Category: Faculty Spotlights

By Katie Gerbasich

At the conclusion of Clemson University’s Research and Creative Endeavors in the Sports Sciences (RECESS) Symposium, hosted by the Robert H. Brooks Sports Science Institute the week of November 10, 2025, four Clemson faculty were honored with 2025 GRIT Awards. These awards recognize nominated individuals or groups who distinguish themselves in various areas of sports science. A trophy was presented to the following winners. 

Community and Outreach in the Sports Sciences

Tobar studies the intersection of sport, tourism and heritage. He also serves as the head coach of Clemson’s Paralympic Soccer Program and co-founded the Football Tourism Institute, which aims to understand football tourism at the local and global levels. 

Over the summer of 2025, Tobar travelled internationally conducting sports research. In early May, he took a group of students to Germany to study the Culture of Remembrance and Political Activism in German Football. While abroad, he conducted two research studies: one examining stickers in and around stadiums as a form of fan expression and political activism, and another exploring how German soccer clubs suppress or communicate Holocaust history.

Tobar’s inclusive and critical teaching practices earned him the 2025 Junior Tenure-Track Outstanding Teaching Award from Clemson University’s College of Behavioral, Social and Health Sciences. His commitment to experiential learning includes organizing class field trips to venues such as the Bank of America Stadium and the NASCAR Hall of Fame, facilitating networking opportunities with more than 41 sports industry professionals, and supporting undergraduate students as they participate in local sporting events.

For his dedication to both the Clemson and global community, the Institute has awarded Felipe Tobar with the GRIT Award for Community and Outreach in the Sports Sciences for the 2025-26 academic year. 

“He is richly deserving of this award,” commended Greg Ramshaw, Ph.D., Tobar’s colleague in the Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management.

Research in the Sports Sciences

Corr’s scholarly research examines the institutional and organizational settings of collegiate athletics, with attention to the impact and outcomes of participation on various stakeholders. He serves as the executive director of the College Sport Research Institute and is the program manager for the Commission on Sport Management Accreditation.

“Dr. Chris Corr exemplifies the spirit of the GRIT Award in Research in Sports Sciences through his exceptional productivity, interdisciplinary collaboration and measurable impact on the study and practice of sport,” Sarah Stokowski, Corr’s colleague in the College of Education, said. 

Over the past three years, Corr has produced an extraordinary body of scholarship, authoring or co-authoring more than 70 peer-reviewed journal articles, multiple book chapters, and numerous presentations at national and international conferences. 

In a recent article, Corr explored public sentiment surrounding Clemson University’s decision to proceed with a football game the day after Hurricane Helene. The case highlighted the importance of organizational transparency when confronting crises.

Corr’s work has consistently been supported by competitive funding sources, including RHBSSI, the NCAA, the Commission on Sport Management Accreditation (COSMA), and USA Ultimate, demonstrating the quality and applicability of his research. 

“Equally important, Dr. Corr’s collaborative spirit enriches Clemson’s research environment,” Stokowski said. “He actively mentors graduate and undergraduate students, co-authors with emerging scholars, and engages in applied projects that extend Clemson’s land-grant mission.”

Student Engagement in the Sports Sciences

Recognized for her unwavering commitment to student success, Sarah Stokowski, Ph.D., has made an impact on graduate education and student engagement within the Athletic Leadership program. She has supervised more than 75 doctoral students across both the Higher Education and P12 concentrations. 

“Dr. Stokowski is unbelievably passionate and committed to student learning and success,” noted her colleague from the College of Education, Chris Corr, Ph.D. “She is tremendously caring and committed to students’ scholarly achievement, and students walk away from her research methods course with a tangible academic publication and, more importantly for their professional development, an in-depth understanding of the research process. 

Her commitment to publishing with students has led many graduate students to continue their education by pursuing terminal degrees. 

“While Dr. Stokowski is an all-around tremendous scholar and influential member of the campus community, her commitment to student excellence and achievement is to be marveled at,” Corr said.In addition to her mentorship efforts, Stokowski was awarded a 2025 ESPN Research Fellowship by the University of Nevada, Las Vegas International Gaming Institute (IGI). Through this fellowship, she will research how student-athletes perceive and engage with online sports betting content. To learn more about her work, click here.

