The Georgia Cycling Association’s Annual Leadership Summit is a standout event in the world of youth sports, offering comprehensive in-person training and support for our community of volunteer youth mountain bike coaches.
Unlike many community-based youth sports, where volunteer training is often limited, Georgia Cyling’s Leadership Summit provides specialized education, hands-on training, and networking opportunities tailored specifically for our TeamMTB and Trail Rangers coaches. This unique approach sets a high standard within the youth sports space, empowering coaches with the skills they need to inspire and mentor young athletes effectively.
Each Leadership Summit event uses workshops, discussions, peer-to-peer sharing, and on-the-bike training sessions to provide coaches insight into things like technical biking skills and adolescent athlete development. This event is an optional in-person complement to the extensive online training that all coaches are required to complete before coaching our student-athletes. By offering resources and leadership development, the Georgia Cycling Association works to ensure our coaching community is well-prepared to foster a supportive and impactful mountain biking experience for their teams.
Events like the Leadership Summit not only enhance coaching quality but also build a strong community of mentors who share a passion for mountain biking and youth development. During each event, coaches from across the state of Georgia will come together, each representing a different community with both unique and universal challenges. By bringing together a diverse group of volunteer coaches, the Leadership Summit fosters a sense of collaboration within our community. Coaches can connect, share experiences, and build lasting relationships that strengthen the overall network of support for youth mountain biking.
The Georgia Cycling Association offers programs for public, private, and home-schooled students in grades 3-12. Given our programs are open to all interested students, regardless of athletic ability, our youth mountain bike coaches are exposed to a wide variety of student-athletes. The Leadership Summit works to provide the leadership and educational support those coaches will need as they work to make a positive impact on the lives of Georgia’s youth. Together they will learn best practices from industry experts while leaning on each other to navigate the realities of coaching students.
A core part of the Summit’s mission is to keep the event accessible. The Georgia Cycling Association prioritizes low registration costs so that as many coaches as possible can benefit from the training, regardless of financial constraints. Event registration fees are designed primarily to cover the organization’s expenses related to hosting the event. In addition, we offer a financial assistance program to help underwrite registration costs for a coach whose financial situation would otherwise prevent them from attending.
The Leadership Summit underscores the Georgia Cycilng Association’s commitment to investing in its volunteers by providing meaningful support to its coaches. We aim to create a well-trained coaching community that is empowered to inspire the next generation of mountain bikers across Georgia.