Swing for the Fences: Riata Center helps student creator of SwingRight grow into confident entrepreneur

Tuesday, November 11, 2025

Media Contact: Hallie Hart | Communications Coordinator | 405-744-1050 | hallie.hart@okstate.edu

Baseball seasons can turn into a grind. Dozens of games in, even the best batters face exhaustion.

Signs show in the batting cages, and Steve Azzaro knows it all too well. 

Azzaro, who played at Baker University in Baldwin City, Kansas, grew frustrated with seeing the ball hit the dirt. He and several friends had a common problem known as rollover.

“It’s the excess pronation of the hands and arms throughout the swing,” Azzaro said. “It’s primarily an issue of fatigue — you get tired, go through your swing and you start rolling early. You make contact with the ball and immediately shoot it down on the ground.”

Azzaro’s clever solution didn’t just end a hitting slump — it launched his unexpected entrepreneurship journey at Oklahoma State University. 

The College of Education and Human Sciences student from Kansas City created the Az-Tec SwingRight, a patent-pending athletic training device. A cross-campus network is supporting Azzaro, and it all started when he saw a sign near Library Lawn promoting the Riata Startup Experience. 

Majoring in applied exercise science and athletic training, Azzaro had no prior experience with the Riata Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the Spears School of Business. 

Still, when he joined the program for aspiring entrepreneurs, he knew what to do.

He took a swing and knocked it out of the park.

“He just had the drive to get it done,” said Riata Center director Chad Mills. 

Azzaro surrounded himself with experts, working with the Riata Center and the College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology’s Zink Center for Competitive Innovation to put a new spin on his longtime passion for baseball. 

What is the SwingRight? 

Roughly the size of a pencil, the SwingRight is a stabilizer that improves an athlete’s swing. 

The slender training device aligns vertically with the handle of a baseball bat, tennis racket, golf club or similar sporting equipment, fitting securely under the grip tape wrappings. Production models will be made of neoprene, a synthetic rubber commonly used for durable products like laptop sleeves and wetsuits. 

While the SwingRight is unobtrusive, its sturdy but comfortable feel makes a noticeable difference in swing mechanics. Azzaro said the training aid creates a “locking effect” to brace the hand, wrist and forearm. By raising the knuckles, it reduces rollover. 

He created the SwingRight for baseball, softball, golf, tennis, cricket and pickleball with more possibilities ahead. 

Since Azzaro was recently admitted into OSU’s health and human performance Ph.D. program with a specialization in tactical populations training, he is brainstorming ways to use the SwingRight in non-athletic settings. What if it could help a firefighter securely grip a fire ax, cutting through rubble or breaking down doors to rescue people? 

Because of his kinesiology education, Azzaro can thoroughly explain how his product is designed for the human body, but a science background isn’t necessary for use. Nearly any athlete, including beginners and kids, can train with the SwingRight.

“It’s incredibly simple, and that was by design,” Azzaro said.

Azzaro credits his father for inspiration, and they crafted the initial makeshift item out of clay in their garage. His cousin, who has a civil engineering background, used 3D printing material for another version.

When Azzaro introduced himself to Riata Center staff in spring 2024, he carried a kaleidoscopic contraption as bright as his idea. He sliced triangular, squishy pencil grips into thirds and glued them together.

The visual was strong enough for Mills to believe in Azzaro’s concept, which has grown from the DIY prototypes into a quality product.

After Azzaro’s diligent work behind the scenes, opportunities are arising this fall. Azzaro just launched the Az-Tec SwingRight website, www.swingrightgrips.com, which is under development with plans to support orders through Shopify.

With a patent-pending creation and an LLC, he has the safeguards to enter statewide and national entrepreneurship competitions, so his schedule is filling up. In October, Azzaro won the Riata Center’s Student Innovation Expo to receive a $2,000 scholarship, along with $1,000 for placing first in the Main Street Lifestyle category. 

Throughout his journey, one connection led to another. 

How do Riata and Zink work together?

OSU’s entrepreneurship ecosystem thrives on cross-campus collaboration.