Friend of the Institute

Gurchiek is the principal investigator in the Human Movement Biomechanics Lab (HuMBL), where his team uses standard motion capture technologies for human movement analysis and biomechanics. 

A recent project, funded by RHBSSI, involved developing a passive assistive hamstring device to support muscle recovery. Read more about the work here.

Gurchiek has also been integral in collaborating with the Institute on plans for the University’s new human performance center on the ground floor of the student wellness center, which has recently broken ground.

“The Institute is very appreciative to Dr. Gurchiek for his continued leadership in the development of this new facility that will bring human performance research at Clemson to national prominence,” said John DesJardins, Ph.D., director of the Institute.

By Katie Gerbasich

Kathryn Kisska-Schulze, J.D., LL.M., a Robert H. Brooks Sports Science Institute Faculty Fellow and the Elliott Davis Associate Professor in the School of Accountancy in The Wilbur O. and Ann Powers College of Business, recently published work on athlete name, image and likeness (NIL) rights that was relied upon by the Tennessee legislature in 2025. Her article, An Evolving Landscape: Name, Image and Likeness Rights in High School Athletes, co-authored by Adam Epstein from Central Michigan University and Nathaniel Grow from Indiana University, was cited as a research reference and practice aid in drafting Tenn. Code Ann. § 47-25-1103, which addresses NIL rights.

The article examines the evolving NIL landscape for high school student-athletes, identifying potential financial risks and proposing a framework to better protect minor student-athletes entering endorsement agreements.

“This honor showcases the impact our research can have on major state legislative interests,” Kissaka-Schulze said.

In spring 2024, Kisska-Schulze launched the School of Accountancy’s first undergraduate sports law course. She also teaches a graduate sports law course for the College of Business’ Master of Science in Sports Business and Analytics program.

Kisska-Schulze has served as chair of the Sports and Entertainment Law Section of the Academy of Legal Studies in Business, represents the College of Business on Clemson University’s Faculty Athletic Council, and was recently named a Brooks Sports Science Institute Fellow.

Individuals who suffer from chronic pain have increasingly come to rely on kratom, a Southeast Asian plant whose principal psychoactive alkaloids, mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine (7-OH), may soon become Schedule I Controlled Substances in the United States. The two compounds bind to, and partially activate, opioid receptors in the brain.

“People in Southeast Asia have long relied on teas brewed from kratom leaves not only to manage pain but to ease the symptoms of opiate withdrawal,” said Bryan E. Denham, Ph.D., Campbell Professor of Sports Communication in the Department of Communication at Clemson. “Although kratom is not entirely safe, it appears to be less hazardous than concentrated, synthetic versions of 7-OH, manufactured by unscrupulous firms. Synthetics are sold at gas stations and vape stores and are packaged to attract the attention of high-school and college-aged individuals.”

Denham’s study appears in the Journal of Substance Use and addresses the extent to which kratom use correlates with health concerns and signs of dependency on other substances. One finding showed that individuals struggling to quit prescription pain relievers were more than four times as likely as others to have used kratom, a substance the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) considers “drug of concern.” In July 2025, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advised the DEA to add mitragynine and 7-OH to the list of Controlled Substances, and the DEA is currently considering that recommendation.

“It will be interesting to see what the DEA chooses to do in the coming months,” Denham said. “It announced plans in 2016 to ban mitragynine and 7-OH, but it received significant pushback from kratom users. This time, the FDA has made it a point to state plainly that its recommendation does not include the kratom plant itself. It is primarily interested in the two alkaloids and especially the hazardous synthetic products. A trade group, the American Kratom Association, has endorsed the recommended actions on mitragynine and 7-OH.”

Denham studies the media, health, and policy aspects of substance use in sport and society. He said that in sport, athletes have used kratom to increase energy and to recuperate from intense exercise. Some athletes believe it enhances their focus during competition, and some experiment with it for pain relief. Technically, kratom is not a banned substance, but the United States Anti-Doping Agency advises athletes to avoid using it given potential side effects. Athletes and non-athletes alike should appreciate that kratom is a drug, not a dietary supplement, and they should be aware of manipulative labels on synthetic substances.

