Sports Envoy
Sports Envoy Program

Region: Latin America & Caribbean

Vania King

Tennis

Served as envoy

  • 2022  –  Brazil

Two-time Grand Slam doubles champion Vania King reached a career-high doubles ranking of world No. 3 in 2011 and also had a Top-50 singles career on the WTA Tour. Over the course of her 15-year professional career, the Monterey Park, Calif. native reached the third round of all four Grand Slams in singles, represented the U.S. in Billie Jean King Cup play, and won Wimbledon and the US Open in doubles in 2010. After retiring as a player last year, she was elected to the USTA Board of Directors, and recently founded her own non-profit organization, Serving Up Hope, which provides tennis programs for underserved children in Uganda and the United States.

Rodney Wallace

Soccer

Served as envoy

  • 2022  –  Trinidad and Tobago

Rodney Wallace is a Bilingual Sports Analyst, Motivational Speaker, Entrepreneur and Retired Professional Soccer Player. Rodney has appeared on Fox Sports, Fox Deportes, US Soccer Federación and ESPN.

Born in Costa Rica, Rodney moved to the United States at age 9. He overcame all adversity to become a NCAA Champion, MLS Cup Champion, Comeback Player of the Year, Brasil Serie A Player, Liga Nos Player, and Costa Rican National Team Player in which he appeared at the highest level in 2018 FIFA World Cup. Rodney continues to give back the game that taught him so much through clinics and training local youth.

Bob Mackinnon, Jr.

Basketball

Served as envoy

  • 2022  –  Mexico

BOB MACKINNON has 35 plus years of experience coaching at the Collegiate and Professional levels, including eight seasons as a Head Coach in the NBA G League. In his first year in the G-League, MacKinnon coached the Colorado 14ers to a 34-16 regular season record and ultimately the 2008-09 D-League Championship.

MacKinnon then went on to coach the Idaho Stampede and Springfield Armor (in his first season in Springfield, he led the Armor to a League record turn around; going from 8 wins the season before to 29 wins), before landing in Los Angles with the Lakers Affiliate. In the 2013-14 season, MacKinnon led the development of three Lakers assignees, while boasting four NBA Call-Ups from the D-Fenders. MacKinnon also coached in China, as the Head Coach of the CBA’s Tianjin Team in 2010 – 11. Additionally, he was selected to run the G-League’s Elite Mini-Camp and National Tryouts for the seven years.
MacKinnon completed his third season as the Head Coach of the Dallas Mavericks affiliate, the Texas Legends in 2020; in his first season with the Legends he led the team to franchise records in NBA Call-ups (5), wins (25) & attendance. In his second season, the Legends led the League again in Call-ups (7), had another win’s record (29), & topped their attendance mark yet again. Over the course of his 8 years in the G League, MacKinnon’s teams have always finished in top 3 in the league in scoring, pace of play, rebounding, steals and assists. MacKinnon is the All-time leader in the NBA G League history in both Call-ups (28) & Wins (207 – the only coach in NBA G League history to record over 200 wins).

MacKinnon’s career began at the Collegiate level at King’s College in Pennsylvania where he played four seasons and got his first coaching opportunity in 1982. He would go on to Coach at the Collegiate level for 25 years starting as an Assistant Coach at Mercyhurst College (1982-85), followed by George Washington University (1985-90), and Niagara University (1990-97), before he was named the Head Coach of the United States Merchant Marine Academy in 1997. MacKinnon led the Mariners to two Skyline Conference Championships, securing consecutive NCAA tournament bids, and earning Skyline Conference Coach of the Year in 1999. He then joined the staff at the University of Notre Dame (1999-2000) as an Assistant Coach, followed by being named an Assistant Coach at the University of North Carolina (2000-03), before becoming the Senior Assistant Coach at Marshall University (2003-07).

MacKinnon is a world-renowned Basketball Clinician. He has Directed or spoken at over 300 camps/clinics in 18 countries. He works with the NBA in many of their overseas programs, and with the Tel-Mex foundation in Mexico directing camps for Coaches and youth programs alike. MacKinnon is also a certified trainer for the Positive Coaching Alliance in the United States. He leads and directs workshops for PCA, as they attempt to enhance the culture of Youth Sports in the United States.

Lacey Henderson

Track & Field Paralympics

Served as envoy

  • 2022  –  Peru
  • 2023  –  Mexico

Lacey was diagnosed with Synovial Sarcoma at the age of 9 that resulted in the amputation of her right leg. Despite her disability, she pursued sports cheerleading in high school and college.

