Panthers wide receiver Adam Thielen helps renovate Mallard Creek weight room
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) – As Carolina Panthers wide receiver Adam Thielen and his wife Caitlin walked down the hall at Mallard Creek High School, they were greeted by the cheerleaders lining both sides of the hall, yelling and cheering as way of saying “THANK YOU!”
On Monday, they cut the ribbon on a renovated weight room that the Thielen Foundation as well as Sentara Health help make a reality.
The renovation includes new flooring, state-of-the-art weight room equipment, mirrors, and new inspirational wall branding. It’s the 8th weight room reno for the foundation (2 in the Charlotte area and 6 in Thielen’s home state of Minnesota).
“We felt like the weight room projects have been really cool because of the impact they have made in these athletes lives not really on the field, but mostly in their personal lives and self confidence,” said Adam Thielen.
The Mallard Creek weight room is now 1900 square feet– double it’s previous size and will not only support all sports in the Mallard Creek athletic department, but will also serve the entire student body.
“We want to make an impact where impact has been made in our lives,” said Thielen. “Charlotte is a huge part of our life and we want to make sure we are giving and embraced the community as much as possible.”
Also announced today, the Thielen Foundation will offer five $1000 student-athlete leadership scholarships annually for the next 10 years at Mallard Creek.
“The scholarships provide an incentive to say, if I can be that leader for my team, it will give me more resources to help me impact me in the classrooms in the future whether it’s secondary education of any form. It’s a 10 year partnership so that way, the underclassmen know that they have that incentive as they get older and have that opportunity.”
The Thielens were on hand to cut the ribbon and talk to the student-athletes at MCHS. Showing up is something that goes a long way in fueling the dreams of these student-athletes.
“Anybody that’s in education knows that visible examples are crucial and to have guys like Jordan Davis (Mallard Creek alum and Super Bowl winning defensive tackle with the Philadelphia Eagles) and guys like Adam Thielen to come and actually impact our schools, it means a lot,” said Mallard Creek head football coach Kennedy Tinsley. “All that does is impact the next dream and it kind of funnels the next group of kids that are going to be successful and Lords will, they do the same thing.”
“Yeah, it’s great to write a check– great to give resources, but it’s also important to show that we care and to show up and to be there,” said Thielen. “I wish I could to it a lot more and will do a lot more once I’m done playing which I look forward to.”