BRAZILIAN FUTEBOL ACADEMY
Premier Soccer Academy
Currently closed
Advisory Board
BFA has established an advisory board composed of individuals with backgrounds in sports, health, and psychology. This intellectual capital group keeps us current in latest research and its applications in order to optimize our program offerings, and complements our company culture and philosophy.
Wojtek Chodzko-Zajko, Ph.D
Head of the Department of Kinesiology and Community Health
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Wojtek Chodzko-Zajko earned a Bachelor’s degree in Exercise Science from the University of London and a Ph.D. degree from Purdue University, also in Exercise Science. Chodzko-Zajko’s primary research interests are in the area of physical activity and health. For the past twenty-five years he has focused on the effect of exercise and physical activity on health and quality of life. Chodzko-Zajko is Head of the Department of Kinesiology and Community Health at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Chodzko-Zajko is active in the dissemination of information about healthy lifestyles through his work on several major professional advisory boards. In 1996 he was appointed to the Scientific Advisory Committee of the World Health Organization charged with developing WHO Guidelines for Physical Activity Among Older Persons. Recently, he served on a WHO taskforce charged with extending this work by developing a strategy for integrating physical activity into a more comprehensive program of active living. Since 2006 he has been a science board member on the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, a position appointed by the President of the United States.
Chodzko-Zajko is the Principal Investigator on a series of projects charged with developing a national strategy for promoting healthy living in the USA. The National Blueprint: Increasing Physical Activity among Adults Age 50 and Older serves as a guide for multiple organizations, associations, and agencies, to inform and support their planning work related to increasing physical activity among America's aging population. Recently, Chodzko-Zajko chaired the writing group which authored the 2009 American College of Sports Medicine’s Position Stand on Physical Activity and Exercise for Older Adults.
Chodzko-Zajko served as founding Editor of the Journal of Aging and Physical Activity from 1992-2002. He serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the American Council on Exercise. Chodzko-Zajko is frequently invited to disseminate information about healthful aging as a keynote speaker in national and international meetings. Chodzko-Zajko has appeared on many television and radio shows, including the NBC Today Show, National Public Radio, and CNN. In addition to his work in the area of aging, Chodzko-Zajko is a photographer whose work has been exhibited in museums and galleries throughout Europe, North America, and Asia.
Stephen D. Ross, Ph.D
Professor of Sport Management
University of Minnesota, USA
Dr. Stephen Ross received his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois in Sport Marketing. Currently he is a professor and member of the graduate faculty at the University of Minnesota, as well as the Director of the Sport Marketing Research Group (SMRG). His areas of specialization are sport branding and marketing, sport consumer psychology, and spectator behavior. His expertise and research interests involve exploring the applicability of psychology and marketing principles in the context of sport services, including the study of sport fan behavior and the marketing of sport; Sport branding and the associations and images that sport fans hold in regards to sport teams at all levels; Motivations and consumer psychology for both public and private sectors of sport and leisure service delivery; Sport-tourism.
Dr. Ross has consulted for several sport properties in professional, college and municipal level. In 2005, Dr. Ross was the principal investigator in a market research consulting project for the Minnesota Timberwolves (Minnesota Timberwolves Fan Profile and Sponsorship Effectiveness). Dr. Ross has published in various journals including the International Journal of Sport Marketing and Sponsorship, Sport Marketing Quarterly, International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing, and the Journal of Sport Management.
Andiara Schwingel, Ph.D
Assistant Professor, Department of Kinesiology and Community Health
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
A native of Brazil, Professor Schwingel has spent the last 10 years studying relationships among lifestyle, health and chronic disease. She received her Ph.D. in Sports Medicine from the University of Tsukuba in Japan, after completing a Bachelor’s degree in Physical Education and a Master’s degree in Engineering, both from the ‘Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina’ in Brazil. During her doctoral studies, she served an internship in the Aging and Life Course Program of the World Health Organization in Geneva. She also completed a post-doctoral position as a research coordinator at the National University of Singapore. She co-directs the Aging and Diversity Lab, where she is investigating how to promote health in Latino populations in Illinois.
Cilene Susan Adam-rita, Ph.D.
Advisor
Cilene Susan Adam-Rita completed her Ph.D. in Counseling from Wayne State University, and has a master¹s degree in Counseling from Niagara University, New York, and a Professional Degree as well as a Bachelor¹s Degree in Psychology from the Universidade do Vale do Itajai, located in Itajai, Brazil. She has worked as a psychologist for over fifteen years with adults and children in diverse and multicultural settings. In recent years, Susan has taught several classes including Group Counseling, Disabilities in Urban Society, Counseling Process and Practice, and Internship in Counseling. Her community outreach involves the development of a soccer program for children with disabilities with her husband in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and groups for Women with disabilities facing abuse. She has co-authored with her husband, Amarildo Pedro Rita, a series of children’s books entitled The Magic Soccer Ball.
