Why join GRiT?
Currently, girls represent 20% of NICA’s overall national student-athlete participation. NICA GRiT (Girls Riding Together) seeks to increase that number significantly over the next five years. The GRiT Program is NICA’s effort to recruit and retain more girls and female coaches in NICA programs.
IICL GRiT Goals
HAVE FUN
Activities are focused on increasing girls awareness of NICA programs by offering girls-only social and riding opportunities for girls, moms, friends, siblings and female coaches. GRiT Camps and GRiT student-athlete Ambassador programs are available in some leagues as well!
BE EMPOWERED
GRiT recognizes the need to get more girls on bikes. GRiT’s goal is to empower female student-athlete’s to make their mark, on or off the bike. All NICA leagues have an individual GRiT Coordinator to implement programming from the NICA GRiT Tool box and events at the league level.
EQUITY
Girls Riding Together is NICA’s initiative to increase female participation to 33% overall by 2023. With help from the Walton Family Foundation, and a number of other sponsors and NICA leagues across the country, GRiT’s mission is to provide fair treatment, equal access, opportunity, advancement and elimination of barriers to encourage participation for all.
COMMUNITY
NICA is making a concentrated effort to increase the number of girls and female coaches in NICA programs by focusing on creating a more welcoming environment for girls to join through girls-only events, rides, camps, clinics and socializing opportunities.
GRiT Challenge
Why do NICA leagues need a special program to recruit more girls and females if NICA programming is inclusive and equal?
Although NICA has been successful in providing equal opportunities to all once participating in our programs, we can only be truly equal when we address many females need different things to feel welcome and invited into NICA programs.
RECRUITMENT
Girls tend to thrive in NICA programs once they join. Where NICA has to improve is in our recruiting and inviting girls into our programs. NICA must focus on equity – giving girls and females the experiences and opportunities to ensure they feel welcome and invited to participate in NICA programs – if it is to increase our overall female participation.
RETENTION
To address the participation challenge, the GRiT Program recognizes that girls and women often join sports and activities for different reasons than boys and men, especially in a male-dominated sport like mountain biking. GRiT focuses on both recruitment and retention to ensure female riders keep riding after their first year.
EXPERIENCES
Without GRiT, we are missing a significant opportunity to offer girls and women the amazing experiences and empowerment that mountain biking provides. To empower all our participants to seek inclusivity and equality
FEEL WELCOME
To make everyone feel welcome. To make mountain biking equally accessible to all.
How to Get Involved in GRiT
Connect
If you have questions about our GRiT program, want to get involved as a coach/student/volunteer or would like to host a GRiT event in your area please reach out to the IICL GRiT Coordinator Jill Bradley (jill@idahomtb.org) .
2022 GRiT Events
What: NICA GRiT Women’s Leadership Event
When: April 10, 4pm to 6pm
Where: Camel’s Back Park, Boise ID
Details: This event is for ALL women who are interested in getting more girls on bikes! This includes all current female Idaho Interscholastic Cycling League (IICL) coaches, prospective coaches, mothers of student-athletes, and women interested in learning more about becoming involved with the Idaho NICA league. We’ll be talking about why girls need sport (and also why they leave it), what GRiT (Girls Riding Together) is and why we have it, why we need more female coaches, and tips for recruiting more female coaches and student athletes.
Cost: Free
Registration: Please register for this event HERE
What: Female OTB101 Class
When: April 13, 4:30pm to 7:30pm
Where: Eagle Bike Park, Boise ID
Details: OTB 101 is one of the requirements you’ll need to achieve your Level 2 coaching license. Andrew Schaber will be the instructor, but all of the attendees in this class will be women! This class can also be taken for 3.0 CEU’s to maintain your current Level 2 or Level 3 license.
Cost: Free
Registration: Please register for this event HERE
What: GRiT Social Ride
When: May 21, 2pm to 4pm
Where: Eagle Bike Park, Boise ID
Details: Time to kick off the 2022 mountain bike season with an all-girls, all-levels GRiT Social Ride! Coaches…we also need a few of you to volunteer to help run this event and make it FUN!
Cost: Free
Registration: Please register for this event HERE
What: Coaches Only GRiT Social Ride
When: June 9, 6pm to 8pm
Where: Eagle Bike Park, Boise ID
Details: Come kick off the 2022 mountain bike season with a fun social ride just for our women coaches. This event is open to ALL women coaches! This will be an all levels, social pace ride.
Cost: Free
Registration: Please register for this event HERE
What: GRiT All-Girls Basic Bike Maintenance Clinic
When: June 18, 10am to noon
Where: Cycle Learning Center, Boise State University
Details: Come join us at the Cycle Learning Center on Boise State’s campus where we’ll learn some basic bike maintenance skills like fixing a flat, proper tire inflation, lubing your chain, and more! Camille, CLC’s manager and awesome mechanic, will teach this class. This will be a HANDS-ON class, so please bring your bike. If you don’t yet have a bike or are unable to bring yours, don’t worry! The CLC has some practice bikes for you to work on.
Cost: Free
Registration: Since this is a hands-on class, registration is limited to 12 girls! Please register HERE.
What: GRiT Girl’s/Women’s Gear Exchange and Social
When: July 16, 2:00pm to 4:00pm
Where: Eagle Bike Park, Boise ID on the picnic tables/shelter next to the skatepark
Details: Need some new riding gear? Have some riding gear you no longer use? This is an opportunity to buy, sell, trade, and give away gently used riding gear. Please make sure it’s been laundered. No helmets please! If you don’t need more gear or don’t have anything to sell/trade/give away, please come join us for the social. The league will be providing some sodas, water, and snacks.
Cost: Free
Registration: For additional details and registration, please click HERE
If you would like to host a GRiT event in your community, reach out to Jill (jill@idahomtb.org). We will try to make it happen! It could be a GRIT ride, mechanical hour, social, all kinds of ideas welcome too.
Donate
You can help us achieve our goal by donating to the IICL GRiT program HERE.
We greatly appreciate the support and every dollar helps.