Sport Leadership and Management (SLAM) students recently took part in DataFest 2019 hosted by the Miami Center for Analytics and Data Science (CADS). Teams of 3-5 students from colleges and universities across the Midwest competed to sort through, organize, and analyze a set of data given to them at the start of the competition. Groups worked around the clock over an entire weekend to interpret and analyze the data and presented their findings to a panel of judges in the analytics industry.

The SLAM team finished 2nd place (out of 38 teams) at their first DataFest competition. Judges commended the group for their ability to contextualize the data, tell a compelling story, and apply their knowledge sport management and human performance to the task at hand. Members of the team included Lauren Anderson, Ty Jablonsky, Jackson Polish, Rory Tekulve, and Alex Erisley, with faculty guidance provided by Adam Beissel throughout the weekend. Team members earned a cash prize of $750.