Another year has gone and I'm still in awe!
Executive Director's Message

I'm in awe of our 1,000+ students that continued to ride their hearts out all year - conquering fears and doing things they never thought possible, battling unthinkable loss and personal struggle, and cheering on everyone throughout! The number of stories of sportsmanship occurring during the races was also amazing to see and we plan to find more ways to nominate and recognize those riders that are a living example of the community we're trying to build.

the JV categories staged at Addison Oaks

I'm in awe at our 400+ coaches for supporting unpreceded growth during a year that started a little too familiar to the last. Can you believe that coaches race? I'm glad everyone survived to enjoy the cider and donut reward! Without coaches there is no MiSCA and we can't thank you enough! I must thank Darin Kowalski, Brian Babas, Sarah Vano, Kurt Droese, Jill Heist, and Karen Wood for putting aside some weekends on short notice to facilitate clinics for 100+ of you awesome coaches. I also couldn't leave out the amazing Tina Meyer, that created and facilitated our BRAVE program this year - we hope to expand that next year - please email Sarah if you're interested in creating a girls’ adventure ride club near you!

Sarah Vano (left) recognizing Tina Meyer (right) at Cannonsburg

I'm in awe we're even able to pull of a 6-race series every year! I have to thank my amazing team on the MiSCA Race Staff - things continue to run smoothly on race day thanks to this awesome group! They lend their talents to MiSCA each fall, but this year more than usual, we leaned on many of them all year long. Super shout out to Mike Kearney for being our subject matter expert on the new timing system and programming everything to work automatically with our category setup, series points, and rules. I know everyone appreciates not having to wait around for results to be calculated! Also thanks to Nathan Wilke and Ben Wade for attending lots of pre-series events to ensure everything was dialed in before race #1 (and helping to clean the equipment after the mudfest finish at Bloomer). We're looking for more help! Can you commit to attending 4 races in the fall as a dedicated staff member? If so, you can apply by completing the Volunteer Background and Application online.

We're already planning 2022 and there are some changes in store. First, we're planning to upgrade our registration systems. The URL you use to access registration will stay the same and we should be able to migrate all of your data but it will be a new system we hope will allow us and our teams to manage things more smoothly with additional flexibility with a more intuitive interface. This also means we are changing background check providers and all coaches will likely complete a background check in 2022. We're building a better program to onboard new teams and have lofty goals of adding lots of new teams in 2022 (email me if you're interested in helping). We're investing in a new curriculum that adds 2 additional levels of instruction for our coaches. We plan to provide additional resources to our coaches and teams as part of this rollout as well. We wanted to do more non-race series events in 2021 but were under COVID restrictions in the Spring that made that really tough to plan - so be on the lookout for some fun activities we'll have earlier in the year. Finally, as announced early in 2021, we are moving forward with 2-day races. Currently, the plan is to have all elementary riders race on Saturday afternoon with all other categories racing on Sunday with a similar schedule as 2021. We'll provide more details as they are finalized, so watch your email and communication from coaches.

PLEASE COMPLETE THE POST-SEASON SURVEY. This is your chance to give us ideas and I guarantee that your feedback will be considered as we begin making decisions for next year. If you are a parent or coach reading this, please encourage your student-riders to complete the survey as well. This survey focuses on MiSCA overall, so if you have feedback about racing, please check your email for the post-race surveys that were sent following each event. We've invested a lot in equipment over the past few years and are really ready to invest more in new programs as the Board meets to discuss our vision for the coming years. If you're interested in getting more involved, we're in need of people to join committees, the Board, annual staff, and race staff. You can apply by completing the Volunteer Background and Application online.

Thanks again for an amazing year - see you at Iceman!



SEAN WARREN
Executive Director