Kalyn McDonough Smith honored with Early Career Scholar Award

By Laura Stassi

A former NCAA Division I lacrosse player returns to her alma mater to work as a research assistant and volunteer staffer for the team. There, she stumbles into a volunteer opportunity to launch a lacrosse program for boys at a nearby juvenile correctional facility. The teens are wary at first but as they gain familiarity with the sport and polish their skills, their confidence grows and their ability to trust expands. Inspired by the players' transformation, the volunteer embarks on an academic career focused on sport for development, youth justice, sport policy and social justice through sport. She quickly becomes a standout for her scholarly contributions.

If this were the plot of a family friendly sports flick, it would be an example of art imitating life. It's the story of how Kalyn McDonough Smith, Ph.D., discovered what may be considered her true calling. The assistant professor in the Center for Sport Leadership, part of the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Business, has received the 2026 Journal of Sport for Development Early Career Scholar Award.

"Dr. McDonough Smith is a great example of a passionate practitioner who has bridged the gap with academia," said Carrie LeCrom, Ph.D., the CSL's executive director. "Her work is both academically rigorous and practically relevant, culminating in super impactful work. We are lucky to have her here."

A commitment to the power of sport

McDonough Smith holds a master's degree in social work from the University of Pennsylvania. She earned a Ph.D. in urban affairs and public policy at the University of Delaware, where she was a standout midfielder for the Blue Hens while earning her undergraduate degree there. It was at Delaware where she helped launch a lacrosse program for a local juvenile correctional facility - and started on a path she has followed ever since.

McDonough Smith said she's long been interested in working with people, "especially those facing barriers and challenges from structural racism, marginalization. And I have always been inspired by how sport can connect people and serve a larger purpose. I thought, if I can go back to school, and dedicate myself to this discipline full time, then I'd feel like my work and life had a larger purpose."

"I know it's an often-unexamined stereotype," she added. "But it was incredible to see the power of sport happening right before my eyes, to be able to connect with young people in this way - kids who were going through something really challenging and utilize the relationships we were building through sport to support them. I was like, I'm hooked."

She joined the CSL faculty in 2023, after completing a year-long term as a Fulbright Future Scholar and visiting scholar at the University of Melbourne. There, she brought together the Queensland Department of Children, Youth Justice, and Multicultural Affairs; the National Indigenous Sports Foundation; the Confederation of Australian Sport; and Lacrosse Australia. The groundbreaking partnership's mission was to increase incarcerated youths' access to lacrosse and other physical activities.

Here in Richmond, McDonough Smith's research informed the creation of the Youth Justice Sport Partnership between CSL and the Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice's Bon Air Juvenile Correctional Facility. The program brings together Bon Air recreation staff members, School of Business undergrads, and CSL and School of Social Work graduate students to deliver evidence-based, sport-centered leadership and life skills programming twice a week throughout the academic year. The program culminates with Power of Play Day, a field day-style experience. Since the program began, McDonough Smith said, approximately 500 hours of programming have engaged 400 youths.

"Early career awards tell you where a field is headed, and Journal of Sport for Development clearly sees Dr. McDonough Smith leading the way," said Mayoor "Max" Mohan, Ph.D., associate dean for strategic affairs and research initiatives at the School of Business. "From a volunteer coaching role to a Fulbright to a model program here in Richmond, her trajectory reflects a scholar with real purpose, and I have no doubt this award is the first of many."

Building 'a model of what university and community partnerships can look like'

McDonough Smith describes the program with the Bon Air Juvenile Correctional Facility as leveraging the power of sport as a vehicle for personal growth, social-emotional development and leadership cultivation, supporting the successful integration of youths who are incarcerated back into their communities. Simultaneously, she said, VCU students receive high-impact, practice-based learning experiences integral for their professional development and preparation for future careers.

"We've had some incredible momentum," McDonough Smith said. "We're looking to build this program as a model of what university and community partnerships can look like, specifically within juvenile justice."

Looking ahead, McDonough Smith wants to include more focused research on young women who are incarcerated.

"They're among the fastest growing segment of the prison population," she noted. "When you look at sexual victimization rates among incarcerated women, that can be described as a pipeline for incarceration. And sport, I think, holds this incredible potential to help people reclaim and rename their body, the worth of their bodies and what they have the power and the capability to do."

McDonough Smith said the spotlight should shine on CSL, its leadership and graduate students, and the partners and youth at Bon Air.

"It is their teamwork, passion and dedication that embody the spirit of the award recognition," she said. "From the leadership and team at CSL and the School of Business, I have felt both empowered and unequivocally supported in this work."

"The CSL and School of Business are places that really get it," she added. "We're focused on opportunities for reciprocal learning from universities and communities and working together to address some really challenging social issues."

And it may be a School of Business strategic plan slogan, McDonough Smith said, but "it feels like there really are boundless opportunities here."

This story was originally published on the School of Business website.