Research Project Helps Students Learn and Athletes Excel

Julia Barbato, a 2024 graduate of Pfeiffer University, was named the head coach of its women's lacrosse team this past May. She likes to use data to monitor her players' progress over time, having gained an appreciation for hands-on research techniques involved in data collection and analysis during her work toward a B.S. degree in Health and Exercise Science.

Enter Dr. Ryan Girts, one of Barbato's Health and Exercise Science professors at Pfeiffer. This past October, students in his biomechanics classes measured how Barbato's players fared in typical exercises used for athletic testing. These included a vertical jump, a broad jump, and a shuttle run; the aim was to determine some "baseline" numbers that can be compared to those that emerge when Barbato's players perform the same exercises during spring semester preparations for a season that will begin on Feb. 11 with an away game against Montreat College. By then, the players will have pursued a regime of drills and strength training tailored to their objectives in lacrosse.

The women's lacrosse-biomechanics collaboration is one of several research projects that Girts, the faculty athletics rep for the University, has forged with his students and the players on Pfeiffer sports teams. In another project, which happened this past fall, students collected data from players on the men's soccer team who wore GPS units. GPS units have been described as satellite devices that can collect "data on speed, distance, acceleration, and intensity to optimize training, manage workloads, prevent injuries, and analyze performance for sports like football, soccer, rugby, and hockey."

Broadly speaking, the Girts-led research falls under an umbrella he has coined "Falcon CLAWS" (an acronym that stands for Competition and Lifestyle Athlete Wellness Support). CLAWS programming includes Honors Program students and Milton Rose Research Fellows doing research in "service" to the University.

"I make a concerted effort to make all of the research that we do also a service project," Girts said.

The service project involving the women's lacrosse team will give Barbato and her assistants another objective measurement, in addition to game stats, of how their players are developing in the field of play.

"We can see, for example, that a player's shot is getting better by observation," Barbato said. "But instead of relying solely on us watching, we're able to actually use measurable data to monitor the athlete's progress as time goes by."

Girts echoed this assessment by explaining why the vertical leap is such an important measure: "The ability to jump high vertically requires lower body power that then can also be articulated forward and horizontally," he said.

Girts suggested that the research projects he leads are uncommon, at least among Pfeiffer's peer schools: "At the D3 level, there's not much of this happening, particularly in our conference. I don't know of anyone else that is doing this, off the top of my head."

Barbato sees a win-win situation, in addition to the "fun" the student researchers had with the players.

"Dr. Girts' students get hands-on experience doing the testing," she said. "And my players come to understand the value of that testing and how they can track their own improvements, motivating themselves to do better in the future."