In addition to his study in the Journal of Substance Use, Denham has examined the agenda-building function of mass media on kratom policy, exploring how coverage in major national news outlets and regional news organizations has impacted regulatory action. Denham said the Tampa Bay Times, in particular, has examined kratom use in depth, and its reporting has impacted coverage elsewhere in addition to policy conversations at the state and national levels.

By Katie Gerbasich

Division 1 student-athletes already battle the complexities of balancing classes with practices and a social life. When medical conditions emerge, the situation is elevated to a new level. Using funding from the Robert H. Brooks Sports Science Institute (RHBSSI), Department of Communication faculty and RHBSSI fellows, Brandon Boatwright, Ph.D., and Rikishi Simith-Rey, Ph.D., are conducting an exploratory study, hoping to illuminate student-athletes’ challenges as they compete at a high level while managing chronic illnesses and autoimmune diseases. 

His own journey with an autoimmune disease inspired Boatwright. After a conversation with former Division Ⅰ athlete, Smith-Rey, the idea for the study was born. The two are now working with students Marissa Bennett and Ava Quallen, from the Departments of Communication and Health Science, respectively, to find ways to assist these athletes. 

“Life as a student-athlete is complicated and complex already, but to feel like you’re fighting against your own body in the context of being a college student and trying to navigate your schedule builds the stresses of all that,” Boatwright said. 

A key point in the research has been identifying what resources are available for these individuals. There is a fluctuation in availability among Division Ⅰ programs, and an even greater disparity when comparing Division Ⅰ  to Division Ⅱ.  

“When we think about resources here at Clemson, student-athletes have some of the best stuff, but not everyone goes to Clemson,” Smith-Rey said. “Not everyone, even if you are D1, has the same resources, so how can we identify what resources student athletes need? What ways can we assist them in communicating their needs to other stakeholders in their lives?”

The study is currently in the data collection process. The team has spoken with different student-athletes across various sports with Type 1 Diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and Crohn’s disease, among other illnesses. 

“The folks we have spoken with have been incredible people and athletes competing at such a super high level,” Boatwright said. “They are just incredible people for having to deal with the things that they have dealt with and still preserving.”

Smith-Rey commends these interviews for being a space where these student-athletes feel seen. Often, chronic illnesses or autoimmune diseases have an element of invisibility that makes communication a challenge. 

After speaking with the team, these athletes feel like someone understands their unique story. Boatwright shared a narrative about an athlete with Rheumatoid Arthritis. 

“They would just have to wake up and tell players, teammates, coaches or someone that it’s not gonna happen because I can’t get out of bed,” Boatwright said. “‘I physically just can not sit up enough to get out of bed. It’s just one of those days.’” 

Athletic programs and teams can become better advocates by better understanding the challenges these athletes face due to their medical conditions. 

“We can be that support button right now,”  Smith-Rey said. “Someone is speaking up for you and looking for ways to assist you in this.” 

If you are or were an athlete who competed at the Division Ⅰ  to Division Ⅱ level, are no more than five years removed from your sport, and were diagnosed with a chronic illness or autoimmune disease before competing in college, click here to set up an interview. 

By: Griffin Barfield

Christopher Pearce graduated from Clemson in 2024 with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering. He received the Markvan Bellamy Brooks Endowed Scholarship in 2024. During his time at Clemson, he worked at the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR) as a Research Assistant and was an IT Intern at the Watt Family Innovation Center.

How have you utilized your major/concentration in sports to help your career?

I have used my degree to grow my background in the automotive industry both directly and indirectly. While my internships provided me with the opportunity to apply my engineering skills directly, my current role is more focused on managing projects in the engineering realm. Group projects at Clemson and prior industry knowledge helped prepare me for this type of role.

What is your current role, where, and what do you do?

I am currently a project manager at Porsche Cars North America, supporting their engineering and quality teams. I am also responsible for managing the technical review of various escalated field cases.

What was your journey like since graduating from Clemson?

Since graduating from Clemson, I have moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where I continued my internship with Porsche and was soon hired into my current role.

