point there.

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I think in a way that is an

untold story and I got for sure.

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I like that so much.

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And I think it's just something that is.

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It's creating a foundation for these

kids in a lot of different ways.

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It sounds like the surface level

that you might think of with NICA is

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that it's about bikes, but the deeper

level is actually that it's about

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building the character and how are

you building so many other strengths.

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It just so happens that the

medium is mountain biking.

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And how do you think that this is

also helping you develop physically

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or even mental health, mentally wise?

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Yes.

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Yeah.

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Gosh.

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Kids need movement period.

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I'm not saying mountain

biking has a monopoly on this,

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they need fun.

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They need so many things that a

bike can provide to them depending

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on their development stage.

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And I think I've already explained

before what I think it does really

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well at that 6th to 12th grade

age is, we put them together with

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their friends and their team.

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But the thing, remember what a bike was.

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For all of us who rode bikes as

kids, bike was your freedom, right?

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And it's, and again, it's that tool

that you can use no matter what

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for the, for what goal you have.

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And I think for kids, especially

it's teaching them yeah.

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That they can, what I've seen at least,

that they can do hard things, right?

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And that is such an invaluable lesson,

especially, I think, especially for young

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girls at the age that we get them in

Nygaard but teaching them that mountain

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biking is not easy, and that's okay.

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It's the pursuit of something hard

and something difficult, and even

442

teaching them through for that, for

the mental health connection, but all

443

The physical connection is teaching

them really that they have the

444

power to shape their own experience.

445

And that's often new for kids, right?

446

You can teach them

through the bike, right?

447

It's it's raining.

448

Okay.

449

You could say it's just water, right?

450

You're just going to get wet or

you can just be so upset about it.

451

About it.

452

So in, in teaching them that they

have a choice and they can make that

453

choice about whether what they are

experiencing is going to be positive

454

or it's going to be negative.

455

And we don't get it

all right all the time.

456

A number of kiddos I've seen throw

their bike over and frustration.

457

Adults to see that often, not so much

in NICA, but in my pro racing career.

458

It just, I think for kids, especially,

it's that it's all of those things

459

together, but at every developmental

stage that they can understand spatial

460

awareness relationship to their body.

461

They're learning.

462

I think the most important thing for kids

is learning about what their body can do.

463

It's just not what it looks like and

that's a, that's also a big thing for

464

kids and especially for our young girls.

465

It's no.

466

It's how hard you pedal.

467

It's how hard you try.

468

It's effort that you put in.

469

There's no better sport or machine than

a bicycle that's going to give you that

470

immediate input back of you did it right

or you have something to improve on there.

471

Yeah, definitely.

472

So NICA doesn't exist in a vacuum.

473

Obviously, it exists within

communities and within schools.

474

Can you talk a little bit about

how NICA works with schools or like

475

local bike shops or other orgs to to

create cycling programs that are both

476

sustainable and community driven?

477

Can you talk about that

community aspect a little bit?

478

Sure.

479

Yeah.

480

I often describe NICA as it's like

these little ecosystems and it's

481

all centered on the NICA team.

482

And so I think what NICA does really well

is that we empower amazing volunteers

483

like you, Marlee, or these super

volunteers that are our head coaches.

484

And these little ecosystems

are based around teams, right?

485

So the team, they need a local

bike shop, to help them, cause

486

not all coaches are mechanics.

487

So they need that local bike shop to

help them with purchases, with equipment,

488

with fixing, with asking questions,

and they need parent volunteers to

489

shuttle kids back and forth to practice

or to volunteer at races or to,

490

create the meals or all those things.

491

So the community process, everything

in NICA is really set up to empower it.

492

that local team.

493

People think, I got to coach and I

don't have time for coaching, right?

494

There's a lot of

different ways to support.

495

And there's a lot of different

ways that teams need support to

496

be the self sustaining community.

497

With local bike shops, with parent

volunteers, with anybody, there

498

is a place and there is a role.

499

That's really important that everyone

kind of pulls, pull some weight

500

within that community as well, too.

501

We are setting up really just amazing

volunteers with the tools to do

502

something and easier level, right?

503

So we take care of the education,

the insurance, the places to ride,

504

the structure and all those things.

505

And what we try to do is let

everybody focus on and I'm saying

506

it's easy, but everyone focus

on just that team experience,

507

the practice experience, right?

508

Too.

509

So with the community based in making

sure that it's sustainable, every single

510

team is run a little bit differently.

511

And that's for good reason.

512

We have really two types of teams in NICA.

513

We have a school based team

and we have a composite team.

514

So school based is, you have all

the student athletes that are

515

participating from just the same school,

516

and then the composite teams are Kind

of a hodgepodge mix of it could be

517

private schools, homeschool, public

school, middle school and high school.

