Makiba Batten is currently in her second year as the Assistant Men's and Women's Track & Field coach.  Batten comes to SVSU from Detroit, Michigan where she trained athletes from the Detroit and Metro Area through her business Xploszun Training.  Xploszun Training is a business Batten developed on her own while employed at Velocity Sports Performance that focuses on the development and sharpening of specific athletic skills.

While at Velocity, Batten was one of the most highly requested coaches and had the opportunity to coach athletes that participated in the 2010 Winter Olympics.  In early 2009 Batten left Velocity to focus more on the development of Xploszun while also working as the assistant coach for the cross country and track & field teams at Lahser High School.  There, Batten worked along side of head coach, Nick Stration, to help develop strength and conditioning programs for both teams. 

During the 2005-06 seasons, Batten was a graduate assistant track coach at Chadron State College where she coached for two seasons.  In this time she coached her athletes to the NCAA National meet and turned out nine All-American titles in the throwing events.  While performing these duties, Batten earned her Master’s of Science in Sports Management from Chadron State College. 

Batten earned her Bachelor of Science in Exercise Science from Florida State University where she also was a member of the track and field team.  She earned several accolades while at FSU including All-ACC Indoor/Outdoor Champion of the shot put, NCAA D-I Outdoor Discus All-American and was a qualifier for USA Nationals as well as the 2004 Olympic Trials.