A new student group is providing a haven for many on campus looking for a spiritual relief from the pressures and stress commonly associated with the Corps and school work.
The Fellowship of Christian Athletes was brought to Norwich roughly two years ago by football player Dan Wilde, 21, a senior physical education major from Rutland, Mass., and Football Coach Shawn MacIntyre. It started as a weekly Bible study attended by a handful of football players and some of their friends from other sports.
“It’s just a great place to go and learn the word of God,” said Wilde. “We try and help people out with whatever sin they’re dealing with at the time and support them as brothers and sisters.”
FCA now is a discussion group which is run by Wilde and several others.
“Anyone is welcome, it doesn’t matter who you are or what you believe,” said Wilde. “Usually what we do is about 15 of us meet once a week and we go over a part of the Bible where we learn on it, apply it to our lives and discuss how we are feeling or what were going through.”
Not all participants are athletes.
“Probably the majority of our members are football players, but we have people who come from every sport, football just has the largest amount of players,” said Don Hanni, 21, a junior criminal justice major from Youngstown, Ohio. “But we encourage all people to come down, not just athletes. I think that’s a common misconception.”
FCA seems to be making a difference with its members.
“It’s had a tremendous impact on my life, and I think it definitely has helped other people with their problems and we support them and help them deal with that,” said Hanni.
FCA has reached out to students in the past few months for more membership, either by word of mouth or speaking at the freshmen athletes meetings in the first month of school.
“We’re always looking for new members,” said Rocco DeMico, 20, a junior physical education major from Holden, Mass. “We want to let people know we’re around. To let them know they aren’t the only people with these beliefs on campus and that there’s a group they can turn to once a week.”