What advice would you give to future Brooks scholars as they approach post-grad?

My advice to all students is to build relationships everywhere you go. These relationships will help you grow and navigate through your industry.

The Robert H. Brooks Sports Science Institute is thrilled to welcome several new Clemson faculty members to its cohort of Faculty Fellows.

SUSAN LIMBER, Ph.D., MLS

Dan Olweus Professor, Department of Psychology

Dr. Limber is an Emeritus Professor in the Department of Psychology. Prior to her retirement in 2025, she was named the Dan Olweus Professor, highlighting her significant contributions to furthering the work of the late Dan Olweus, a pioneer in bullying prevention work. Dr. Limber is a developmental psychologist who also holds a Master’s of Legal Studies. Her nearly 25 years of research focus on psychological and legal issues related to bullying among children, as well as youth civic engagement, and children’s rights. She co-authored the book, Cyberbullying: Bullying in the Digital Age, in 2008. Awarded by the American Psychological Association (APA), she is a recipient of the Early Career Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychology in the Public Interest. Before coming to Clemson, Dr. Limber was the Associate Director at the Institute for Families in Society at the University of South Carolina. She also provided consultation to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on bullying prevention efforts from 2001-2016. Now, she serves as the Graduate Program Director for a PhD in International Family & Community Studies.

KATHRYN KISSKA-SCHULZE, JD, LL.M.

Associate Professor, School of Accountancy

Kisska-Schulze is the Elliott Davis Associate Professor and Associate Director of the Powers College of Business, School of Accountancy. She launched the School of Accountancy’s first Sports Law course in 2024. Her research focuses on the amateur and collegiate sports arena, with particular emphasis given to various tax consequences that could impact the amateur sports industry as it continues to evolve. Kisska-Schulze has published 13 sports-related research articles to date, including one titled “Brute Force (Anti) Federalism,” which won the Holmes-Cardozo Award in 2022. This premier research award is granted by the Academy of Legal Studies in Business. She has been invited to present her research or speak on sports law issues at Oklahoma Law School, UC Irvine Law, and various other schools across the country. Previously, she served for three years as Chair of the Sports and Entertainment Law Section of the internationally recognized Academy of Legal Studies in Business. Additionally, Kisska-Schulze now sits on Clemson’s Faculty Athletic Council.

ETHAN KUNG, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Bioengineering

Kung is an Associate Professor jointly appointed in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Bioengineering. His interdisciplinary research on aspects of cardiovascular biomechanics intersects with athletic performance and human physiology. Kung was awarded the National Science Foundation CAREER Award to develop an experimental-computational hybrid modeling framework of the cardiovascular system. This framework can be applied to better understand the complex relationship between exercise and body mechanics. His research has gained supportive funding from the American Heart Association, the Children’s Heart Foundation, and Saving Tiny Hearts Society. Additionally, he is an associate editor for the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Journal of Biomechanical Engineering and serves on the Executive Committee of the ASME’s Bioengineering Division.

ALEX CHISHOLM, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Department of Teaching and Learning

Chisholm is as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning. He brings over fifteen years of experience teaching various social sciences in K-12, as well as mentorship experience at the University of Georgia. Chisholm’s research primarily focuses on black social studies, race in education, and civic education. His work explores the relationship between sports and societal development. A top journal in his field, The Social Studies Journal, recently published his article titled “Beyond the Standard: Teaching Civic Engagement Through Black Athlete Activism and Resistance.” At Clemson, Chisholm is also the Secondary Social Studies Student-Teaching Coordinator.

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Clemson faculty and staff making contributions to the sports field, broadly defined, are invited to apply to become members of the Institute. Fellows meet twice annually, collaborate on multi-disciplinary projects and are eligible to receive additional funding from RHBSSI for their work. Click here to view the full list of fellows and click here to learn more about becoming a Brooks Fellow.

By Evelyn Lane

Throughout the 2025 summer, Robert H. Brooks Sports Science Institute Faculty Fellow and Assistant Professor in the Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management, Dr. Felipe Tobar, has been conducting sport research around the world. From Clemson to Germany, Australia and Taiwan, Tobar has taken his passion for soccer and research on the intersection of sport, tourism, history, events, politics, and technology across the world.

