Sports Envoy
Sports Envoy Program

Ann Shiraishi

Judo

Served as envoy

  • 2023  –  Benin

Ann Shiraishi, a 3rd degree black belt, began studying judo at the young age of 4. She is a two-time Senior National Champion and represented the United States at 2 World Championships (2010 & 2011). In addition, Ann was the 2008 Olympic Alternate in Beijing & was selected as a training partner to accompany the team. After graduating from San Francisco State University with a B.A. in Anthropology, Ann began a career in law enforcement. She is currently a Senior Inspector (sworn) at the Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office. She, her husband (Joseph) and twins (Jacob & Emma) live in the east bay.

Sayaka Torra

Judo

Served as envoy

  • 2023  –  Benin

Sayaka Torra began studying judo at the young age of 5 and is currently a sixth degree black belt. She is a 7-time Senior National Champion, represented the United States at 3 World Championships (2001, 2003, 2005), and was a member of the 2008 Olympic Team in Beijing. Sayaka also won a silver medal at the 2000 Junior World Championships in Tunis, Tunisia. She graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with a B.A. in Mass Communications and a minor in Japanese. Since retiring from competitive judo, Sayaka now leads the competitor’s classes at the East Bay Judo Institute and works as a business operations manager for Humintell, a psychology-based company out of El Cerrito, CA. She, her husband, and son live in the east bay with their two cats, and multiple beehives.

Louise McGirt

Soccer

Served as envoy

  • 2022  –  Benin

Louise McGirt is a French and American citizen who started her passion for soccer at the age of 3. She led her high school team at Chamblee with 22 goals and 12 assists as a junior. After leading Atlanta International School in scoring (12 goals) as a freshman. She captured the Soccer Bulldog Award in 2013 after an All-Star Game selection for 2 years running and a spot on the All-Region 6 AAAA team. She captained the Chamblee Charter team in 2014 and also helped club teams, Chiefs FC Elite 96 and the Georgia Olympic Development Program to a slew of championships, including three USYS Region III Premier League titles.

Jaimel Johnson

Soccer

Served as envoy

  • 2022  –  Benin

Jaimel Johnson’s illustrious coaching career has allowed her the opportunity to interact with players on various levels of age, ability, and acumen over the last decade. Jaimel spent 4 years as an assistant coach at The University of Texas. During her tenure she was instrumental in helping both the Longhorns and former Utah Royals goalkeeper, Abby Smith, to a record 30 shutouts and a .82 goals against average. Before joining the UT staff, Jaimel spent 2 years at the University of Iowa as an assistant coach. Jaimel was drafted in the inaugural season of the Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) league to the Boston Breakers, and she was later traded to the Chicago Red Stars. Her professional career also boasts time with the Washington Freedom.

Not only a standout in the coaching arena, Ms. Johnson was a 3-year starter at the University of Tennessee where she was an NSCAA All-American and 3-time All-SEC First Team honoree. Jaimel made 4 consecutive trips to the NCAA tournament with the Volunteers, won 2 SEC Championship titles (one being a Triple Crown), and she still holds the record as the only Tennessee Lady Vol soccer player to receive the SEC Tournament MVP Award.

As a Lady Vol, Jaimel was nominated as the NCAA Woman of the Year and placed on the Herman Trophy Watch List. Jaimel played club and academy soccer with the Dayton Soccer Academy (DSA) and the Ohio Elite Soccer Academy. Recognized as one of the premier goalies during her playing days, Jaimel spent time with the US National Teams on the u17, u19, and u20 teams. She earned a Bachelors Degree in Sports Management with a minor in Business from the University of Tennessee.

Jaimel currently resides in the Atlanta area where she is president and CEO of “The Goal Standard”, her private goalkeeper training academy. Additionally, Jaimel is the ECNL goalkeeper’s coach at Concorde Fire Soccer Club in Atlanta. She serves as an assistant coach for field players, the goalkeepers coach for the entire club, and she also is responsible for directing the majority of the club’s fitness training. Jaimel places an emphasis on overall health and wellness for her players, and she dedicates much of her down time researching methods in which an athlete’s performance can be enhanced. When Jaimel is not on the soccer field she continues to work in the fitness arena as a personal trainer specializing in sports performance, weight loss, and weight gain.

Erin Dickerson

Basketball

Served as envoy

  • 2018  –  Benin

Erin Dickerson is in her third season at Georgetown after spending two years at Towson University, most recently as the associate head coach and recruiting coordinator.

Last year, Georgetown boasted a mark of 19-16 overall going 9-9 in BIG EAST play and winning eight of its final 10 games. The team made history advancing to the BIG EAST Tournament semifinals for the second-consecutive year, and made it to the Women’s National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) quarterfinals for the first time since 2009. Individually, Dionna White and Dorothy Adomako earned All-BIG EAST honors marking the fourth for both in their Georgetown careers.

In two years back on the Hilltop, she has been a part of teams that have posted two WNIT appearances as GU advanced out of the first round in both marking the first time since 2009. The Blue & Gray has also made two-consecutive trips to the BIG EAST Tournament semifinals. Over the past two years, she has coached four All-BIG EAST honorees as well as boasting the 2018 BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Year in White and the 2018 BIG EAST Most Improved Player in Cynthia Petke.

Off of the court, she was selected to work with Sports Diplomacy taking a trip to Benin located in Africa for the Sports Envoy Program. There she hosted clinics for local youth, held leadership workshops, performed engagement, community outreach and taught female empowerment.

