Sports Envoy
Sports Envoy Program

Region: Europe

Hilary Knight

Ice Hockey

Served as envoy

  • 2014  –  Belarus

Hilary Knight is one of the most decorated players in the history of women’s ice hockey.

Hilary first stepped onto the ice at the age of five, when her family relocated from California to Chicago. When there were no girls’ teams, she played with the boys. By high school, she was a standout star and had her pick of colleges. She chose the University of Wisconsin in Madison, where she earned First Team All-American honours and Player of the Year in her sophomore year – and helped her team capture two National Championship titles. She took a year off from college to train for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, where, at age 20 and the youngest on the team, she helped Team USA earn the silver medal. She returned to the Olympics in 2014 in Sochi to claim another silver. In her rookie season playing for the Boston Blades in the Canadian Women’s Hockey League, she became the first American-born player to win MVP. In 2015, she joined the National Women’s Hockey League to play for the Boston Pride. In 2017 she won her seventh IHF World Women’s Championships gold medal. “When I step on the ice, it’s like I’m entering a different world,” Hilary says. “It’s like a sanctuary. All my worries and stress shed from my shoulders.”

Julie Chu

Ice Hockey

Served as envoy

  • 2014  –  Belarus
  • 2014  –  Kazakhstan

Julie Chu has had a tremendous career coming from an unlikely
background that would lead her to 14 years playing on the US
National Team, collegiately at Harvard, 4 Olympic Games, 5 World
Championships, 3 Clarkson Cup Championships and off the ice
coaching at the University of Minnesota-Duluth and Union College.
A native of Fairfield, CT, Julie’s life on the ice didn’t begin in the faceoff circle but with toe picks and figure skates. Julie’s brother Richard played hockey and with the blessing of her parents (Wah and
Miriam), Julie made the move from figure skating to hockey.
What a move it ended up becoming. Julie was able to make huge
strides locally in Connecticut first playing co-ed and then on to playing
with girls. She was able to win US National Championships with the
Connecticut Polar Bears, played prep hockey at Choate Rosemary
Hall and was recruited to play at Harvard. Prior to playing at
Harvard, she deferred enrollment for the opportunity to play on the
US National Team ahead of the 2002 Salt Lake Olympic Games.
Since then, Julie went from being one of the youngest players to now
being the oldest having participated in Salt Lake, Torino, Vancouver
and Sochi for Team USA. On the ice, she has always been the
ultimate professional doing whatever the team has needed from her
including making a position switch from forward to defense if that was
what the team needed to try and win. Her unselfish play has been a
guiding light for younger players to see and know that they are only
as good as the team around them doing whatever it takes to try and
get a W.

While at Harvard, Julie was outstanding and during her career there
she set the All-Time NCAA Scoring & Assist record, led her team to
multiple Frozen Fours and won the Patty Kazmaier Award as the best
collegiate hockey player. During her international career, Julie has won the most World Championships for a US player, she is tied with the second most amount of US Winter Olympic medals and at the conclusion of theSochi 2014 Winter Olympics was elected by the members of the entire US Olympic Team to carry the flag during Closing Ceremonies.

Professionally, Julie has won 3 Clarkson Cups (pro women’s hockey)
with Minnesota and Montreal which is the most for a US player and is
still playing today for Montreal in the CWHL.

Nina Cutro-Kelly

Judo

Served as envoy

  • 2017  –  France

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS:
Senior World Judo Championship Teams: 2009, 2010, 2011, 2015, 2017
US Senior National Judo Champions: 2003, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016
Junior World Judo Championship Team : 2002
3 x SAMBO World Championships Bronze Medalist: 2011, 2014, 2016
2 x SAMBO Moscow Super World Cup Champion: 2014, 2015
2013 French BJJ National Champion
2005 US Heavyweight Women’s Wrestling Champion
RECENT COMPETITION RESULTS :
2017:
● Pan American Championships – Bronze
● Ladies Belgian Open – 5th
2016:
● El Salvador Continental Open – Gold
● Lima Continental Open – Bronze
● US Senior National Championships – Gold
● Pan American Championships Team
2015:
● El Salvador Continental Open – Gold
● Pan American Championships – Bronze
● Pan American Games – Bronze
● Santiago Continental Open – Bronze
● Port Louis Continental Open – Bronze
● Wollongong Continental Open – Bronze
● US Senior National Championships – Gold
2014:
● Miami Continental Open – Bronze
● El Salvador Continental Open – Bronze
● US Senior National Championships – Gold
● Pan American Championships Team