Holocaust remembrance connected to German soccer culture

In early May, Tobar took a group of students from Clemson to Germany to study “​​the Culture of Remembrance and Political Activism in German Football.” The first stop was Berlin, where they toured the city and its remembrance sites to help students understand that the impact of the Holocaust was not solely confined to concentration camps, but weaved into daily life, including soccer. They also attended the Babelsberg 03 vs. FC Carl Zeiss Jena match and witnessed the “Alle zusammen – voran 03!” initiative (“All Together – Leading 03!”), which is a campaign working to eliminate barriers in the stadium and in the way people think about inclusion in soccer between players with and without disabilities.

The next stop was Bremen, where the group walked around the city learning about the systematic use of forced labor under the Nazi regime and how the local community was fully aware of all crimes, and how political engagement in soccer is a necessity. After the walking tour, they visited Bunker Valentin, which was a Nazi-era submarine bunker, where they reflected on how to understand the victims in the eyes of soccer to present them as fans who never got to support their club again. They also got to tour Werder Bremen and retrace the Nazi-era history. After that tour, they got to witness the Werder Bremen vs RB Leipzig game and interact with locals.

After Bremen, they visited Hamburg, Dortmund, and Cologne, where they visited the FC St. Pauli Museum, HSV Museum, Borussia Dortmund, and the FC Köln Stadium. Not only did they get to experience German culture through soccer matches and stadium and museum tours, but they also gained a deeper understanding of how players, directors, and fans were important in helping build a culture of remembrance.

“Football clubs have the power, and the social responsibility, to remember, speak out, and act.” – Dr. Felipe Tobar

Their last stop was in Munich, where they played street soccer with locals and learned how the game of soccer at any level can teach important values that immigrant youth can take with them throughout their lives and help them adapt to new communities. The group then visited the FC Bayern Museum and reflected on how Bayern players and directors were affected by Nazi ideologies and how Munich played a central role in Hitler’s rise. The students also presented social media campaigns they had created focusing on topics such as racism, religious intolerance, and intersectionality in soccer. 

During and after the trip, Tobar initiated two different studies. The first is about stickers. He noticed that around the soccer stadiums, there were stickers everywhere. These can easily be overlooked, but when he looked at these, he saw a version of fan expression, fans communicating their social and political beliefs and how German soccer culture is a vehicle of political activism. The second is a study focused on the benefits of teaching Holocaust history and how German soccer clubs can collaborate with remembrance centers and former concentration camps to attract new audiences and use soccer’s influence to communicate Holocaust history and ensure that it never happens again. 

Presentations abroad

Tobar was invited as a visiting researcher and teacher to the National Taichung University of Education in Taiwan, where he had the opportunity to speak at three different undergraduate courses. He shared his experiences working with Paralympic soccer athletes and the importance of respect. He also presented his teaching philosophy, which is one where it is important to promote kindness and learning to create more engaged and curious students. 

In Australia, he presented at the 16th International Conference on Sport and Society at Monash University in Melbourne. He presented his paper about English soccer stadiums, specifically Liverpool FC and how the presence of tourists and their use of mobile phones affect the local supporters’ match-day experiences. Through this study, he found that the presence of football tourists and their online engagement can be disruptive to the local football culture. He plans to share these results with both club and English Premier League teams in the future. 

American and European soccer research 

During Clemson’s first-ever Paralympic soccer match, Tobar conducted a survey to understand the perception of players with disabilities. He discovered that 84% of participants had changed their opinions positively towards para-athletes. He also surveyed the perceptions and attitudes of long-term volunteers towards people with disabilities.  

Additionally, Tobar has two studies where he focuses on soccer and environmental sustainability. The first follows his attendance at the UEFA EURO, where the institution implemented a €29.6 million investment in environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives. The tournament achieved a 21% reduction in emissions compared to initial forecasts, largely through measures like encouraging public transport and minimizing flights. This study was focused on whether these changes towards sustainability changed fan behavior after the championship.

