The Missouri Interscholastic Cycling League - New mountain bike clubs & teams for middle and high school students across Missouri: What is the League, Who is it for? How can I get started?

The Missouri Interscholastic Cycling League is holding informational sessions across Missouri for the next few weeks (Springfield, Joplin, St Joseph, Cape Girardeau, KC area, St Louis area), coach training this spring, forming teams and clubs starting Spring 2020, and holding its first season Fall 2020. 

 

The League promotes fun outdoor activity, includes both teams and clubs
The League promotes fun outdoor activity, includes both competitive teams and recreational clubs, works hard to be inclusive and inviting, builds values around community and respect, and has regular training opportunities for coaches and volunteers

Upcoming League Informational Sessions are Jan 23rd in Cape Girardeau, Jan 25th in Des Peres, and Feb 7th in O'Fallon.

What is the League? Who is it for? Why might individuals, communities, and schools want to get involved? How can you get started?

All those questions and more are answered below.

What is the League? Who is it for? How can I get started?

  • The League is a new interscholastic mountain bike league for middle and high school students with with teams and clubs forming now and the first season starting Fall 2020. 
  • School or regional teams can start with just one coach and a student athlete or two.
     
  • Student-athletes can participate simply for fun, skills, and fitness, to participate in healthy outdoor activity--including both riding and trail-building--and/or to participate in meets and races competitively
     
  • Experience across that U.S. is that teams that start small often rapidly build participation, by both coaches and students.  
     
  • This is a new league in Missouri, with the first season in Fall 2020--but part of an established national program, the National Interscholastic Cycling Association, with Leagues in 31 states (including a large, successful league in nearby Arkansas), 19,000 student-athletes nationwide, a good track record, and the vision to "build strong minds, bodies, character, and communities through cycling."
     
  • Ideally each school has a team and the teams are officially affiliated with the school and school district.  However, independent "composite" teams can be established in areas where the school district does not want to be involved (yet), and athletes from areas without a team can participate, too.
     
  • Annual training for coaches, high standards for teams and coaches, rules in place to prevent overtraining and other issues, fully insured, a very supportive culture and approach (everyone rides--no one is turned away), strongly supports respect, equity, and inclusivity, works to particularly support young woman athletes. And most of all--fitness and FUN!
     
  • The League has school-affiliated teams forming in, for example, Warsaw, Neosho, Joplin, and St. Louis. In addition, many independent regional "composite" teams are forming across the state.
     
  • Missouri has some of the best mountain bike trails in the midwest and some of the most active mountain biking communities. Nearly every community across the state has the facilities or trails needed for teams to train or could easily create them (single-track trails are relatively inexpensive to build and maintain--teams could start with nothing but a large field with some dirt trails to ride in). 
    The Missouri Interscholastic Cycling League is starting this year.
    The Missouri Interscholastic Cycling League is starting this year. The league is part of a national organization with over 19,000 participating student athletes, 9,000 coaches, 10,000 volunteers, and leagues formed in 31 states.
     
     
  • You may know that bicycling is one of the highest participation lifetime sports in the world, in the U.S., and in Missouri. Trails and bicycle facilities are in high demand across the state, and bicycling is the #1 activity Missourians are planning to do more of in the next five years.
     
  • Mountain biking is currently one of the most popular forms of bicycling, nationwide and in Missouri. If you provide a mountain bike program to your students, you are certain to find interested students, volunteers, and coaches.
     
  • Creating a school mountain bike team that joins the new League is one of the easiest ways to support cycling in your community and provide fitness, outdoors, recreation, and social opportunities to your students.

HOW TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE LEAGUE OR TAKE COACH/LEADERSHIP TRAINING

How to learn more:

Helping promote more bicycling opportunities, more trails, and more participation in bicycling among Missouri's youth and schools is one of the ways we encourage more bicycling and walking and help create a world-class bicycle, pedestrian, and trails system in Missouri.  Those are two of four primary goals in MoBikeFed's Vision for Bicycling and Walking in Missouri.

One way we we accomplish those goals is by supporting excellent organizations like the Missouri Interscholastic Cycling League in their work.

Your ongoing membership and generous financial support helps turn our Vision into reality!

 

 

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