Mariah Holguin

Judo

Served as envoy

  • 2017  –  France

Mariah Holguin is a Junior at Johnson High School. Mariah is ranked Internationally at 57kg for Senior and U21. Mariah is the top ranked U18 and U21 athlete at 57kg in the U.S.. She is ranked 3rd on the Senior Elite Roster at 57kg. She was a member of the Johnson Band during her Freshman and Sophomore years. As a result of her travel and competition schedule she was not able to continue in the band. For her age Mariah has impressive portfolio of countries that she has traveled: France x2, Belgium, Abu Dhabi, Sarajevo, England, Japan, and Canada, Cyprus, Peru, El Salvador. Mariah was a member of the 2015 Cadet World Team and the 2015 Junior World Team.

Experience:

2017-57kg
2017 US Senior Nationals-2nd place
2017 Lima Open-3rd Place
2017 US Scholastic Nationals-U18 2nd place
2017 Texas State Championships U18,U21,and Senior1st place
2016-57kg
2016 Sambo Cadet World Championships Bronze Medal
USA Judo U18 National Champion
USA Judo U21 National Champion
2016 USA Judo Scholastic Nationals Outstanding Athlete Award
US Senior Nationals-5th place
USA Judo Junior Olympic U18 National Champion
USA Judo U21 International Champion
2015-52kg
USA Judo U18, U21- 2nd place
USA Judo Automatic Black Belt promotion
US Senior Nationals -3rd place
USA Judo Cadet World Team – Sarajevo, Bosnia
USA Judo Junior World Team- Abu Dhabi UAE
England Judo National Training Camp participant
2014-48kg
USA Judo Scholastic Nationals- 2nd place
USA Judo Junior Olympics- 1st place
USA Judo Junior Olympics U18 International-2nd place

Jim Hrbek

Judo

Served as envoy

  • 2017  –  France

8TH DEGREE BLACK BELT – USA JUDO

Positions
Chairman – High Performance Committee – USA Judo
USA Judo National Coaching Staff
Head Coach, Universal Judo
San Antonio, TX

Certifications
USA Judo International Gold Level Coach
US Judo Association Master Coach
US Judo Association Master Rank Examiner
Previous Administrative Positions
Junior High Performance Director – USA Judo – 2002-2017
Member USJI National Coaching Staff 1983-present
Chairman, Coaching and Training Committee of USJudo, Inc (1983-1992 and 1996-1997)
Co-ordinator for Women’s Judo, USJudo, Inc (1986- 1992)
Chairman, Women’s Selection Committee, USJudo, Inc (1986-1992)
Member, USJudo Inc Development Committee (1986- 1992)
Member USJudo, Inc Junior Committee (1988-1992)
Member USJudo Association Board of Directors (1980- 1984 approx.)
First President/ Founder of New York State Judo, Inc (1980-1982 approx.)

Honors and Awards
1992 Head Coach – US Women’s Olympic Judo Team
1986 United States Judo Association Coach of the Year
1986 Southland “Olympia” Award – first Coach recipient in any sport
2005 United States Olympic committee – National Judo Coach of the Year
2011 United States Olympic Committee Overall Development Coach of the Year

Memberships
Mensa
Intertel

Jennifer Jo Cobb

Motor Sports

Served as envoy

  • 2018  –  Georgia

Jennifer Jo Cobb is a professional racecar driver, NASCAR team owner, public speaker, entrepreneur and a corporate spokesperson. Jennifer began racing at the grassroots level of NASCAR in Kansas City in 1991. She has recently accomplished several historical feats in NASCAR’s Camping World Truck Series incuding: highest finishing female driver in the overall points for a season (2010); highest finish by a female driver in the series (6th place, 2011); most starts by a female driver in the series (50+ 2012) and she holds the highest place finish in a race event by a woman in any NASCAR series at the famous Daytona International Speedway.