The second was focused on the Clemson Women’s Soccer team. In 2024, Tobar accompanied the team to Spain, where they observed how facilities and clubs tackle climate change. Now that a year has passed, he is asking 19 players and two managers if they have changed their behaviors and show that the players can have a voice and help others become more environmentally friendly.

The documentary

Tobar has recently launched his documentary called “The Match That Not Every Club Wants to Play.” This documentary takes viewers to Spain, showing the Real Madrid soccer club and how it attempted to keep its role in the Spanish Civil War a secret. It also takes us to FC St. Pauli in Germany, where the club is a symbol of resistance, and where the fans demand accountability for the club’s Nazi-era past.

Just like Tobar, this documentary is making its way around the world. It debuted at the Tercer Tiempo-Festival Mundial de Cine Futbolero in Bogotá, Colombia, where his father is from. There, he received a “Special Mention” for the quality of the production and thought-provoking investigation. Additionally, it was the first film in six years to have a full-house at the viewing. 

Soon, the documentary will be shown at the Sports & Entertainment Film Festival in Birmingham, Alabama, the Festigol, Festival de Cine + Futbol, in Santiago, Chile, and at the Paladino D’Oro in Palermo, Italy, which is the world’s oldest sport film festival. 

Coming up…

Following his first documentary, Tobar is in the process of developing another around the unspoken functions of Weserstadion in Bremen during the Nazi regime. The Nazis took it and used Eastern European slaves to build military defense structures. The stadium also facilitated the distribution of furniture from Jewish houses, and even today, much of this furniture is still not found. 

Additionally, Tobar is studying how cultures influence how coaches coach their players. He plans to interview professional and collegiate coaches to understand how culture shapes play style. His brother is a coach for the most important Division One team in Ecuador, which is inspiring this study. 

He is also working with Master’s students and colleagues from Colombia, Spain, and Chile to take a look at paralympic soccer and analyze how countries organize offensively and defensively. They are asking the question, “What is the best way to win games?” Paralympic players expend three times more energy than normal players, so they work to prove that the best paralympic teams play zone, which allows more conservation of energy, versus a man-to-man structure. 

Housed in the Department of Communication and currently led by RHBSSI Faculty Fellow, Brandon Boatwright, Ph.D., the Clemson University Social Media Center (SMLC) is an interdisciplinary lab that utilizes industry-leading social analytics software to harvest, analyze and engage in social media conversations across thousands of sources of digital data. The SMLC is a cutting-edge laboratory that supplies researchers at Clemson with data for a diverse range of topics and projects. 

Sports researchers at Clemson have utilized the SMLC to advance their studies in the behavioral sciences, such as in sports communication and education. Boatwright has partnered with other fellows in the Department of Communication, such as Virginia Harrison, Ph.D., and fellows Sarah Stokowski, Ph.D., and Chris Corr, Ph.D., from Clemson University’s athletic leadership program in the Department of Educational and Organizational Leadership Development on recent studies that have examined social media trends to collect qualitative data.

Published this year in the journal Communication & Sport, a study by Boatwright, Stokowski, Corr and colleague Marry Holly from the University of Florida, titled The Local Perspective: Regional Television Framing of Name, Image, and Likeness, utilized the SMLC “…to examine the manner in which local television media in the United States framed NIL during news broadcasts,” analyzing television broadcast content across the United States during Fall 2024. Helpful for collegiate athletic administrators, the study revealed that a similar number of comments framed NIL positively, for promotion, and negatively, for its disruption.

Prior to this, in 2023, Harrison and colleagues from her department, as well as from The Pennsylvania State University, announced their study, “Save Our Spikes”: Social Media Advocacy and Fan Reaction to the End of Minor League Baseball, published in Communication & Sport. The team utilized the SMLC to collect “…social media data to extract fan emotions during identity threats” on X (formerly known as Twitter) surrounding the decline of Minor League Baseball during the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. “…the study found that most discussions of contraction were negative in tone and contained emotions like anger” and, overall, made an important contribution to the field “…by bringing advocacy communication into the discussion of sport fandom” and using social media data to shed light on sport fan emotions during a crisis.

