The Arkansas NICA League is committed to building strong bodies, minds, and character in student-athletes by leading through service for individuals and teams.
It’s so important to us that our race season awards include bonus points for individuals for service hours and half of our team award is based on the service hours for the whole team. For specifics, you can visit the Arkansas Appendix in the NICA Handbook. Students have two choices for how to earn the bonus points:
- Complete 10 bike-related SERVE hours. This can be done through your team or through other organizations, such as OORC, CATA, BikeNWA, FAST, etc.
- Complete NICA’s Service Leadership Development Program, Teen Trail Corps. Student athletes will work toward earning 4 badges to complete their Teen Trail Corps Captain Badge.
Arkansas NICA completed over 6600 hours in 2021, 8641 hours in 2022 and has a goal of 9000 hours for 2023!.
Now is the perfect time to start working on service hours!
Want to join the 2024 Arkansas Teen Trail Corps Leadership Development Program?
The Teen Trail Corps Leadership Program is a robust leadership development program that teaches student athletes to be advocates and community leaders. Student Athletes earn badges in each of four categories (Speak, Serve, Ride, Respect) to become a Teen Trail Corps Captain. We are taking applications for students in NW Arkansas to be part of an intensive mentorship program led by Kyla Templeton, Erin Rushing, Aimee Ross, Nat Ross, and Rapha MTB to help a small group of athletes take action and help pilot the program to be used for a larger group of student athletes over time.
What it will look like:
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We will announce the program and application window for students to apply to be part of the program.
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What they will get: Intense leadership development experience and mentorship, a rapha mtb kit, and the opportunity to shape a program for the future. Upon completion of the TeenTrail Corps captains badge, they will get a custom Rapha MTB Teen Trail Corps Kit.
- tbd - Introductions, Speak Focus
- tbd - Serve Focus
- tbd - Ride Focus
- tbd- Respect Focus
SERVE Hours Opportunities
Pedal It Forward NWA Volunteer to help get more kids on bike HERE
Ozark Enduro Lite (portion of proceeds benefit NICA) Arkansas Race Solutions: Ozark Enduro Lite Race 1 /Bella Vista (signupgenius.com)
Central Arkansas
Please visit Central Arkansas Trail Alliance facebook page for workdays in Central. CATA Workdays
CATA: Workday at Pinnacle State Park Facebook Event
Other Opportunities
Coming Soon! Please visit your local Trail Advocacy website and pages for opportunities
PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS
Check out these Partner organizations who regularly have volunteer opportunities!
More information on the Teen Trail Corps, the NICA Service Leadership Development Program
Teen Trail Corps Captain
Teen Trail Corps focuses on the NICA badges developed to help student-athletes connect with their local community through service leadership opportunities. Earning all of the 4 badges will allow Teen Trail Corps members to earn the title of the “Teen Trail Corps Captain”. Teen Trail Captains will be eligible to be recognized at the NICA Annual Teen Trail Corps Awards as well as many other benefits within Arkansas NICA.
To earn a badge for each category (Speak, Serve, Respect, Ride) student-athletes must complete four activities in the respective categories. When each activity is completed, your coach must verify that you have completed the qualifying activity. Repeat this process until all four categories have been completed.
The next tabs will lead you through the 4 badges you can earn to earn the badge of the Teen Trail Corps Captain.
Each activity will take about 1-4 hours, but the time and effort will vary with each of the activities. So just have fun!
Learn more about all that is required to be a Teen Trail Corps Captain and submit your Teen Trail Corps activities through the online form here. Follow the easy steps and you’ll be well on your way to being a trail advocate and Teen Trail Corps Captain!
Speak
Speak is one of the four Teen Trail Corps badges. By Speaking you create a powerful voice in your city, in Arkansas and nationally for our trails and different laws and policies that welcome bikes and make the area more bike friendly. You can be a part of lobbying efforts for better bike access, building partnerships with land managers or providing leadership over new ideas.
To earn the Speak badge you will need to complete four activities within the Speak category. Your coach must verify that you completed each activity.
To learn more about the activities for this badge, please click here.
Serve
Serve is another of the four Teen Trail Corps badges. To serve others shows your commitment to making mountain biking more accessible to everyone on in your city, in Arkansas and across the US while also growing as an individual. Together in partnership with the Arkansas NICA community, we work to serve a strong mind and body by engaging in the stewardship and construction of responsible trails that are not only fun to ride, but are also environmentally sustainable.
To earn the Serve badge student-athletes must complete four activities within the Serve category. Your coach must verify that you completed each activity.
To learn more about earning the Serve badge, please click here.
Ride
Ride is another of the 4 Teen Trail Corps badges. We all work on maintaining the trails and building a great mountain bike community because we enjoy the ride. NICA requires all student-athletes, coaches and volunteers ride with a riding style of respect and safety. This includes you taking personal responsibility for managing and controlling your own riding style and behavior at all times. Be smart. Ride in control. Respect yourself, fellow teammates, your coaches, equipment, other members of the community and the environment.
To earn the Ride badge student-athletes must complete four activities within the Ride category. Your coach must confirm that you completed each activity.
To learn more about the Ride badge, please click here.
Respect
Respect is another of the four Teen Trail Corps badges. To remain an active participant within the trail user community, it is important to have Respect for yourself, your teammates, coaches, your bike & gear, other members of the community and the environment. We work on Respect by teaching others and advocating stewardship from that will teach trail etiquette that can last a lifetime.
To earn the Respect badge student-athletes must complete four activities within the Respect category. Your coach must confirm that you completed each activity.
To learn more about the Respect badge, please click here.