May 16, 2019 – After nine seasons with Central Cross Country Skiing, the pied piper of the CXC Nordic Rocks program, Bruce Manske, is retiring. Manske served in a variety of roles with CXC, bringing a great spirit to camps and competition programs, while logging tens of thousands of miles hopping from school to school across the Central Region for Nordic Rocks.

CXC is now seeking a new youth director to carry on his work with Nordic Rocks and other CXC programs.

The Nordic Rocks program is credited with introducing overnearly 20,000 youth to cross country skiing past winter through partnership programs with schools, parks and clubs. Among Manske’s many roles was bringing the program (and ski equipment) to schools and parks.

“The phase, ‘living the dream’ sums up my experience the best,” said Manske, who worked with just about every CXC program from entry level Nordic Rocks and Igor Legacy Camps up through Junior Development, Youth Cup, Junior Cup, Marathon Cup and CXC Masters Team.

With Manske’s retirement, CXC is now seeking a new youth director to be based out of its CXC Center of Excellence training center in Madison, Wis. The youth director will be responsible for introducing families to cross country skiing focused on healthful engagement a lifelong outdoor recreational sport.

“It was most rewarding to watch young athletes progress through the pipeline,” he added. “I will long remain a member of CXC, and wish the very best to the CXC members, athletes and staff — thanks for the great nordic ride (glide).”

“Bruce was a real difference maker for our programs,” said CXC Executive Director Yuriy Gusev. “But he set the stage for CXC to bring on a new youth director to carry on with Nordic Rocks and our other programs bringing the sport of cross country skiing to kids.”

CXC is a non-profit sports organization recognized by U.S. Ski & Snowboard and the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) as the regional governing body for the cross country skiing in the 10-state Central Region of the United States. CXC is also recognized by the U.S. Paralympics as a Gold Level Paralympic Sport Club.

The CXC Youth Director is a full-time position serving as a central resource to grow and support the Central Region youth cross country skiing community. It is responsible for management of the award-winning Nordic Rocks for Schools program, coordination of partnerships between schools and clubs and assisting communities in supporting and starting new youth programs.

The ideal candidate will bring a high level of collaborative energy that will cross generations and engage a broad spectrum of constituent priorities. Applicants should be self-motivated and able to work independently. This role requires strong, inspired leadership with a collaborative spirit to galvanize work with our cross country community. This position will work closely with community stakeholders including schools, clubs, venues and event organizers.

Applications are now being reviewed for late spring hiring.

A detailed job description is available here.