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In this feature, read about student research learning opportunities, applied sport science technology and a team battling chronic disease through physical activity. Kelsey Kinnamon and Neel Rao worked with Dr. Peter Giacobbi on a lifestyle app enhancing users’ experience of pregnancy. The Human Performance Innovation center on campus provides direct experience for students while providing athlete monitoring for WVU sports teams. A partnership with WVU Extension Service, WVU School of Public Health, WV Prevention Research Center and CPASS, funded by a CDC grant, is creating chances for rural communities through health food, physical activity and education. 

CPASS strongly believes in serving our community, our WVU family, our state and beyond. The research and partnerships described below illustrate the depth and commitment of CPASS faculty, staff, students and researchers.

This program offers weekly developmentally appropriate physical activity programming to school-aged children with disabilities, and also provides hands-on experience for WVU physical education and kinesiology and athletic coaching education majors.

Student-athletes face a multitude of challenges in overcoming injuries. In attempting to achieve recovery and return to the field or court, athletes often rely on physical and psychological techniques. Damien Clement, associate professor, sport, exercise and performance psychology and athletic training, strongly supports the utilization of sport psychology techniques in preparing for the athlete’s return to competition.

“It’s a very rewarding experience for me working with an injured athlete from their initial injury all the way through rehabilitation and back to the field of play. Athletic injury is very common place in athletics but the emphasis on the psychological aspects of recovery is only beginning to become mainstream,” Clement said.

Earlier this year, WVU created the inaugural Outstanding Graduate Research Mentoring Award to honor and encourage the considerable efforts and accomplishments of faculty who have demonstrated exceptional commitment to the mentorship of graduate students. Sponsored by the Office of Graduate Education and Life and the WVU Research Office, the new award recognizes four finalists.

Sam Zizzi, Pat Fehl Endowed Professor, Sport and Exercise Psychology, was a finalist for the WVU 2019 Outstanding Graduate Research Mentoring Award. Here’s part of what he shared with the nominating committee:

CPASS master’s student and instructor Marla Gladstone plans to analyze opposing factors and how they have influenced history and sport by bringing real-life experience into the classroom.

The idea behind PET 101: Games in American culture course is to evaluate and discover how sport has influenced history and how history has influenced sport. Instead of taking stories and examples straight from a textbook, Gladstone’s desired plan of action is to bring different guest speakers into the classroom, to give a more biographical, human perspective.

Caitlyn Lyons, sport management major with minors in communication studies and business administration, began an internship with the Pittsburgh Penguins last spring.   

“I knew this would be a major influence on my professional development, however, my professor, Dr. Floyd Jones, saw more for me. After some discussion, a little persuasion, and a whole lot of encouragement I agreed to take part in the Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) this July. 

Improving the healthy lifestyle landscape in some West Virginia areas might sound like a tough task, but a group of passionate West Virginia University faculty and staff believe the secret lies in empowering communities and providing the support they need to take control of their own health.

Last fall, faculty from WVU Extension Service, WVU College of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences , and WVU School of Public Health and West Virginia Prevention Research Center entered into a five-year contractual partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and launched the Be Wild, Be Wonderful, Be Healthy project.

WVU women’s soccer coach Nikki Izzo-Brown has created a soccer dynasty in Morgantown. However, it is not the winning records nor the titles that have defined her tenure at WVU, but rather the players she has inspired along the way. CPASS graduate student, Bryana McCarthy, is one of those players.

McCarthy, hailing from Ajax, Ontario, Canada, played with the team 10 years ago while earning her undergraduate degree in athletic coaching education.

Body image among young adult female athletes has become a hot topic within the sports exercise psychology industry. Kate Fairhurst, a CPASS Ph.D. candidate, recently received the 2019 Association of Applied Sport Psychology (AASP) Research Grant to continue her research on the topic.

This grant, which is awarded to students and professionals, will support the completion of her doctoral dissertation, which involves the application of PhotoVoice approaches to explore young adult female exercisers' experiences of their body and body image while exercising in a fitness center environment.

College faculty, staff and alumni gathered on April 26 to celebrate 2019 CPASS Student Research Day. Students presented forty posters at the 7th annual event, held in the CPASS main lobby, and featured undergraduate and graduate research along with undergraduate and graduate applied categories.

The College recognized the following winners in each of the categories:

Students, faculty and staff gathered to celebrate achievements during the College’s 2019 spring awards luncheon, Friday April 26 at the Erickson Alumni Center.

The College recognized student scholarship recipients established by alumni and donors. Faculty received awards for distinguished research, service and teaching dedication. The College honored staff for years of service and Mountaineer Value Coins.  

As an athlete, there are countless things that can go through the mind while playing a sport. Sports are exhausting both mentally and physically. Sophomore Morgan Phillips chose West Virginia University to study sport and exercise psychology while wanting to compete with the highly successful Mountaineer Rifle team. 

“I chose CPASS because rifle is a very mental sport and I thought sport [exercise] psychology was interesting. It’s really fascinating to learn more about sport psychology and be able to make connections between what I’m learning about in school and what I do athletically,” said Phillips.

Hundreds of people interested in applied sport science, strength and conditioning and long-term athlete development gathered at the International Coaching and Sport Science College Conference this past December 2018 at East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN.

College of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences representation at the conference included graduate students Michael Derasmo, Jarric Haskins, Billy Cedar, Michael Schlund, Matt Anti, Connor Olson, Nicholas Berchock, Kanchana Venkatesh, Mike DeLong, undergraduate student Anthony Geeza and Abigail Tice, exercise physiology graduate student. Dr. Guy Hornsby, teaching assistant professor, athletic coaching education, joined the students on the trip.

The cultural stigma related to mental illness and those seeking mental health services is pervasive. According to Robert Hilliard, College of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences Sport, Exercise and Performance Psychology doctoral student, such negative viewpoints pose barriers across race, status, occupation, gender, country of origin and other variables.  

Hilliard has received a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Graduate Student Research Grant to conduct research on key topics by introducing new studies to the field. The grant is offered annually to graduate students studying NCAA student-athletes in the broad areas of well-being and sport participation. Hilliard’s research is titled Stigma, Attitudes, and Intentions to Seek Mental Health Services in Student-Athletes. 

The Sport and Exercise Psychology program offers numerous classes that range from professional issues, psychological perspectives to sports in American society. One class focuses on the history and sociocultural contributions to sports in America, specifically historical figures who are African American.

“As a student, their presence in class today and listening to their speeches was very inspirational, motivating and knowledgeable. Their golden experiences are a reminder for this generation to understand the history and its importance," said Farhan Shaikh.