ROCK HILL, SOUTH CAROLINA – The Sport & Recreation Law Association (SRLA) has awarded Winthrop University’s Kristi Schoepfer with its 2021 President’s Award for Service after its most successful-ever conference.
Schoepfer, chair of the Department of Physical Education, Sport and Human Performance, currently serves as executive director of SRLA, but has done double-duty and planned the association’s annual conference for nearly a decade.
This year presented an obstacle many organizations have recently faced: pivoting to a virtual format, while still engaging the audience.
Under Schoepfer’s leadership and planning, the Feb. 23-26 conference had almost 600 registrants, which is more than triple its usual annual attendance. She handled the planning, technology, building the virtual conference platform, running the conference and more – all while handling a full course load at Winthrop.
“Being a professor, department chair and executive director/conference coordinator in a global pandemic, planning an event unlike anything I have ever planned before, was undoubtedly one of the biggest challenges of my 20-year career,” she said. “Keeping focused on the end goal -- serving an organization that I love and providing the virtual conference opportunity for my colleagues around the country -- was what kept me motivated.”
Schoepfer also credited her graduate assistant, Rheannan Wyandt, for her tremendous help.
“I was really proud of myself when [the award] was announced,” Schoepfer said. “It was rewarding to be recognized by the organization after such a challenging year. I’ve won other awards from SRLA before, but to win a President’s Service award in such a difficult year reinforced that all of the hard work was worth it. I was delighted to see the virtual conference come to fruition, and have so many sport law faculty, industry professionals and students come together for a week of scholarship.”
Schoepfer joined the Winthrop community in 2006, where she teaches courses in risk management in sport, sport law, sport ethics and governance, and introduction to sport management.
She’s a member of the Board of Advisors for the National Sport Law Institute and has published text books and articles globally about the industry as well as presented on sport law issues. She holds a Juris Doctor degree from Marquette University Law School.
