NCCSEF

The National Cross Country Ski Education Foundation

As World Championship silver medalist and NCCSEF grant recipient Kikkan Randall puts it, The National Cross Country Ski Education Foundation is a backbone for the development of world-class skiers in the United States.

The not for profit organization NCCSEF is celebrating 12 years of supporting U.S. skiing and we have a lot to be proud of. We have granted over $175,000 in NCCSEF Future Funds over that period. In fact, we've funded every World Junior Championship team since 1997 and every J1 Scando Cup team since it was initiated in 1999. Now, as we gear up for Vancouver 2010 and beyond, there is even more work to be done!

NCCSEF provides the essential funding for the junior and under-23 competition and preparation projects making up several key steps in the development pipeline. The development pipeline is the pathway to success in the sport of cross country skiing.

Funding supports specific projects and is dispersed according to the current needs of each project by the NCCSEF board.

NCCSEF is made up of a board including:

• Reid Lutter - NCCSEF founder
• Joey Caterinichio - USSA Junior Chair
• John Farra - USSA Nordic Director
• David Knoop - NCCSEF Business Director
• Kristina Joder-Casey - Treasurer and former NCCSEF recipient

And it is made up of supporters from all walks of life such as yourself.

Please click on the development pipeline to better understand the role of NCCSEF. Please also click on projects to see what exactly the NCCSEF funds and why. Click on athletes to see some of the athletes the NCCSEF has had the pleasure of assisting chase their dreams.

So many causes, why sport? And why cross country ski racing?

Sport in general:

The Latin root competere of the modern word compete describes a great deal about the philosophy of and value of sport. Through competition we challenge each other to greater heights. Through sport we challenge ourselves to be our best. Through sport we learn to dream and chase dreams. We learn to maximize and use our strengths and improve our weaknesses. We learn to win and to accept defeat and to do both with grace and humility. We learn to overcome setback. We learn to dream, plan, prepare and perform. We learn the value of team and teamwork, of playing fair and playing by the rules. Through sport we learn to try, to try, to try. Through sport we learn that there is no finish line and no enemy. Through sport we learn that life is the art and science of striving together. Through sport we learn that competition is not against but with.

The first principle of Olympism:

Olympism is a philosophy of life, exalting and combining in a balanced whole the qualities of body, will and mind. Blending sport with culture and education, Olympism seeks to create a way of life based on the joy of effort, the educational value of good example and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles. (see below for more)

Our sport:

Cross country skiing is an individual sport. Competing in cross country skiing is a team effort. The joy in skiing is both the individual nature of the sport and the collaborative environment of the team. Cross country skiing breeds life long friendship. Cross country skiing opens doors around the world.

Cross country is a power endurance sport. It is a sport of skill and speed, fitness and perseverance, strength and grace. Cross country skiing is a true outdoor sport. The weather, terrain and conditions create the playing field and backdrop for both head-to-head drama and solitary self-exploration. There are no judges in cross country skiing but the watch, the finish line and only you know if you gave all you had to give. Cross country ski racing is a hard sport. There is no hiding, no faking, no points for style. It is a fun sport, a fast sport, an exciting sport. But it is not easy. It is not easy to do the first time and at every step it brings new levels of challenge. It is a sport practiced from cradle to grave. Once it gets a hold of you it is a life long. This is a sport for those who seek challenge.

Cross country skiers are considered the most fit athletes on the planet. Bar none. It is the most physiologically challenging sport there is. Bar none. Speeds range from over 50mph to less than 10mph. All speed is earned by effort, courage, effectiveness of technique and strength. Speed is maintained over race distances of one to 50 kilometers by efficiency of technique, endurance and mental toughness. It is a long-term sport because it takes time to learn and time to build the strength and endurance required to excel. But mostly it is a long-term sport because it is fun, because the lessons you learn within and beyond the sport, but mostly because of the friends you make along the way.

A note on the value of sport
by the US Ski Team Head Coach, Pete Vordenberg:

To experience sport for all it has to offer requires a goal and rules. For while participation in sport can be fun simply for the act of participating in the activity itself. There is much more to sport that is important. Add to this exercise, fitness and social experiences and participation in sport is quite rewarding enough to be justified. But sport has even more to offer than this.

