# Vision, Values, and Purpose For the past twenty-six years, the NCWA has remained committed to a vision that has at its core increased leadership opportunities, expanded wrestling competition, inspired community involvement and academic excellence for all student athletes. Founded in 1997 as a 501(c) 3 non-profit association, the NCWA was designed to fill a gap in the wrestling community created by outside influences, including budgetary cutbacks and restrictive governmental legislation that forced institutions to drop their NCAA wrestling programs. Although participation interest among students remained high, many schools were forced to offer fewer athletic opportunities. The NCWA was born out of a mission to provide additional opportunities to the increasing number of high school seniors searching for both academic excellence and wrestling competition at the collegiate level. The NCWA is the youngest of the four collegiate wrestling National Governing Bodies (NGB), which include the NCAA, NAIA and NJCAA. The NCWA stands uniquely as the only collegiate governing body devoted exclusively to the success of wrestling. We serve as a spawning ground for new wrestling programs, offering opportunities for students to experience wrestling at all skill levels. In addition to athletic departments, the NCWA recognizes programs developed under alternative administrative bodies, including student services and sports club departments. Our educational model uses wrestling as a platform to teach students leadership skills including budgeting, conflict resolution, time management, bargaining and negotiation, motivation, discipline, and work ethic. Coaches guide athletes in the development and oversight of a nonprofit wrestling organization. Because NCWA teams may be funded by students themselves, wrestling boosters and outside community resources, there are few and limited budgetary concerns for the member institution. The NCWA is composed of volunteers committed to helping our young people accomplish their goals and dreams, and to reach for excellence in everything they do. Through athletic endeavor, academic excellence, team leadership responsibilities and community involvement, NCWA student-athletes graduate college ready to meet the demands of a competitive world. They emerge from college equipped through their academic achievements and athletic success to take the competition to the mat, score and emerge as a champion. We encourage you to take the next step in expanding the way your school sees student involvement in athletics. Join us in changing lives.\ \ — Jim Giunta *** *Expanding Athletic Opportunity to Tomorrow's Leaders* *** --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://rules.ncwa.net/vision-values-and-purpose.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.