Courtesy of North Carolina Central Athletic Communications


DURHAM, N.C. – With no games to prepare for this fall season, North Carolina Central head football coach Trei Oliver has called an audible with his sights set on a greater goal.
 
Under Oliver's leadership, the NCCU football staff has created a speaker series, entitled "Be GREAT," to engage their student-athletes with challenging discussions about manhood, personal branding and decision making.
 
"I believe that a level of greatness lies within all athletes, but we want ours to be great on and off of the field," Oliver said. "Our goal is to educate, inspire and develop our football student-athletes. We want them to establish an identity outside of sports, and grow in all aspects of their lives. We want them to 'Be GREAT' in the most important game… the game of life."
 
To members of the NCCU football program, 'GREAT' stands for grit, relentless, effort, attitude and tenacious. Each guest speaker will discuss topics related to what it means to be GREAT, especially during these challenging times.
 
On Saturday, Sept. 19, Nazir Levine, CEO of Capital Wealth Advisors and a former collegiate all-conference offensive lineman, will kick off the speaker series talking about grit and relentlessness.
 
NCCU football Team Chaplin Anthony Lewis is planned to convey a message about effort and attitude on Sept. 28.
 
Jim Cavale, CEO of INFLCR and a former collegiate baseball student-athlete, is slated to focus his discussion on being tenacious on Oct. 14.
 
Wrapping up the current slate of scheduled events during the speaker series will be a roundtable discussion on Nov. 9, focusing on police and citizen interactions, and domestic relationships.
 
To ensure the health and wellness of those involved, and in following COVID-19 safety protocols, the speaker series will be conducted via online video conferencing.