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A local community outreach program combines physical activity and education while teaching responsible behavior and self esteem and encouraging lifelong friendships. The popular summer program promotes a healthy outlook toward an active lifestyle.

Young campers learn the value and benefits of proper nutrition, good health practices and the importance of having a well balanced lifestyle.Hosted by the WVU College of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences, the program helps kids improve physical fitness through sports. NYSP blends a strong educational focus, including sessions about career guidance, personal safety and community service.

Brooke Towner and Cory Breithoff, CPASS graduate students, have been selected to participate in the West Virginia Inaugural Summer Policy Institute 2016. The WV Center on Budget and Policy will host the gathering on the West Virginia Wesleyan College campus, July 29-31.

This program will allow students from accredited universities across the state to come together and learn about critical West Virginia specific policy issues. 

A team of CPASS faculty members will lead an effort to study the moral, political, social and applied behavior aspects related to sports ethics.

The Russell “Bud” Bolton Center for Sports Ethics will enhance offerings in athletic coaching education, sport management and sport and exercise psychology programs. The center will promote the use of specialized lectures, case studies, guest speakers and research related to the topics of ethics in sports as integral parts of the courses in each of the programs.

Scott Barnicle, Ph.D., will join the CPASS faculty in August as the new teaching assistant professor for the sport and exercise psychology program. Barnicle earned his Ph.D. in sport and exercise psychology from the University of Idaho. Since graduation, he has worked with the military and collegiate athletic teams focusing on performance enhancement. Most recently, Barnicle has simultaneously served as an adjunct instructor at several institutions.

Barnicle feels that sport and exercise psychology is especially important to society. “Sport and exercise psychology has the ability to benefit and shape multiple aspects of our lives,” Barnicle said.

Kibum Cho, a graduate student in the CPASS Coaching and Teaching Studies program, was awarded a 2016 SHAPE America Research Council grant. The Committee selected Cho’s grant proposal titled: Exploring Appalachian Guardians’ Opt-In and Out Decisions of Children School-Based Health Screenings and awarded Cho $2,215 in funding.

The grant recognizes an elite group of students. “This is a competitive process that funds five to six awards to doctoral students nationwide per year,” explained Emily Jones, assistant professor, Physical Education Teacher Education.

Alyxis Harper, SEP undergraduate student, received the Women of WVU Enrichment Fund scholarship on May 27, 2016.

Originally from Ashburn, VA, Harper is currently pursuing a BS degree in sports and exercise psychology, while minoring in strength and conditioning. Harper will graduate in December of this year.

Three projects, two months, one eye-opening opportunity. For Manon Eluère, her overseas internship experience at CPASS this summer will offer partnerships and a new perspective in her academic studies.

A scholar from Rennes, France, Eluère, 22, is studying at the Center for Applied Coaching and Sport Sciences this summer to further her research on sport psychology and coaching education. Eluère is spending seven weeks at CPASS, between June 6 and July 22.

A favorite expression among  West Virginia University alumni are words to live by for a College of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences graduate. The sentiment, “Once a Mountaineer, always a Mountaineer,” lands close to the heart for CPASS grad James Higginbotham and has led him to establish a new scholarship for the College.

Higginbotham is quick to credit his experiences as a WVU student as the “best four years of my life. The friends that I made almost 50 years ago in Morgantown remain as my closest companions today,” Higginbotham said.

A  West Virginia University faculty member has been selected to join an elite group of international coaching experts to create a network of coach developers across the world.

Kristen Dieffenbach, associate professor in WVU’s  College of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences  athletic coaching education program, has been selected into the Nippon Sport Science University Coach Developer Academy as part of the Japanese government’s Sport for Tomorrow program. As a fully funded initiative leading up to the 2020 Olympics to be hosted by Japan, the program targets athletes, coaches and coach developers.

The National Inclusion Project has once again partnered with West Virginia University College of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences to continue a program designed to break down barriers between those living with disabilities and those without through one simple, yet powerful, everyday activity — play.

The continuing partnership will support training for instructors and student mentors in Lifetime Activities programs including the WVU National Youth Sports Program, swim lessons, and gymnastics classes.