New Missouri mountain bike league for middle- and high-schoolers joins national association | NICA

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The National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA), the nation’s leading interscholastic cycling organization, is excited to announce South Carolina and Missouri as the two newest states to join its growing network of interscholastic cycling leagues. The addition of these two leagues brings the total number of NICA Leagues nationwide to 27. The inaugural season for South Carolina and Missouri will be Fall 2020.

Austin McInerny, President of NICA, said, "We are excited to welcome South Carolina and Missouri to the NICA community! Both new leagues' leadership are bringing extensive youth development experience and enthusiasm that will enable them to build strong programs in their regions. The addition of these two states brings the expansion of NICA programs to the midwest and strengthens NICA's reach along the southeastern seaboard. The NICA National staff team is excited to train and support these new leagues as they prepare for their inaugural seasons and we look forward to seeing new communities in the regions establish NICA teams. The addition of South Carolina and Missouri now enables NICA to serve over 70% of our country’s population and strengthens our vision of having every youth empowered to be part of a thriving and engaged cycling community." . . .

"I couldn't be more excited to partner with NICA to bring middle and high school mountain biking to Missouri,” said Missouri League Director Chris Mileski. “By getting more kids on bikes, young Missourians will experience firsthand everything that the sport of mountain biking has to offer: the freedom of being outdoors, the happiness of making new friends, the thrill of overcoming challenges, the pride of developing discipline and character, and the honor of building community. Given Missouri’s rich history of cycling and the prestige of its Ozark Trail system, this is a big win for all kids and families in our state."

Link: 

New Missouri mountain bike league for middle- and high-schoolers joins national association | NICA

MoBikeFed comment: Mountain biking is on a major upswing nationally, and it is great to see Missouri joining this national movement and the national association.

You can find out more about NICA here:

https://www.nationalmtb.org/

More about the Missouri Interscholastic Cycling League, founded in 2018, here:

http://www.missourimtb.org/

More about how to start your own mountain biking team at a Missouri school or community here:

http://www.missourimtb.org/start-a-club-team/