Catawba College News Service

SALISBURY — Catawba College sports management students were recently honored at the 2017 North Carolina Alliance for Athletics, Health, Physical Education, Recreation, Dance and Sports Management convention in Winston-Salem.

Senior Brandon Floyd was named the 2017 Sports Management Student of the Year.

Floyd, a Charlotte native, has been active during his time in Salisbury. In addition to excelling as a student-athlete on the football field, he has taken advantage of multiple experiential learning opportunities that include interning at Fuel Sport Management Group, a full-service talent management firm that represents Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott and Jamie McMurray; volunteering at Joe Gibbs Racing during its 2017 Fan Fest; conducting an apprenticeship with Catawba Football Operations and fulfilling his practicum obligation with the Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Outside his academic discipline, he has served as the spokesman for Catawba’s C2C (Catawba to Career) program.

To be considered for the award Floyd received, North Carolina sports management students were required to submit a video resume that was posted on YouTube and judged by the N.C. Sport Management Board. Floyd’s submission can be viewed on YouTube under the title “Brandon Floyd 2.”

Catawba College students also finished second in the annual sport management case study competition. This year’s case study was both designed and judged by a panel of Wake Forest University athletic staff members that included Mike Odom, associate athletic director of marketing and championship, and Evan Feinstein, assistant director of marketing.

Students were given one week to prepare a five-minute presentation in response to a challenge.        

While Catawba sports management entered two teams into the competition, it was the team consisting of Erin Fulcher of Kill Devil Hills, Philipp Hollenhorst of Muenster, Germany, Bobby Cardelle of Salisbury, Josh Stewart of Graham and Kyle Kitchens of Decatur, Georgia, that earned recognition as the second-place finalist for its fan engagement strategies at Wake Forest football games.

Catawba’s second team presented its pitch of establishing tradition in the second half of games at BB&T Stadium. The team included Hayley Morgan of Gold Hill, Brandon Floyd of Charlotte, Paul Huffines of Greensboro and Austin Setzer of Newton.

The final award winner from Catawba was Monica Taylor of Weaverville, who earned second place in the Ignite Presentation competition. The Ignite format is a five-minute presentation with 20 slides that automatically advance every 15 seconds. The theme for this year’s competition was “Social justice in sport: A response from future sport leaders.”

The two-day sport management academic conference focused on scholarship and faculty development on its first day and professional development for undergraduates highlighted by the case study competition on the second day.