09/09/2025
SUNY Cortland sport management majors delivered a gold medal-worthy effort abroad, traveling to Germany to help host one of the world’s largest sporting events for college-age athletes.
A group of 18 sport management majors traveled in July to the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan area in Germany for the 2025 Fédération Internationale du Sport Universitaire (FISU) Summer University Games, a worldwide sports competition for student-athletes between the ages of 17 and 25.
“So many of our students saw this as a really great opportunity to not only study abroad but have that experiential education and obtain a really great talking point in interviews and on their resume going forward,” said Tara Mahoney, a SUNY Cortland professor of sport management.
The 2025 FISU University Games, which took place from July 16 to 27, featured 9,047 athletes across 113 nations competing in 234 events spanning 18 sports. Cortland students were involved in many facets during the day-to-day operations of the games, tackling diverse roles such as competition management, post-event media, fan engagement and award ceremony assistance.
Outside of the games, the Cortland contingent was honored at a welcome reception at German Sport University in Cologne, Germany, and embarked upon a guided canal tour while visiting Amsterdam.
“One of the coolest things was sitting in the hotel lobby with our students as they met national teams from the Netherlands, Lithuania, Azerbaijan Canada, and Team USA Judo,” added Ryan Vooris, associate professor and chair of the Sport Management Department. “That kind of networking doesn’t happen on a normal study abroad.”
One area that brought special meaning for both Vooris and Mahoney was student involvement in the medal ceremonies. With many fans focused on the athletes on the podium, important behind-the-scenes work helped make it happen. The ceremony itself is a meticulous, well-rehearsed process, and one that the Cortland students embraced as tray bearers, responsible for presenting the medals before they were awarded to athletes.
“There were dress rehearsals, diagrams, everyone had to pivot certain ways, left foot out — it was a choreographed performance to make sure it was executed perfectly,” said Mahoney. “The students that weren’t in the medal ceremony were then watching their peers on TV, cheering for the tray bearers.”
The hours of practice led to a moment where the eyes of the world watching the FISU medal ceremonies saw SUNY Cortland students featured front and center on the international stage.
“Seeing them nervous before the medal ceremonies and then grow into polished professionals on a live broadcast, that was one of the most rewarding parts for me,” Vooris said.
The summer study abroad opportunity accomplished several goals, allowing students not only the chance to travel across the Atlantic Ocean and immerse themselves in European culture, but also earn valuable professional experience that will serve them long after their time at Cortland.
“My trip abroad to work at the FISU Games really showed me the difference between my own culture and those at the event,” said sport management major Claire Engel, who participated in the program. “I feel this experience helped me learn more about working with others who differ so greatly. It was imperative that I was able to learn and adapt to their way of running and hosting an event.”
Vooris pointed to the trip’s potential career benefits in the future.
“This is a springboard,” said Vooris. “The same roles they worked in Germany, they could one day do at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles or the 2026 FIFA World Cup. These experiences will open doors for them.”