518

The composite team I used to run

with my husband, we had private,

519

public, and homeschool kids from seven

different locations and counties.

520

Wow.

521

So really we try to do is set the model up

to be really flexible, but then supportive

522

of what that local community needs.

523

And so it's community driven and

sustainable in the sense where We're

524

strict with what we need to be certain.

525

It's usually risk management, coach ed,

and things like that too, but mostly

526

we're trying to support the very best of

what we can, these little tiny ecosystems

527

that pop up in these communities in

which everyone needs to play a role.

528

What sets NICA apart with parent

involvement is that parents are not

529

on the sidelines of our organization.

530

Again, I'm not a parent, but

I've seen, it's almost 80 percent

531

of our coaches are parents.

532

So then becomes this unique thing where

parents and kids are doing this together.

533

And they're not only doing it

together, parents are invited into

534

our community in a different way that

they are not in other sports, right?

535

I'm picturing the coach with

the, you know, shorts and the

536

whistle and the clipboard.

537

My husband was a t ball coach.

538

He bought himself a whistle.

539

don't need a whistle.

540

I just yell but Very much the

parents are on the sidelines, right?

541

It's the we don't need you and but

what we need you to do is I don't know

542

bring some orange slices after practice

and that's when your place and we not

543

only invite parents and we need parents

for volunteer spots To, help at races,

544

to be course marshals, to be, parking

attendants and things like that too.

545

And so I think this whole idea of

being community driven and sustainable

546

is that intentional invitation.

547

It's no we need you here.

548

Please come in.

549

You're not on the sidelines.

550

And so in terms of sustainability,

I think that's one of the best parts

551

of our program is that you don't have

parents or anyone tiptoeing around.

552

Everyone is all in hands on deck, willing

and willing to help because I think

553

it is that difference of invitation.

554

If you ever go to a Nike race,

you'll see it takes usually a solid

555

day or two to set up a course.

556

Sometimes it takes.

557

A half an hour to break it down because

what you will see is when the varsity

558

or whatever the last race of the day

is you just get hundreds of kids and

559

parents just descending on the course

of everything and ripping it all down

560

and packaging it up because again,

it's that invitation and I think it's

561

sustainable in that way because everyone

plays a role and they want to help.

562

Yeah.

563

I wrote that down.

564

I wrote intentional invitation down

because that's, I think, important

565

in all of this community building.

566

Yeah.

567

And I think that tees us up

nicely for our last question.

568

This time absolutely flew by but I'm

hoping you, you take it and run with it.

569

But how can listeners support NICA's

mission and get involved in youth cycling?

570

So many ways.

571

If anything that you've heard

today is that there is a a

572

lot of different ways to help.

573

But number one, I'll tell you, and I think

we opened with this is spread the word.

574

I think there, I think that

observation is not a lot of folks

575

know about NICA and I've seen that.

576

And there's a I don't know if you're a

cyclist you probably are aware and if

577

you're a mountain biker you're definitely

aware but outside of our little bubble

578

That's what I want people to know of

right is we are okay I'll say I think

579

we're better but that's just my job to

say that we're better But I do you can

580

say it I could say there's There's a story

to be told about NICA outside of NICA

581

that I don't think is being told, which

is we're changing youth sports, and we're

582

changing youth sports for the better.

583

And we are our inclusive nature,

there's no cuts, there's no bench,

584

there's no tryouts, parents are

invited in, coaches are volunteers,

585

focus on character development.

586

The way that NICA is doing youth sports,

I think, is what I want the world to hear.

587

That's why I think we

have the goal in 10 years.

588

We're hoping to be 100, 000

student athletes across,

589

across the world, hopefully.

590

But I think that's the first

most important thing is that it's

591

not just about mountain biking.

592

It's how we do youth sports.

593

And I've had so many parents over the

years say, no knock on soccer, but Gosh,

594

I don't get to go camping for the weekend

and ride my bike and sit around campfires

595

and feel invited and watch my kid thrive

in a way that I do in NICA, right?

596

The youth sports model in the United

States the older you get in the United

597

States, the better you are expected to

be at the sport to get the right to play.

598

And I've said this a million

times where kids should just get

599

to play because they want to.

600

That's it.

601

Full stop.

602

It's challenging, but I think what

our model shows that others can do is

603

that is the value in and of itself.

604

The kid wants to play, they get to play.

605

If they want to race, they can.

606

If they don't want to

race, they don't have to.

607

And putting that emphasis on participation

and effort, not outcomes and race results.

608

And, we have no competitive

aspirations or elite development.

609

Amen.

610

In our organization, but so many

kids get there, but it's because

611

we're focusing on the right thing.

612

It's, we're including them for longer.

613

So that's the first most important.

614

Yeah.

615

Then there's also,

volunteering at a local race.