The SMLC serves as one of the premier social media laboratories in the nation with the ability to harvest data, only scratching the surface of social media research and application. To that end, the SMLC provides students and researchers with tools and techniques to analyze and make sense out of datasets. The SMLC can support various methodological approaches from content analysis, sentiment analysis, network analysis and more. Click here to learn more about the SMLC.

By Evelyn Lane

In June 2025, Robert H. Brooks Sports Science Institute Fellow and Assistant Professor in the Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management, Ashlyn Hardie, Ph. D., recently embarked on a journey to Costa Rica. She was accompanied by Mike Clark, former assistant director for Clemson Student-Athlete Development, Nick Singleton, assistant director for Clemson Student-Athlete Development, and nine female student-athletes from Clemson Women’s Rowing, Track and Field, Softball and Gymnastics. 

Clemson Student-Athlete Development (SADEV) is a branch within Clemson Athletics where staff work with student-athletes to help them grow in their leadership skills, prepare for post-graduation careers and work on holistic human development. The Director of Student-Athlete Development, Tori Niemann, and Dr. Hardie originally connected because of Hardie’s research expertise on women in sport and sport in the international context. Subsequently, Hardie began to assist the SADEV staff in their goal to ensure the service trip to Costa Rica was intentional, impactful, had measurable research outcomes, and would benefit the Costa Rican community. 

Hardie’s research emphasizes the importance of understanding intention versus impact in international development and service work. Her mission is to help others understand that in order to make a positive change, there has to be more than just positive intention; service providers and volunteers also have to acknowledge and embrace the culture and norms of the country they are in to optimize positive outcomes for all parties. According to Hardie, she was really impressed with the SADEV staff’s intentionality in learning about ethical international service practice and prioritizing that in the trip preparations. 

Embarking on the trip

On the trip, all of the student-athletes were women, and the two staff members leading the trip, Clark and Singleton, were men. So, in addition to Hardie’s professional contributions, she was excited to be an example to these young women of an experienced female traveler. Hardie shared, “While it wasn’t the intended purpose of my role on the trip, I cherish any opportunity to be an example for young women of how to break out of their comfort zone, embrace different cultures and different people, and seize opportunities to grow through travel. The idea of traveling internationally as a young woman can feel daunting or unsafe, but it makes all the difference to have an example and mentor who can share some helpful tips and support in the process.” 

During their service trip, student-athletes learned about the local communities and cultures of Costa Rica, explored the city, zip-lined through the rainforest, gained deeper insight into the ecological elements of Costa Rica and the importance of eco-friendly practices in their culture. The main purpose of the trip, which took up four of the six days of the trip, was to work at a school in the rural mountains of Costa Rica called La Jolla. There, they helped build a community space with a kitchen and bathroom area, along with more creative tasks such as painting signs in English with the school’s core values so that the Costa Rican students could learn English and important values such as empathy and self-awareness. Clemson athletes also helped with general clean-up, participated in a Father’s Day fundraiser and dance classes, and supported with other tasks during the week. 

Service trips can benefit both the community that is being assisted and leave participating volunteers with lasting memories, a greater understanding of other cultures, and comfort traveling to a new environment. To this end, Hardie states that there were three main takeaways that were voiced from the Clemson group collectively at the end of their travels.

The first was that the student-athletes expanded their Clemson horizons while abroad and stepped out of their comfort zones. On day one of the trip, the athletes mostly hung out with their teammates and were more reserved; by day six, they formed a little sisterhood and had shared experiences and developed friendships across teams as a result.

The second takeaway was that the student-athletes were able to recognize differences in the way Americans live and what many people take for granted every day. When people picture a trip to Costa Rica, they visualize lying out on the beach during the day and using their resort WiFi to wind down at night, and trust that there will be water coming out of the showerhead so they can rinse off the sand after a long day at the beach. Instead, the women on this trip experienced inconsistency in cell service and WiFi, and the water being shut off for a night at their homestays as a result of a small earthquake (that was not felt by people, but as a safety precaution). Although this made individuals anxious and feel inconvenienced, their host families explained this was relatively normal, which ultimately broadened the scope of Clemson athletes’ understanding of how experiences can vary greatly in other parts of the world.