Winning is a goal and an outcome. Winning as a goal is the most important part. Winning as an outcome is the ultimate measure of your ability to pursue that goal. Goals dictate action. Planning and strategizing are meant to direct that action toward the accomplishment of the goal. It is this process of goal setting, planning and action – the pursuit of the goal – that gives winning its worth and which can give us the ultimate that sport has to offer.

Competition and the desire to win can have negative connotations. The ultimate examples of this are poor sportsmanship and the risk of poor health. I am the head coach of the U.S. National Team. To me winning is very important. In fact there is only one thing more important to me than winning and that is how we win. This fits squarely in the realm of experiencing sport at the ultimate level. To set a goal, in fact to participate in a sport, is to agree to abide by the rules of the game. Winning without this agreement destroys all value inherent in pursuing or accomplishing a goal. Injuring ones health also destroys the value of sport. Sport should add to your health not detract from it, and the health of our athletes would come before their performance if ever these two things came in conflict (which, because health is vital to performance, should never be the case).

Playing by the rules is only one aspect of sportsmanship. The rules do not always encompass all the values by which we want to conduct ourselves. There is no explicit rule about winning and losing with grace. There are no rules about having integrity. There are no rules about treating each other with respect. Yet all of these things are paramount to winning itself and furthermore all of them can actually help a team win and enable a person to gain from sport all it has to offer.

To experience sport for all it has to offer requires a goal and rules. The rules must be both inherent in the sport itself and developed based on personal and/or team values. One might benefit in the short term by an act that is within the rules but which violates a value held by the team or the individual herself. This compromises not only enjoyment in the sport but the accomplishment of the goal. When an individual chooses the self over the team or winning over how one wins the accomplishment will be shallow and short lived at best.

To get the most from sport your goals must be supported by your values, care for your health and strict adherence to the rules of the game.

There are no secrets and no short cuts. The steps of the Olympic podium are only the final steps, athletically speaking, of a grand staircase. The only way to get to the top is one step at a time, not missing a single step. This is the philosophy that American Skiing is adapting – that we are involved in a process of preparation focused on the work we do every single day. It is the case that we only have one day to do our best and that day is always today and that by treating each day in this manner we take the necessary steps. American skiing can only survive the set backs if we accept them as a part of the process. We can only have pride in our effort is we play and work no just within the rules but ethically and in the spirit of sport as a means of and to peace and world wide cooperation. The root of the word compete mean “to seek together” and that is the idea of seeking the top steps of the podium. In the same vein we put the notion of team above the individual. Though our sport is an individual one it is not possible to succeed without a team, it is not possible to succeed as an individual.

The bottom line is hard work. And upon that bottom line are the details of that work – including the quantity and quality of the work, the importance of rest, health, team, perseverance…the daily work. For this reason it is not at all the top three steps that matter but each step which must hold our utter attention – which ever step we are on – that is the most important one.

- Pete Vordenberg

Fundamental Principles of Olympism

1. Olympism is a philosophy of life, exalting and combining in a balanced whole the qualities of body, will and mind. Blending sport with culture and education, Olympism seeks to create a way of life based on the joy of effort, the educational value of good example and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles.

2. The goal of Olympism is to place sport at the service of the harmonious development of man, with a view to promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity.

3. The Olympic Movement is the concerted, organised, universal and permanent action, carried out under the supreme authority of the IOC, of all individuals and entities who are inspired by the values of Olympism. It covers the five continents. It reaches its peak with the bringing together of the world’s athletes at the great sports festival, the Olympic Games. Its symbol is five interlaced rings.

4. The practice of sport is a human right. Every individual must have the possibility of practicing sport, without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play. The organisation, administration and management of sport must be controlled by independent sports organisations.

5. Any form of discrimination with regard to a country or a person on grounds of race, religion, politics, gender or otherwise is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic Movement.

6. Belonging to the Olympic Movement requires compliance with the Olympic Charter and recognition by the IOC.

Simply Put…

Why sport? Because sport brings joy and vitality to life. Why cross country skiing? Because it is healthy, because it exemplifies all the challenges, triumphs and lessons life has to offer. And because it is a lot of fun!

Contact

nccsef@gmail.com

32 West 200 South # 149
Salt Lake City, Utah 84101