Schar student’s summer internship at Capitol Hill is a slam dunk

Shayla Brown — Mon, 29 Jul 2024 19:38:13 +0000

Schar student’s summer internship at Capitol Hill is a slam dunk Shayla Brown Mon, 07/29/2024 - 15:38

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Livija Kaktaite started her journey at ��AV in 2018 as an undergraduate global affairs major. This past May, she graduated with her master’s in international security from the Schar School of Policy and Government. During her time as a Patriot, she also played point guard and shooting guard on the women’s basketball team. Now as an alum, she continues to run up the hill—Capitol Hill.

Livija Kaktaite. Photo provided

“I’m currently interning for Representative Ann Wagner from Missouri (R-2nd). I attend [House] Foreign Affairs [Committee] hearings, take notes, and write memos. The best part about this internship is that you get as much out of it as you put in,” said Kaktaite, who is from Lithuania. “You could answer phones and make coffee, or you can be proactive and ask your colleagues ‘How can I help you?’”

Before getting her current position, Kaktaite reached out to a fellow George Mason alum Ted Dubuque, BA International Relations ’22, who is the staff assistant to Rep. Wagner. Dubuque, like Kaktaite, completed the Global Politics Fellows program while at George Mason.

“I wanted to learn about his experience, so we had a call on LinkedIn. He asked if I would want to interview with him for an internship and I ended up getting selected,” said Kaktaite, who also emphasized the importance of networking on Capitol Hill.

Along with her internship, Kaktaite is working with Schar School professor Arnold Dupuy on a NATO Science and Technology organization assignment, which dovetails with her interested in aerospace and security. Dupuy, who was working on multiple projects in the energy security field, gave Kaktaite the opportunity to work as a coordinator on the virtual workshop symposium being held.

Livija Kaktaite on Capitol Hill. Photo provided.

The internship and NATO assignment both provide practical work experience that will help her with her job search in the future.

One of the biggest lessons Kaktaite has learned from her internship so far is how important it is to understand the wide-ranging American perspective, the innerworkings of Congress, and how legislation is made, she said.

“I talk to constituents from Missouri, and I get very polarized opinions. You just have to understand the broad perspectives, needs, and concerns of everyday people,” said Kaktaite.

Following her time on Capitol Hill, Kaktaite will intern at the Lithuanian Embassy where she is participating in a NATO simulation as a representative of her native country.

“All of the participants will submit one page of their priorities and then we try to negotiate with each other and reach consensus. If we reach consensus then three people selected will be able to present it to a group of academics—generals from NATO, people from think tanks, ambassadors,” explained Kaktaite.

Kaktaite came to George Mason with the hopes of being a professional basketball player. She even played professionally in Lithuania earlier this year.

“I played the season, and it just wasn't the same,” said Kaktaite. “I'm way more passionate about international security diplomacy now. I can be more impactful there, and I am able to translate the skills that I learned in basketball, like the importance of teamwork, into my career.”

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Athletics research breaks ground for women’s basketball load monitoring

Colleen Rich — Tue, 27 Feb 2024 19:34:32 +0000

Athletics research breaks ground for women’s basketball load monitoring Colleen Rich Tue, 02/27/2024 - 14:34

Faith Brown, the primary strength and conditioning coach for ��AV women's basketball, is paving the way for women's basketball load monitoring research.

Faith Brown refers to data on her laptop while in EagleBank Arena. Photo by Rafael Suanes/Athletics

The newly promoted associate director of strength and conditioning for Mason Athletics has been using Catapult, a combination GPS- and heart rate-based wearable tracker, with the Patriots women's basketball team since 2018, before any other women's basketball team in the Atlantic 10. This technology helps inform the players and coaches of the workload each athlete endures during workouts, practices, and games so the athletes can perform at their best.

Brown's research paper "Analysis of In-Season External Load and Sport Performance in Women's Collegiate Basketball" was recently published in the February 2024 issue of the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. In her paper, she lays out her findings of using Catapult with the team. These finding include:

A significant difference in high- and low-minute athletes' workloads in practices and games, which allows Brown to assign additional workouts to low-minute athletes to keep their fitness at a game-ready level.
The mapping of player-load per minutes (PL/min) showed the intensity of the game was highest in the first quarter and gradually decreased as the game progressed, reaching its lowest point in the fourth quarter.
And relationships found between the intensity metric PL/min and points scored, PL/min and field goal percentage, and explosive efforts and free throws.

"The reason why I really wanted to get into the research was because I had no clue what the numbers meant and how to interpret them when I started using it," said Brown, who is working on a PhD in Education with an interdisciplinary specialization. "So, when I talked to Dr. [Margaret] Jones and saw the research that they put out and how I couldn't find anything with women's basketball, I was like 'wow, I have a unique opportunity here to publish this research and kind of give back to the community and help others understand what this data means and have something to compare their values to.'"

Jones, director of the Patriot Performance Lab, is also a co-author of the paper, and Brown's PhD advisor. "We started with Catapult [when] I got a grant to do the research about six years ago," said Jones. "At that time, nobody at the mid-major level was wearing Catapult, and very few teams in basketball were wearing Catapult, especially in women's basketball at the collegiate level. And it's just grown since."

For women's basketball, Brown works with the players from preseason to postseason, helping them with lifting, conditioning, and general physical upkeep so they can be at their best. She also communicates with the coaches on how the players are doing, and Head Coach Vanessa Blair-Lewis said she can see the impact.

"Faith has been able to utilize the Catapult data—pulled from practices—and give input to our staff about load management and how it relates to wins and losses," said Blair-Lewis. "This technology is crucial in understanding that there are correlations that are consistent enough that you can't ignore them. Faith's work has been instrumental in our evolution as coaches; she has our full attention throughout the year because of her work and analysis."

Brown doesn't intend to stop after this season of data. "My goal now with the research [moving forward] is just keep working with Dr. Jones and putting research out there and hoping to kind of inform other strength coaches, practitioners, and researchers on what can be done with the data and what's seen in women's basketball, because even outside of just basketball, women in research and sports performance research, they're not utilized as much. They're underrepresented."

Brown is not the only strength and conditioning coach at Mason working with the Performance Lab's technology. Last year, Corey Dulak-Sigler, the primary strength and conditioning coach for women's lacrosse, published a paper on the use of similar technology in women's lacrosse. Keon Marsh, the primary strength and conditioning coach for men's basketball, is also used Catapult technology to help his athletes with their load monitoring.

"What we have at Mason with being able to partner with our sports performance lab and other technology that Dr. Jones has in lab and the collaboration we have with the staff and students is not seen very often at the Division 1 level," said Brown. "And a lot of that is credited to Dr. Jones."

"I'm just really proud of Faith," said Jones. "She's been a groundbreaker in the field of load monitoring for women's collegiate basketball. I have no doubt we're going to hear from her well into the future."

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Schar student’s summer internship at Capitol Hill is a slam dunk

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Athletics research breaks ground for women’s basketball load monitoring

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