At Towson, Dickerson played a key role in the Tigers becoming the first Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) squad to sweep James Madison during the regular season since 2012. Under her watch, senior guard Raven Bankston earned a pair of All-CAA accolades after ranking second in the league in scoring. She was also named to the CAA All-Defensive Team. For her efforts, she was named to the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Thirty Under 30 presented by Marriott Rewards® honorees for the 2016-17 season. The program was created to recognize 30 up-and-coming women’s basketball coaches age 30 and under at all levels of the game.
Prior to Towson, Dickerson spent two years as an assistant at Illinois State. There she worked with the guards and helped recruit a junior college All-American and the 36th ranked point guard prospect in the nation. Dickerson also spent three years at La Salle as an assistant coach and served as the recruiting coordinator there for two of those three seasons. She began her coaching career at Furman.

The 2009 Northwestern graduate lettered all four years as a shooting guard in the Wildcat basketball program, seeing action in 112 games. As a senior she led Northwestern in 3-point shooting, converting 35 of 96 (36.5%), finishing in the top 10 in the Big 10 Conference.

Debbie Black

Basketball

Served as envoy

  • 2013  –  Kazakhstan
  • 2018  –  Benin

Debbie Black begins her second season as the Mocs’ assistant coach. She came to UTC as Director of Operations for Jim Foster. With his departure, she was promoted to assistant in Katie Burrows’ first season.

UTC head coach Jim Foster and Black have an extensive association. She first played for the Hall of Fame coach at St. Joseph’s leading the Hawks to four straight NCAA Tournament appearances before graduating in 1984.

Her first assistant coaching position was for Foster at Vanderbilt during the 1999-2000 season. Following her retirement from the WNBA in 2005, she returned to assist Foster at Ohio State for eight seasons. The Buckeyes advanced to the Sweet 16 in 2009 and 2011.

She spent the last four seasons at Eastern Illinois in the Ohio Valley Conference. She led the Panthers to the OVC Tournament twice and finished tied for second in the West in the 2013-14 campaign.

She represented Team USA at the Williams Jones Cup competition in Taipei, Taiwan. The team had a 7-1 record and won the gold medal after defeating Japan 56-54 in the final. She played eight seasons with the Tasmanian Islanders of the WNBL in Australia and helped them to national titles in 1991 and 1995.

In the ABL she was an All-Star selection for the Colorado Xplosion and the 1997 Defensive Player of the Year. While playing for the Atlanta Glory in December 1996, she became one of just a handful of players to record a quadruple double (10p, 14r, 12a, 10s).

In 1999, Black was drafted by the Utah Starzz of the WNBA in the second round. She played for the Miami Sol from 2000-2002 and earned the WNBA Defensive Player of the Year Award at the age of 35. In 2003 she was acquired by the Connecticut Sun in the dispersal draft and was there until her retirement in 2005.

Black was hired in May 2013, and served four years as the Panthers’ head coach, compiling a 34-80 record. Her best season was her first, leading Eastern Illinois to a 12-16 record. She replaced Lee Buchanan, who coached for one season before taking the head coaching job of the LaGrange Panthers.

Tommy Davis

Basketball

Served as envoy

  • 2014  –  Benin

Tommy “Tom” Davis is a former basketball player best known for playing for the University of Minnesota Gophers. Davis, a shooting guard, still holds the Gophers’ record of 15 consecutive field goals made in one game. He has spent time playing and coaching basketball in France but has since relocated back to Minneapolis to coach for the Gophers.

Barry Siff

Triathalon

Served as envoy

  • 2016  –  Benin
  • 2018  –  Panama

Barry Siff had a successful business career primarily in the food industry. He was a Vice President by the time he was 27, and eventually became Sr. Vice President of a multi-billion dollar company at the age of 40. However, after less than three years in that role, at the age of just 42, he and his entire executive team were removed, and Barry reinvented himself into the world of sports.

An avid marathoner and triathlete, having completed over 70 marathons, ultra-marathons, and Ironman competitions, Siff turned to the then exploding world of adventure racing. He helped start “MountainQuest Adventures,” which held 24-hour events and training camps in Colorado. At the same time, Siff became an elite adventure racing athlete, racing all over the world in multi-day expedition races from 1998 to 2003. These 5-10 day events took him to places like Tibet, Argentina, New Zealand, China, Fiji, and a dozen other exotic remote locations.

In 2004, Barry and his wife, Jodee, bought a small triathlon in Boulder, CO, and in five short years grew “5430 Sports” into one of America’s leading triathlon event companies, selling it to World Triathlon Corp. (“Ironman”) in 2009. Looking to give back to the sport he loved so much, Barry got involved with and ultimately was elected to the Board of Directors of USA Triathlon in 2012. In 2014, he was elected President of USA Triathlon, and served five years in this capacity.

Siff was asked to join the International Triathlon Union (ITU) Executive Board, also, in 2014, the governing body of the sport worldwide, and continues in that capacity today. In 2016, Siff was appointed a U.S. Department of State Sports Envoy, and has made sports diplomacy trips in that capacity to Benin (Africa), Panama, and Seoul, Korea.

Barry has served on the Boards of the Boulder Center for Sports Medicine, the Boulder Convention and Visitors Bureau, and has also co-authored two books: “Adventure Racing: The Ultimate Guide” and “Fit and Fun for Life.” He holds a BS in Civil Engineering from WPI, and an MA in Industrial Relations from Wayne State University. He continues to remain very active in triathlon, running, and other endurance events today.