| Tina was born in Serbia, which is a small country in Eastern Europe, in a city called Cacak. Although she spent most of her childhood there, she moved to the US right after high school. Thanks to an athletic and academic scholarship, She got the opportunity to play volleyball and pursue her undergraduate studies at New York Institute of Technology. She is currently a student at Point Loma Nazarene University pursuing her Master’s degree in Kinesiology and Sport Performance. She is currently involved with biomechanics research as well as being a teaching assistant and sports science intern. As a biomechanics TA/RA she has enjoyed providing support for the undergraduate and graduate biomechanics lectures and laboratories. She also participates in pitching biomechanics research under Dr. Aguinaldo. This includes setting up and running the MoCap system, collecting the data, and post-processing it. Most of their research focuses on professional MLB teams. With the Sports Science Internship she conducts athlete monitoring and performance testing using sports science technology for the purposes of performance and injury surveillance as well as work-out optimization She is really interested in understanding the role biomechanics play in baseball player performance and injury prevention. In her future career, She hopes to implement evidence-based recommendations and biomechanical data to develop models for baseball player evaluation, injury risk assessment, and improvement of on-field movement. Her favorite place to travel is anywhere in Europe, and she love all kinds of food. Home-made, Serbian food is the best though! She does not have the opportunity to eat a lot of home-made Serbian meals, so she tries to prepare them whenever she can. Her favorite meal to cook would be “sarma” – cabbage leaves stuffed with a mixture of ground meat, rice, and spices. She does not have a favorite movie – She is more of a series kind of person! But she loves watching Serbian movies and getting educated on her country’s history. If she could have any pet, she would have a DOG! Her superpower would be the ability to heal others. Outside of baseball, she loves to coach volleyball! her favorite holiday is Christmas! Here are some fun facts: Her dad played professional basketball in their home country and is now a successful basketball coach. He’s the reason why she decided to pursue a collegiate playing and later on coaching career in volleyball. She played in the NCAA women’s volleyball national championship in 2015. She had a knee injury that required 2 surgeries. After graduating with a BS in biomedical engineering, She worked in an orthopedic research lab for 2 years while also working as a program manager for USC women’s volleyball team. These experiences opened up the doors to her master’s program, where She fell in love with biomechanics research! |
