TRIANGLE PHILOSOPHY
Introduction
Every successful organization has a "mission
statement" or common model, that directs both the long term vision
and day to day decisions that ultimately give the organization its
personality. In the case of NC Wesleyan Football, our "Triangle
Philosophy" serves in that role, for both our program and our
players.
The basic premise behind the "Triangle Philosophy"
is that balance and excellence can co-exist. We want our program to
benefit our player’s development as a person, student, and athlete.
The old adage "eat, drink, and sleep football" is not good enough in
our program. We expect a lot more than that from our players. We
expect football to be important to our players, but we expect other
things to be important as well.
The Person
The "Person" side serves as the base of the
triangle, and serves as the base of our program. Attracting and
developing "good people" is the core of our recruiting and player
development efforts. Our program benefits our player’s development
as a person through involvement in community service opportunities
and exposure to our "Mentor Group".
Our community service opportunities are headed by
Coach Matt Wheeler, who serves as our Community Service Coordinator.
Our teams involvement in the "PLAY: Promoting Literacy Among Youth"
program that runs throughout the NCWC athletic program, serves as
the base of our efforts. Other individual and group community
service opportunities are organized by Coach Wheeler, and made
available to our players.
The "Mentor Group" is a group of professional people
from the local community, or people with ties to the college or
program, who have an athletic background and are willing to become
involved in our players development. Members of the group serve as
weekly "guest speakers" during the season and at various times
outside the season. These members also have an open invitation to
all team functions and activities. We want to encourage as much
interaction between our players and members of this group as
possible. Eventually, we would like for our program to feed this
group, involving former players as "mentors" for our current
players.
The Student
While academic support is an institutional strength
at NCWC, our football program benefits our player’s development as a
student through required time management exercises, weekly "academic
check-ins," and our study table program.
To reach success as a college student and college
athlete, our players have to become successful time managers. At the
start of each semester, all players are required to provide a copy
of all syllabi for their current academic load. They then complete a
"semester calendar" and "weekly schedule", which combine to give
them a realistic picture of balancing their "student" and "athlete"
roles.
All players have weekly academic "check-ins" with
a member of our coaching staff. Every grade received in any class is
recorded and monitored by our coaches. This gives our coaches the
information needed to refer players to our Student Support Center
for those in need of assistance. Attendance in each class is also
self reported by all players on a weekly basis. This reinforces our
programs expectation that our players are serious about their
academic pursuits.
All new players participate in our "study table"
program for their first semester. This allows our coaches to be
involved in our player’s transition from high school students to
college students. All players are asked to spend a certain number of
hours on their academic efforts each week. The "study table" program
will give our coaches an active involvement in the start of this
process.
The Athlete
