Wayne State University Athletics

Matthew Vallevand is in his first season as a back-up punter for the Warrior football team after serving as a student manager the previous three years.  Named to the GLIAC All-Academic Team for the 2011 season.  Also earned Athletic Director's Honor Roll (term gpa 3.5+) status for Fall 2011 (4.00).

He graduated from Cass Tech High School in 2007 where he participated in both soccer (as a sweeper) and track.  He was elected co-captain in both sports.  Vallevand also served as the manager of the girls soccer team for two years and spent two years as a soccer head coach in the Think Detroit/PAL league.  He was a National Honor Society member.

Vallevand played on the WSU club rugby team (2008-09) and is expected to graduate from WSU with a degree in kinesiology/exercise science.

He conducted research during the summer of 2010 at the University of Michigan -- “Age and white matter: Effects on cognitive and motor performance.” Brief description: White matter (WM) helps different regions of our brain communicate with each other and produce function. As we age, WM structure decreases and affects our cognitive and motor abilities. The research looked for areas of the brain that correlated with age and performance measures using diffusion tensor imaging."

He is currently vice president of the Cultural Diversity Council at WSU, who's goal is to help bridge the gap between international students and the general student population by providing free or discounted trips (such as Cedar Point, skiing, paintball), and social outings (such as bowling, karaoke, 4th of July volleyball barbeque), and bi-weekly lunches.

His interest include Biomechanics, obesity and aging.

During the Fall of 2010, Vallevand is working with Dr. Cynthia Bir (lead scientist for the Emmy Award-winning series "Sport Science"), on a research project analyzing the biomechanics of rescue workers' carries.