The Riata Center works with CEAT's Zink Center to support OSU student creators, regardless of college or major.

“Although people are coming from different backgrounds and focusing on different ideas and the path to those might be different, we are building a community of thinkers and doers who can collaborate and share all of those experiences,” Mills said. 

Azzaro built strong rapports with both centers, learning about business and engineering to complement his CEHS background. Like the pieces of his glued-together prototype, these insights fused into one vision for a marketable product.

CEAT introduced Azzaro to Computer Aided Design (CAD) modeling and provided him with resources such as silicone molds. 

“The Zink Center helped me refine and actually create the item,” Azzaro said. “Riata helped me go and say, ‘OK, you have this. How are we going to make it valid? How is it going to have testimony that it works? Or, how are you going to sell it? Where are you going to ship it?’”

The Riata Startup Experience is a two-tiered initiative designed for OSU entrepreneurs keen on cultivating a business concept or expanding an existing venture. Participants typically start with a year in this incubator program, but after one spring, Azzaro was ready to jump into his next endeavor, the Greiner Summer Business Accelerator. The eight-week accelerator helps OSU’s top student entrepreneurs fast-track their startups. 

“On top of everything he was doing with school and his personal life, he continued to find the time to take his own idea and push forward because he has an end goal,” Mills said. 

Who are the supporters?

Azzaro makes sure to thank his team.

School of Entrepreneurship faculty David Thomison and Richard Gajan provided early feedback, as did retired faculty member Kyle Eastham, who returned to Spears Business as a Riata Center entrepreneur-in-residence. 

Azzaro then worked with current entrepreneurs-in-residence Cara Evans and Kristen Hadley, OSU alumni and business founders. Hadley is a three-time honoree in the Cowboy100, which celebrates the top businesses owned or led by OSU graduates. 

In the Zink Center, Azzaro learned from director Michael Carolina, a 2018 OSU Distinguished Alumni award winner. 

Amanda Aker, commercialization officer and patent agent in OSU’s Office of Technology Commercialization, gave Azzaro advice about intellectual property protection. Meridian Technology Center in Stillwater and Pioneer Technology Center in Ponca City, along with K&C Manufacturing, helped him with the physical manufacturing process. 

Azzaro also took initiative to build on OSU’s entrepreneurship ecosystem. He formed a relationship with international law firm Baker Botts and attorney Matthew Chuning, an OSU graduate with intellectual property expertise. Baker Botts provided pro bono patent support for SwingRight, and Azzaro helped other OSU student entrepreneurs connect with the reputable firm.

While developing his product, Azzaro strives to uplift his Riata Center peers.

‘True entrepreneurial spirit’

Only a couple of years ago, Azzaro was soul-searching after a heartbreak.

“It was the worst breakup that I ever had in my entire life,” Azzaro said. “I still love it to bits.”

He was talking about playing baseball.

The catcher fell in love with the sport at a young age, even training with Kansas City Royals players before competing at Baker University.

After a successful OSU winter camp, Azzaro had the opportunity to attempt to join the Cowboys as a walk-on in 2022. However, with the rise of Name, Image and Likeness deals and players gaining extra years of eligibility due to COVID, the roster filled, leaving him without a spot. 

Instead of going to play somewhere else, Azzaro made the tough decision to hang up his cleats. He restlessly cycled through hobbies as an OSU student, struggling to find anything to fill the void.

Everything changed when he stepped into a community that helped him grow into a confident entrepreneur and leader. Azzaro’s work with the Riata Center even inspired him to minor in entrepreneurship through Spears Business. 

Mills said Azzaro’s “true entrepreneurial spirit” makes him stand out, while his athletic background puts passion behind his elevator pitch.

Azzaro always strived to leave his mark on the baseball diamond.

Now, he has potential to reach far more people than he did while playing.

“It was a love-of-the-game project that came into being,” Azzaro said. “It’s been extremely rewarding to go and see that it’s something more than what it was intended to be.”

Visit the website to learn more about the Riata Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.