NorCal Staff

 

	Matt Fritzinger After a short career in the Mechanical Engineering field (Graduated from UC Berkeley in 1995) Matt discovered teaching high school mathematics a more rewarding experience. Before long he also discovered that his cycling experiences (15 years road and mountain bike racing, 8 years working in bike shops, organizing local races) lent themselves to coaching, and formed the Berkeley High Mountain Bike Club. As the club grew Matt expanded his training to include becoming a Certified NORBA Expert Coach and also a Certified Wilderness First Responder. The success of the club eventually led to founding the NorCal High School Mountain Bike Racing League (2001). Now a credentialed teacher, Matt has been teaching for seven years and continues to teach Algebra to inner city kids part-time.
	Nadine Wolf Budbill, Assistant Director Nadine is an avid mountain biker, educator, and advocate for women and girls. A former coach for the Berkeley High School mountain bike team, Nadine is now the League's Assistant Director. She is also the founder and director of Dirt Divas, an annual mountain bike and outdoor adventure camp for girls based in Northern Vermont. She is currently pursuing a Master's Degree in Education from Prescott College and is a certified Wilderness First Responder. Nadine is highly experienced in program development, implementation, and facilitation, having worked with a wide range of young people--pre-adolescents and teenagers, boys and girls, privileged and "at-risk," urban and rural--on many topics and issues-ranging from media literacy and violence-prevention to outdoor education. She is passionate about empowering others through mountain biking.
	Jeff Ghiselin, Assistant Race Director Mountain biking first entered Jeff’s bloodstream in 1991 courtesy of his Granny’s generous birthday gift of a Cannondale mountain bike. Chico, CA, set the stage for his formative mountain biking and educational years, producing a degree and a dedicated Mountain Biker.  After his first taste, Jeff tested his metal by racing in numerous events. Eventually, he moved to the other side of the start-line and started putting on races for others. His expertise in cross-country race coordination is evidenced by his repertoire which includes the Sea Otter Classic (six years running!), and the National Mountain Bike Series in places such as Park City and Brian Head, Utah, Sonoma, California, and Aspen, Colorado.  Jeff first met the NorCal High School League in 2001 while working at Eagle Mountain Resort.–He has been the League Chef ever since, attending to the culinary and nutritional needs of the high school athlete. In 2006 Jeff became the League’s Assistant Race Director.  He works closely with local race promoters and the NorCal League Executive Director to produce races that will be both fun and challenging for the athletes and memorable for everyone.
	Katie DeClercq, Camp Manager & Special Event Coordinator After retiring from a 20-year career of competitive soccer, Katie realized she still needed something to keep her active and competitive. Cycling quickly became the new sport in her life. What started out as a way to stay fit and have fun, soon turned into a love and addiction. This season will be the beginning of her second year as a coach for Berkeley High, as well as an employee for the NorCal League. She is currently attending Cal Berkeley where she is pursuing a Masters and Credential in Science Education, and after a successful Fall season on the Cal Cycling team, she is eager to start racing again in the Spring.
	Beth Murdock, Administrative Assistant Waiting for bio . . .
	Kyle Wright, Intern Kyle Graduated from the NorCal HS MTB League in 2005 after a successful racing career with the Neveda Union Miners. More soon . . .