616

We are always seeking donations.

617

I always tell folks that Nike is

more, we are significantly fundraiser.

618

It's really important to us because

mountain biking is a more expensive sport

619

for all the reasons we've talked about.

620

There's equipment, there's trail access.

621

There's all these things.

622

We really rely on

donations and partnerships.

623

Especially from the cycling industry

to keep the cost of registration,

624

the cost of doing business low.

625

But, volunteer as a coach, check it out.

626

There's so many different ways,

but I would say if you want to

627

learn more about NICA, we've got

a great website, it's nationalmtb.

628

org.

629

There's lots of different

ways, but mostly, just ask.

630

There's going to be a role for you.

631

Trust me.

632

If you want to get involved in this

awesome organization again, like I

633

said, we've got 15, 000 coaches, 25, 000

student athletes, so you can do the math.

634

That's almost a two to one ratio.

635

Because as Marlee said, we

always need more coaches.

636

And if you don't think you can be

a coach, You probably definitely

637

can be a coach because then you're

doing that introspection that

638

I think is expected of a coach.

639

I won't lie.

640

It's intimidating to go out there and

know that some of the students on my

641

team are much better riders than I am.

642

Thankfully, like we split up

into groups and I usually go with

643

the mild or the medium group.

644

We have mild, medium and

spicy is how we split it up.

645

It's really fun.

646

And I usually get to go with a mild group

and it works out great, but yeah, if

647

you're hesitant, that's a sign to do it.

648

I think so.

649

I think you're asking

yourself the right question.

650

And again, tells you anything.

651

I used to be a pro mountain bike

racer and a skills instructor and

652

I showed up and it's intimidating

to have 40 kids look at you.

653

But I think in this at the same

time, going into any kind of

654

coaching, knowing that you're

learning alongside with the kids.

655

Is I think that's the

best mentality to go into.

656

And I always give coaches to the

best advice is that, this is not

657

my quote, stealing it probably

from John O'Sullivan, but you might

658

not be the coach for everybody,

but you're the coach for somebody.

659

Man, when you connect with a kiddo

there, there really is nothing

660

like it because they're not

going to connect with everybody.

661

But you absolutely could

be the coach for somebody.

662

When you described all kinds of ways

that you're going to Coach the coaches

663

as much like to be a coach as much

as you'll coach the coaches to ride

664

bikes and support kids on bikes.

665

So I think it sounds like you've got such

a strong setup here at NICA to really

666

set this foundation for kids, coaches,

everybody who is interested and who

667

wants to come along like I think I was

trying to count the ways to like have

668

this really smart wrap up of all the ways

that you've mentioned that NICA supports

669

kids and I basically, I lost count.

670

I think you had to have easily named

two dozen ways that you are thoughtfully

671

taking on this role in kids lives and

it just happens to be through bikes.

672

I appreciate that you were here.

673

Thanks, Amanda.

674

Yeah.

675

Thanks for having me.

676

And again, I'd encourage anyone

who wants to learn more, check

677

us out and just thank you.

678

Cause I, and we didn't, I didn't

even get to ask you any questions.

679

You had me do it all.

680

But if Nike ever starts a podcast, maybe

you'll be my first my first introduction.

681

Cause I will tell you, Marty

was a guest speaker at our

682

national conference this year.

683

And gave a keynote that I think in the

surveys that we get was one of the highest

684

ranked keynotes that we've ever had.

685

I feel like we're

finally getting traction.

686

This traction of inclusivity

is not simple, right?

687

Inclusivity takes time and constant

effort and constant re imagining and

688

re questioning of the way and how we

are doing things so that we can do

689

things better, to be more inclusive.

690

And it's not just, can you include,

the kid that doesn't want to race.

691

It's much, much bigger than that.

692

And I think that the message that you gave

our folks, it was not only a slam dunk.

693

You had everyone in that room

thinking about inclusivity in a way

694

that we've not thought about it.

695

. Cause again, inclusivity

Has a I struggle with it.

696

Sometimes it is a private

organization we have our core

697

values and they're our core values.

698

So we get to define them.

699

And we get to say what

inclusivity means to us.

700

But I also think that if we

aren't constantly asking other

701

people, do you feel included, then

we're not doing the right work.

702

And I think when we came it's not

about how we think we are doing.

703

It's the impact that we

are having on others.

704

And if we don't constantly ask, and

if we don't constantly question,

705

we're never going to get it right.

706

And NICA has a long way to go

with truly being inclusive.

707

But you put us on a really strong

path for learning even more about it.

708

Oh they'll be happy to hear that.

709

I'm now a coach.

710

Thank you.

711

And thanks for being on the show today.

712

Yeah, it was really fun.

713

Let's do it again sometime.

714

Agreed.

715

Bye.

716

Thanks, Amanda.