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What makes a good sports city? What makes a good sports fan? How do sports teams reflect the cities/states they call home? CPASS Sport Management Associate Professor Dallas Branch was featured in a recent study examining 2015’s best and worst cities for sports fans. Branch provided insight on sports culture, including the effect of fantasy sports and improvements in in-home viewing and the community nature of fandom.

To find the best and worst cities for sports fans, WalletHub, a personal finance resource company, studied results from previous rankings of cities in various reports studying football, basketball, baseball, hockey and soccer. The sample included 341 U.S. cities, categorized from small to large according to population sizes.

Practical experience learned as the head coach of WVU club baseball, along with advice from faculty mentors, has helped an athletic coaching education graduate land a job in North Dakota. Jeff Pierce graduated this May with an emphasis in strength conditioning.

In early August 2015 he received a call from Williston State in Williston, ND to become the new assistant baseball coach and strength conditioning coordinator in the athletic department.

The College of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences Office of Research is hosting a fall 2015 speaker series to highlight research-related resources and advice for faculty and graduate assistants.

In the first of two presentations, Joy Edwards, Conflict of Interest in Research officer with the West Virginia University Office of Research Integrity and Compliance, will speak about research compliance and faculty responsibility, October 9, 3 p.m. in room 102, CPASSbuilding.

The College of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences, in partnership with the Division of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and the Brazilian Student Association at WVU, will celebrate the spirit of sport, friendship and inclusiveness during Diversity Week 2015 by sponsoring the Diversity Cup – Five vs. Five Coed Soccer Tournament.

This tournament will take place on Sunday, September 27 and Monday, September 28 on the recreational grass fields located in front of the CPASS building and Towers on the Evansdale Campus. Registration is free and open to all WVU undergraduate and graduate students.  Click here to register

Tobin Richardson joined CPASS this summer as a teaching assistant professor and will oversee the CPASS Living-Learning Community. While earning three degrees from Ball State University, Richardson coached intramural sports and served as a doctoral assistant. From Hartford City, Indiana, his dream was always to teach. Richardson is new to Morgantown. 

Richardson works primarily with freshman CPASS students teaching first-year seminar and special topics classes. His desire to teach has led him to WVU where he hopes to instill success in his students by utilizing the living-learning method while incorporating team activities into the classroom.

A position as a graduate assistant has led an ACE alum to a permanent role with the WVU Men’s basketball team. Jay Kuntz spent seven years with the WVU basketball program and has recently accepted the coordinator of player development position. Kuntz graduated in 2014 with a master’s degree in athletic coaching education.

Kuntz continued his career as a graduate assistant with the Mountaineer basketball team, even after earning his degree, with Coach Huggins serving as his mentor.

What started as a class project has expanded a CPASS graduate’s efforts in helping young athletes to excel.

Ethan Brown, a May 2015 B.S., Athletic Coaching Education graduate, developed sport-specific instruction related to skill techniques to help players succeed. He had to first convince the athletes’ parents to support the training, though.

A CPASS Athletic Coaching Education graduate has created a workout facility that offers area residents the same personal strength training that college, professional and Olympic athletes experience.

Viking Performance Training founder Jerry Handley’s interest in physical training was never tied to his participation in a sport, instead, he became intrigued by the science and passion that establishes the drive to succeed. According to Handley, a former West Virginia University conditioning coach, this makes Morgantown-based VPT unique to other gyms and weight lifting facilities.

Remarkable effort and determination have paid dividends for two College of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences students. Nicole Young and Elizabeth Janeiro were chosen for the 2015 class of McNair Scholars as members of an elite program that began at WVU in 1999.

A federally-funded TRIO program, McNair Scholars helps high-achieving first-generation and underrepresented students prepare for graduate school. McNair Scholars serves students through financial assistance, academic guidance and counseling and undergraduate research opportunities.

This fall, two College of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences graduates will join the WVU 2015 Sports Hall of Fame induction class.

On September 26, prior to the West Virginia-Maryland football game, WVU Sports will recognize six honorees for their extraordinary contributions made both as student-athletes and in their careers.