Jennifer’s dream of being a racecar driver began when she was just 8 years old and she has climbed the ranks of auto racing despite the odds against her. Off the track, Jennifer is a business professional with media, marketing and advertising experience. She has co-hosted a television program on Time Warner’s Metro Sports TV called Inside Motorsports and had a feature that appeared weekly on the home page of NASCAR.com called All Access with JJC.

She currently competes in both the NASCAR Camping World Truck and Nationwide Series’. Jennifer is enjoying a successful speaking career comprised of her combined racing and business experience while continuing her ambition to one day compete at NASCAR’s top level, the Sprint Cup Series.

In 2011 she launched Driven2Honor (www.Driven2Honor.org), a non-profit to recognize the efforts and plights of our female military members. Driven2Honor honors a female military member (past or current) with a VIP behind-the-scenes experience at every NASCAR event in which she competes. Driven2Honor is raising funds to help house homeless female veterans.

Lonnie Hannah II

Sledge Hockey

Served as envoy

  • 2014  –  Kazakhstan
  • 2016  –  Slovakia

Lonnie Hannah II is a former ice sledge hockey player. He won medals with Team USA at the 2002 Winter Paralympics and 2006 Paralympics.

He received the Whang Youn Dai Overcome Prize for competing at the 2006 Paralympic Winter Games in Turin, after being diagnosed with cancer the previous year. He also carried his country’s flag at the Games’ Closing Ceremony. In 2007 he started to coach the first ice sledge hockey program in Texas, affiliated to the San Antonio Rampage American Hockey League [AHL] team. The team’s roster contains mainly injured military personnel in rehabilitation at San Antonio’s Brooke Army Medical Center [BAMC].

Misty May-Treanor

Volleyball

Served as envoy

  • 2010  –  Russia

Misty May was one of the greatest college athletes of her time. She won consecutive National Volleyball Player of the Year awards and as a senior was presented the Honda-Broderick Cup as the nation’s top collegiate female athlete in any sport.

After completing her collegiate eligibility, May joined the U.S. Women’s National Volleyball Team, but her traditional volleyball career did not last long. A few months later, May quit the team to focus on her budding beach volleyball career with partner Holly McPeak. The two participated in the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games but did not medal.

Perhaps the most important moment of May’s experience at the Sydney Games was her family meeting the family of indoor volleyball player Kerri Walsh, which led to the two players becoming a beach volleyball tandem.

“She drove down to my house in California and I said, ‘Why don’t you just try it? Either you like it or you don’t,’ ” May said.

Together, May and Walsh became the most dominant team in the sport, winning gold medals at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, Beijing 2008 Olympic Games and London 2012 Olympic Games. Along the way, May-Treanor (she married baseball player Matt Treanor in 2004) made sure to remember her roots; she would often sign autographs and take pictures with as every fan wanting one.

“You never know what conversation will change somebody’s life,” she said.

Linda Gomez

Volleyball

Served as envoy

  • 2016  –  Moldova

Linda Gomez is a Classroom Certified Teacher, an Athletic Director for K-12, a Volleyball Coach (Elementary, High School, University, and USAV Club), a Sitting Volleyball Coach at USA Volleyball and Army Warrior Games, a USAV Sitting Volleyball Coordinator for the Old Dominion Region, a USAV Sitting Volleyball Liaison Florida Region of USA Volleyball, a USAV IMPACT Instructor, a USAV CAP III Certified, and a Blaze Adapted Sports Specialist Level 1.

In 2016, Gomez founded Get Set 4 All, a non-profit organization whose mission is to provide adapted sports opportunities for youth, adults, and military wounded warriors.

Parnes Cartwright

Wheelchair Basketball

Served as envoy

  • 2015  –  Russia

Parnes Cartwright was the head coach as well as the executive director for the Miami Heat Wheel’s wheelchair basketball team. He played a crucial role in the documentary “The Rebound” in which he explains how he got involved in wheelchair basketball and Miami Heat Wheels.