Parent Resources

Why Join IICL?

The Idaho Interscholastic Cycling League is the state arm of NICA, a non-profit organization that promotes youth mountain biking programs in the United States. NICA provides governance, leadership, and program support to regional high school mountain biking organizations like the IICL.

The culture of the league has been built on year-round programs that develop the whole person through a variety of competitive and non-competitive learning environments. Our programs build strong minds, bodies, character, and communities through cycling.

The Idaho League includes the entire state. Neighboring states may participate if a League does not currently exist in that region. 

 

How Do I Start a Team?

Administrators, teachers, parents, students and/or community members can start a NICA cycling club or team at their local high school or community. While it is not necessary that the person who initiates the club be a school “insider” (teacher or administrator), this can be very useful. A teacher, administrator or school volunteer within the school possesses certain advantages, such as knowledge of the school community, bureaucratic systems and channels, and how to access potential teen cyclists. Extensive cycling experience is not necessary. One should simply have the desire to introduce kids to the sport of mountain biking. Most mountain bike teams start small and grow quickly; it’s a tremendous challenge but highly rewarding!  An Idaho League mountain bike team can be any size, as long as correct coach-to-student-athlete ratios are abided by. Teams are broken into Division 1 and Division 2 categories based on their team size (and not their school size). Please see the rulebook (PDF) for more info on Division specifics.

League Schedule

The Idaho Interscholastic Cycling League operates a Fall sport based race series schedule:

Registration for Idaho League teams happens in April. At this time anyone who intends to coach a team should register with the League so that they are covered under our insurance. League teams are limited to the number of weeks they can have pre-season practice. In addition, teams are not insured outside of these limits.

Pre-season activities can commence limited activities on April 1st. Allowable pre-season activities are bike checks, fun rides, mechanical workshops or skills clinics. Between April 1 – and June 30, teams are allowed to have up to 8 scheduled pre-season activities. These activities must be approved by the League director and comply with NICA training limits.

Regular season training practice (3-4 times a week) can commence on July 1. All team rides or other training activities must end within two weeks of the final League race. A more detailed description can be found in the rulebook (PDF).

Programs Summary

The IICL offers a wide variety of cycling and riding programs from racing to trail riding. Learn more about our program offerings below. 

Race Series

NICA-sanctioned races provide student-athletes an arena in which to set and accomplish competitive goals, to achieve their personal best.

NICA Adventure

NICA Adventures will broaden the riding experience for young adults through non-competitive mountain biking activities and events.

GRiT

The GRiT program aims to increase female participation in NICA with an emphasis on recruitment and retention of female student-athletes and coaches.

Teen Trail Corps

The mission of Teen Trail Corps is to educate and empower young adults to take a leadership role in trail advocacy, land stewardship and respectful use of trails.

Participation Fees

For information regarding student-athlete fees, including membership, event, and other participation fees please follow the link below. 

Concussion Protocol

The Idaho Interscholastic Cycling League (IICL) is proud to partner with St. Luke’s Sports Medicine to offer access for students, parents, coaches and community members a protocol and resources to keep everyone educated and safe when it comes to concussions in youth sports.

Based on data from the NICA Safety Study, the prevention of concussions, treatment of concussions and conservative athletes returning to play after concussions are of the utmost importance to the whole NICA Community.

For this reason we ask all coaches, parents, and student-athletes to follow the steps outlined in the IICL Concussion ProtocolPlease, also visit this page to keep yourself educated on the importance of concussion identification and management.