Senior Jordan Chapman is a captain for the Thunder football team in 2011. Jordan earned Second Team All-CCIW accolades as a junior in 2010, leading the team in tackles. Here is a brief interview with the two-time team captain.
Q: Why did you choose to attend and play football at Wheaton?
A: I went to a large public high school, so continuing my education at a smaller Christian school really appealed to me, especially one that is highly respected academically. I feel called to ministry after college, so receiving a strong Biblical foundation and living amongst fellow believers were important factors to me. Playing for a championship-level football team was also a big draw.
Q: What do you appreciate most about playing for coach Swider?
A: His integrity, without a doubt. Coach Swider embodies the qualities that he preaches. He has the respect of every single player and coach on the team.
Q: Can you talk a little bit about the experience of playing in the Division III Playoffs last season?
A: Participating in the Division III playoffs was a bit surreal, especially when we saw the playoff brackets revealed on ESPN. We had a great season last year, but I think tasting the playoffs and being done earlier than we all felt we should have been has made us hungry for another chance in the playoffs.
Q: What is your favorite Wheaton football memory over the past three years?
A: I remember being on our senior class trip last spring semester and being in a conversation with several seniors about our time in the program. The conversation was primarily about our first impressions of one another and how they changed over the years. I was struck by the amount of growth and transformation that has taken place relationally within our class. We came in as a bunch of freshmen who had normal personality conflicts and problems with each other, and over our four years in the program we have learned to love and appreciate each other. We have come together as brothers, and I am excited to take the field with them this season
Q: What do you appreciate most about Wheaton?
A: The quality of the people I interact with on a daily basis. From the professors to my peers, I am blown away by the intelligence, humility and love for Jesus that I see in the people around me.
Q: How many football ministry trips (WFMP) have you been on, what places have you went to?
A: I have been on the football mission trip for three years now. Freshman year I served at an orphanage in Senegal and played with kids. Sophomore year, I went back to Senegal, stayed at a mission, and helped build additions to the mission compound. Last year, I went to Haiti, where our group stayed in a mission and built relationships with the kids and community while helping out around the different mission sites.
Q: What was you favorite experience of the football ministry trips you have been on?
A: Last year in Haiti, the missionaries we worked with put on a soccer tournament for the kids in the community. The championship game was going to take place the week while we were there. One day during the week we had lunch in the homes of members of the community, and one of our groups ate in the home of a woman who had become paralyzed during the birth of her son. She is not able to leave the house, and had never gotten to see her son play a soccer game.
After finding out her son was in the championship game later that day, Dan Demerchant offered to pick her up on an ATV and take her to the game. When he came to pick her up, she was dressed in her nicest outfit and smiling all over. Upon her arrival to the game, her son and his team surrounded her in joy, and both the son and mom had tears in their eyes. I loved seeing the love of Jesus through the actions of my teammate Dan.
