Kapitulik spent the next eight years competing in the world’s toughest endurance races and climbing the world’s highest mountains to raise money for the college fund he set up for the six children of his dead Marines. Now, Kapitulik is the CEO of The Program, a leadership training company that has worked with NC State’s football team since July, helping the Wolfpack players find the physical and mental strength they need to be successful on the football field.
Those lessons served the Wolfpack (6-2 overall, 3-1 ACC) well in the first four weeks of the season, but faded in fourth-quarter losses to Virginia Tech and East Carolina.
Kapitulik, who played college lacrosse while at the Naval Academy, came back to campus Wednesday night to reinforce the training the Wolfpack received four months ago. He reiterated the three core values of The Program: Be mentally and physically tough. Don’t make excuses and don’t let others make excuses for you. Work hard.
Boiled down, the philosophy Kapitulik and his team try to instill in their 130 clients – which range from the NHL’s Boston Bruins to NC State’s football team to fifth grade girls youth lacrosse teams – is to do one more.
“We don’t make bad teams good, good teams great or great teams national champions,” said Kapitulik, who spent eight years on active duty as a Marine Corps infantry and Forced Recon officer. “Our goal is to make everybody with whom we work the proverbial `that much better.’
“The way we do that is to be good team leaders and good teammates and to prepare every day to fill either of those roles. Our trademark saying is `We do one more.’ You, as an individual and as a team, have to figure out what `one more’ is and make a commitment to do that each and every day.”
