Warren Wilson College is a Division III Member
Kai Meyer | November 6, 2024
Warren Wilson College (WWC) has officially become a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) Division III league. It is an exciting development in the athletics program that has been five years in the making.
Becoming an active member of the NCAA is a long, tedious progression that begins with understanding basic philosophy. On the most basic level, the NCAA Division III philosophy stresses the importance of balancing academics and athletics, emphasizing supporting students' mental and physical health.
That is only half of it. The other half of officially being recognized is a three-year provincial membership where senior athletics representatives must complete professional development requirements, attend seminars and conferences and complete numerous reports on the WWC’s progress, triumphs and challenges.
One of the people who was instrumental in making WWC a Division III school was Robin Davis. Davis has been the Athletic Director at WWC since 2014 and is the Women’s Basketball coach.
“Our biggest obstacle was adding new sports and growing them quickly to meet the NCAA requirements,” Davis said.
Sports sponsorship from the NCAA requires schools to attend a certain number of competitions with enough participants for all sports teams. Due to WWC’s small size and even smaller athletics program, it was difficult to fulfill those requirements.
However, since WWC has been recognized by the NCAA, it opened doors to grow the athletics program. Just being connected to the NCAA brand increases interest from potential student-athletes, giving WWC athletics a nationally recognized name. The recognition also helps to grow the programs by increasing the amount of opponents the college is allowed to compete against. This will cut down on some of the travel time required by student-athletes and increase competition.
KJ Helinsky, a senior on the Women’s volleyball team, is excited about the new opportunities brought by WWC officially reaching Division III status. She said that association with the brand has brought about greater consistency within her practice schedule and opened doors to compete in the end-of-season NCAA championship tournaments –– a personal dream of hers.
This exciting milestone marks the beginning of a new era of athletics here at WWC.
“It speaks to the commitment of our leadership and shows the value of athletics to this campus,” Davis said.