The last takeaway that the group expressed was that they had a greater desire to connect and contribute to the community surrounding them. The girls were nervous at first, but once they saw all that they could accomplish, they took pride in their work. They also dove more into the culture, they practiced the language and overcame their own discomfort to connect with their environment. These learnings applied to both the student-athletes and the staff leaders alongside Hardie, who acknowledged in real-time that they were in a new place and were able to embrace new things that they had not experienced before.

Hardie states that this trip allowed for self-reflecting and conquering challenges that the group does not normally encounter day-to-day in Clemson, South Carolina. Instead of preparing for a hard exam or training for a new personal record in their respective sport, the athletes had to navigate language barriers so they could communicate with their host families and learn new norms, try new foods, and navigate new cities/towns.

Six days is a short amount of time to fully appreciate being immersed in a new culture, but the student-athletes made the most out of their time. They connected with the locals and attempted to speak the native language, and even participated in a dance class. Cultural acclimation can take weeks for some, but Hardie was proud of them for going out and trying new things and maximizing the time they had.

Aftermath of the service trip

Hardie says that, for the staff and faculty who go on service trips such as these, it allows for moments of learning and reflection that can be utilized to inform future Clemson student-athletes’ community service projects. The impact this group made does not just stay in Costa Rica; it follows them back to Clemson and influences their future projects. 

In addition to the service trip itself, Hardie and Niemann partnered together on a research initiative to assess the impact of these opportunities for Clemson student-athletes and donor support. Before, during, and after this trip, Hardie collected data. She challenged the girls to reflect on things like how their identities influence the spaces they are interacting in, cultural understanding and integration, and their own personal development from the trip. She took ethnographic notes throughout this time about her experiences working and interacting with the group, and her observations from the week. 

Hardie will be analyzing the qualitative data and asking questions such as, “How did the relationship between the student-athlete development staff and the student-athletes change?” and “What were the most meaningful outcomes for those student-athletes?” and “What was the change in their global perspective?” The information can be used for future trips to prepare student-athletes on how to better interact with other countries, and to seek and interact with donors for projects such as these. 

In the future, Hardie is excited to continue working on and supporting international service projects with SADEV as a point-of-contact, regardless of whether or not she travels alongside the team, to provide insight and advice as to how to prepare student-athletes before travelling abroad, as well as support in future research endeavors. 

Women’s Golf Month is celebrated throughout June each year. This June, we celebrate Clemson Women’s Golf which has a strong history of elite performance and camaraderie with the academics at Clemson University.

Over the years, various faculty at Clemson have studied the science behind the game and its players.

Faculty from Clemson University’s Department of Bioengineering, including Interim Director of the Robert H. Brooks Sports Science Institute, John DesJardins, Ph.D., have studied ‘balance improvements and golf swing kinematic consistency with eight-week balance interventions.’ The purpose of the study, conducted in 2020, was to determine if a training program targeted specifically at balance could enhance players’ overall performance by improving postural stability and swing consistency. After studying eight NCAA Division I players, it was determined that balance training would enhance posture but, while no negative effects were measured, swing consistency did not improve. Another benefit of the study showed the importance of conducting research to help coaches and players understand both the positive and negative effects of their training programs and to potentially make modifications based on that data. While the original study was conducted with male golfers, its conclusions can be applied across teams. Click here to read the full article in the Journal of Sports Research.

Another Clemson faculty member, Gregory Cranmer, Ph.D., from the Department of Communication and fellow of the Robert H. Brooks Sports Science Institute, has studied ‘female golfer’s uncertainty management during their transition into professional golf.’ The 2020 study offers potential strategies for collegiate organizations and professional associations to prepare student-athletes for the uncertain transition into professional golf.

On August 28-29, the Tiger Golf Gathering (TGG) Foundation will host the 2025 Tiger Golf Gathering in Clemson, an annual fundraising event that benefits the Clemson Golf program. The event features a Thursday Open at The Walker Course and Auction Party in the afternoon at the Madren Conference Center and Inn. Friday morning features the Tiger-Am at The Cliffs at Keowee Springs. Meet current and former Tigers and bid on some amazing items to support your Clemson golfers. Sponsorships and online donations are also available.

Click here to learn more about Clemson’s sports science faculty.