Teacher and Salisbury Football Coach Andrew Cerco, along with several representatives from the Falcons football team, presented the Heart of a Champion program currently implemented at the high school level to the curriculum and technology committee members of the Salisbury Township School Board Jan. 27.

One day out of each six-day cycle during Falcon period (the designated school-wide study hall), typically about 38-45 students participate in the program. All students involved as members of the football program will participate in this education-based athletic program, providing they do not have school-based conflicts such as tutoring. The ultimate goal of the program is to produce a complete athlete and a complete person.

Heart of a Champion has been offered as a supplement to Falcon football team players for the past five years. It aims to instill the values of a strong work ethic, humility and pursuit of success, among other things.

The program is structured around the teaching and application of words with relevant ties to sportsmanship. Each session focuses on a different word that aids the participant in becoming a well-rounded individual. The acronym “BE FEARLESS” stands for each term that serves as a core value of the program.

During the time the students and Cerco meet, the words are defined and then linked back to the four cornerstone terms: believe, think, love and work. At the end of each week, after practices and games, an athlete is selected who has exemplified the word at the center of that week’s focus. During the 10-week season, the program’s approach to teaching these philosophies is a multi-channel one. They use reading passages, books and films to serve as a basis for understanding key concepts and generating discussion points. Cerco developed this education-based athletic program in conjunction with Mark Evans of Manheim Township. The pair generated the course concept from the work of Mike Masters at Cross Training Athletics near Buffalo, N.Y. In that area, several districts employ this approach in their sports programs. However, at this time, Salisbury Township and Manheim Township are the only municipalities in Pennsylvania with the Heart of a Champion program in schools.

The presentation was student-developed and student-led. The football players were knowledgeable and excited about the values taught in the program and the manner in which they are conveyed. There was an overall sense of the positive impact that the Heart of a Champion program has on student athletes who become involved.