Sports Envoy
Sports Envoy Program

Region: Chile

Candice Wiggins

Basketball

Served as envoy

  • 2013  –  Nicaragua
  • 2014  –  Chile
  • 2018  –  Algeria

Candice Wiggins is the new Sports Director of Basketball (Girl’s Chair) for the Southern Pacific region of the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU). She will be operating clinics, leagues, tournaments and national qualifiers primarily in the Los Angeles area of the region.

After spending 12 seasons participating as a professional athlete, including a WNBA championship with the Minnesota Lynx in 2011 and concluding with the New York Liberty in 2015, Candice “Coach Ice” knows what first made her life successful on the court: AAU Basketball. In 2000, her team NJB All-Stars won the coveted 13U Girls title at the Disney Wide World of Sports in Orlando. The following year she was featured on the Disney Channel original program Totally Hoops.

A coach at heart, Candice plans to provide her service to an important sports institution, and welcomes people of all ages into the revolutionary sports platform provided by the AAU.

Linda Hamilton

Soccer

Served as envoy

  • 2007  –  Philippines
  • 2010  –  Ivory Coast
  • 2011  –  Brazil
  • 2013  –  Chile
  • 2014  –  Bangladesh
  • 2015  –  Burma
  • 2016  –  China
  • 2019  –  Egypt

Linda Hamilton enters her fifth season as head coach of the Southwestern women’s soccer team, coming off a season in which she was named the SCAC Coach of the Year, leading the Pirates to the SCAC Championship match.

Hamilton brings a wealth of experience to the program, both as a player and coach. She played collegiately at North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina, earning All-America status and all-conference honors all four years. She was named the Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year in 1988. Hamilton was a member of the United States National Team, where she played in 82 international matches. She helped the team to a World Cup gold medal in 1991 and bronze in 1995.

Hamilton, who owns a United States Soccer Federation “A” coaching license, got her start in coaching at Old Dominion University as the team’s head coach from 1993 to 1995. She later served as an assistant at Hofstra University (2006-2007) and most recently served as head coach at the University of North Florida (2007-2013). She has additionally worked with the Easter Seals and National Multiple Sclerosis Society (2002-2006), serving as director of development.

Kate Sobrero Markgraf

Soccer

Served as envoy

  • 2012  –  Ethiopia
  • 2013  –  Chile
  • 2014  –  Peru

Defender Kate Markgraf (née Sobrero) debuted with the U.S. Women’s National Team in 1998 and earned 201 caps before retiring in 2010. Markgraf was a member of the U.S. Women’s National Teams in the 2008, 2004 and 2000 Olympic Games, playing every minute of all three tournaments. Markgraf also helped to lead the team from the backline at the 2007, 2003 and 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cups.

After becoming the only player to play every minute of every U.S. Women’s National Team game in 2005, she had her first child, Keegan, in 2006. In 2009, she once again took time off from soccer, giving birth to twins, a boy and a girl, Xavier and Carson.

Markgraf was a four-year starter at Notre Dame, where she was a three time NSCAA All American, earning First Team honors twice and winning the 1995 NCAA championship.

Allocated to the Chicago Red Stars for the inaugural WPS season in 2009, Markgraf sat out the year as she was pregnant with twins. She was a founding player in the WUSA for the Boston Breakers and in 2003 she started all 19 games in which she played, helping the Breakers to the playoffs for the first time.