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Jadyn Collins, a Sport Management major from Weirton, W.Va., found her place at WVU by turning a love for sports into hands-on experience with the Mountaineer baseball team. Through three years of real-world involvement and mentorship from coaches, Collins built the foundation for a future in scouting and player evaluation. After graduation, she will head to Cape Cod to scout for the Oakland A’s and continue the momentum she created as a proud Mountaineer.

Tanner Cloce, a senior Physical Education and Kinesiology (PEK) major at West Virginia University, has been named a 2024 SHAPE America Major of the Year—one of the highest national honors for undergraduate students in the field.

Presented by the Society of Health and Physical Educators (SHAPE America), the Major of the Year award recognizes top-performing students in health, physical education, recreation, and dance (HPERD) who demonstrate academic excellence, strong leadership, and a deep commitment to service. With only a limited number of students recognized nationally each year, the award is a significant honor. Cloce is the first WVU student in over a decade to earn the recognition.

WVU Sport Management alumna Hailey Barrett (BS ’16, MS ’21) has turned her passion for tennis and leadership into a rising collegiate coaching career. Now in her third year as an assistant tennis coach at Rutgers, Barrett first made her mark at WVU as a student-athlete during a time of transition by helping to hold the team together during a coaching change and stepping into leadership roles on and off the court. Her coaching journey has taken her from The Greenbrier to UConn, Washington and Lee, Colorado, and now the Big Ten. This WVU Magazine feature traces her path—from battling adversity as a player to mentoring the next generation.

The West Virginia University School of Sport Sciences and the WVU Baseball Biomechanics and Performance Center are partnering to elevate sport sciences education and baseball performance by combining science, technology, and applied learning to set new standards in athletic performance and professional preparation across all disciplines in the School of Sport Sciences.

A key component of the partnership is a new role that connects the School of Sport Sciences and the Baseball Biomechanics and Performance Center. This position will lead the center’s daily operations while contributing to teaching, research, and outreach in sport biomechanics and related areas.

Students and faculty in the Sport, Exercise and Performance Psychology program recently traveled to the University of Kentucky for the American Association of Sport Psychology Midwest Sport and Exercise Psychology Symposium.

For much of her athletic career, Hannah Swartz (née Severs) carried a quiet, growing exhaustion—one that had little to do with the physical demands of the sport she loved. A standout soccer player growing up in North Carolina, she was driven, competitive, and committed to improving. But as she progressed in the game, the emotional and mental toll of coaching styles around her began to wear her down.

As early as 12 years old, Swartz can remember going to the sideline during a game to be yelled at for a mistake. At an age when sport should have been a source of joy and growth, Swartz felt tension creeping in. Anxiety followed her into games. Practices felt like pressure cookers rather than learning environments. She continued competing at a high level but felt drained by the culture around her.

A planned gift from retired educator Thomas Rymer Davis will provide crucial support for aspiring teachers at the West Virginia University College of Applied Human Sciences. This gift is designed to inspire the next generation of educators to establish their careers in West Virginia, contributing to efforts to address the state's critical teacher shortage.

The WVU Sport Management Club recently traveled to Indianapolis for a three-day professional development trip, where they met with industry leaders, toured world-class sports venues, and gained firsthand insights into careers in the sports industry.

Addison Dobson is eager – eager to learn, eager to talk, eager to do. She smiles easily and carries herself with the kind of energy that makes you believe she is looking for (and ready for) the next challenge. Whether it’s leaving Ohio to come to West Virginia University or jumping into a new sport with no experience, Dobson is the kind of person who leans in—fully, without hesitation.

WVU sport management students Kaitlin Beegle, Jada Kent, Abby Childers, and Charlotte Ralph, recently gained real-world event operations experience at the 2025 Duke’s Mayo Bowl in Charlotte, N.C. The group worked alongside the Tepper Sports & Entertainment Guest Experience Team at Bank of America Stadium as Virginia Tech took on Minnesota.

As part of this experiential learning opportunity organized by Patrick Hairston from the School of Sport Sciences, students attended a pre-game operations meeting before being paired with supervisors to shadow on game day. The experience offered an inside look at event and facility management, including pre-game preparations to post-game wrap-up.