After a Division I athletic scholarship for cheerleading, Lacey discovered the world of disability. Only until she started Paralympic track and field did she realize she had been not only avoiding her disability but a huge part of herself. It was a long journey of therapy, finding resilience and a lot of time training on the track, she became an American Record Holder and a Rio Paralympian. She works now as a disability advocate having conversations that normalize being and feeling different and how it is our differences that truly unite us.

She is the host of her own podcast, Picked Last in Gym Class. She has also hosted for Microsoft’s InCulture season on Accessibility and for Ottobock Healthcare’s Fireside Chats.

Raúl Casanova

Baseball

Served as envoy

  • 2021  –  Ecuador

Raúl Casanova is a former Puerto Rican Major League Baseball player who was a catcher from 1996 to 2008. Casanova belonged to the Detroit Tigers, Milwaukee Brewers, Baltimore Orioles, Chicago White Sox, Tampa Bay and New York Mets teams with whom he ended his career in the 2008. Casanova earned a world championship ring with the Chicago White Sox team in 2005.

Thomas Dooley

Soccer

Served as envoy

  • 2018  –  Trinidad and Tobago

Considered one of the key players for the USMNT in the 1990’s, Thomas Dooley brought the professionalism he earned through years in the German professional leagues. The son of a US serviceman, Dooley was eligible to represent the United States and he took that option in 1992. Appearing in the 1994 and ’98 World Cups, Dooley captained the USMNT in France. After 14 years in the German leagues, including a German Cup win with Kaiserslautern in 1990 and a UEFA Cup win with Schalke in ’97, Dooley signed with Major League Soccer and joined Columbus in the summer of ’97. He retired in 2000 and was elected to the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2010.

Misty Copeland

Ballet

Served as envoy

  • 2016  –  Cuba

Born in Kansas City, Missouri and raised in San Pedro, California, Misty Copeland began her ballet studies at the age of 13 at the San Pedro City Ballet.  At the age of fifteen she won first place in the Music Center Spotlight Awards.  She then began her studies at the Lauridsen Ballet Center.  Copeland has studied at the San Francisco Ballet School and American Ballet Theatre’s Summer Intensive on full scholarship and was declared ABT’s National Coca-Cola Scholar in 2000.

Copeland joined ABT Studio Company in September 2000, then joined American Ballet Theatre as a member of the corps de ballet in April 2001 and was appointed a Soloist in August 2007.  Her roles with the Company include Terpsichore in Apollo, Gamzatti, a Shade and the Lead D’Jampe in La Bayadère, Milkmaid in The Bright Stream, the Fairy Autumn in Frederick Ashton’s Cinderella, Blossom in James Kudelka’s Cinderella, Swanilda and the Mazurka Lady in Coppélia, Gulnare and an Odalisque in Le Corsaire, Kitri, Mercedes, Driad Queen, the lead gypsy and a flower girl in Don Quixote, Duo Concertant, the Masks in Christopher Wheeldon’s VIII, Lise in Las Fille mal gardée, the Firebird in Alexei Ratmansky’s Firebird, Flower Girl in Gaîté Parisienne, Giselle, Zulma and the peasant pas de deux in Giselle, Queen of Shemakahn in The Golden Cockerel, Pierrette in Harlequinade, the title role in Jane Eyre, Manon and Lescaut’s Mistress in Manon, Clara the Princess, Columbine and one of The Nutcracker’s Sisters in Alexei Ratmansky’s The Nutcracker, Bianca in Othello, a Gypsy in Petrouchka, the Lead Polovtsian Girl in the Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor, the Saracen Dancer in Raymonda, Cowgirl in Rodeo, Juliet and a Harlot in Romeo and Juliet, Sinatra Suite, Princess Florine in The Sleeping Beauty, Odette-Odile, the pas de trois, a cygnet and the Hungarian Princess in Swan Lake, the Waltz in Les Sylphides, the Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, Princess Praline in Whipped Cream, leading roles in Bach Partita, Birthday Offering, Brahms-Haydn Variations, Monotones I, and Thirteen Diversions, and roles in Airs, Amazed in Burning Dreams, Baker’s Dozen, Ballo della Regina, Black Tuesday, The Brahms-Haydn Variations, Brief Fling, Company B, Désir, Deuce Coupe, Gong, Hereafter, In the Upper Room, Overgrown Path, Pretty Good Year, Private Light, Raymonda Divertissements, Sechs Tänze, Sinfonietta, Symphonic Variations, Within You Without You: A Tribute to George Harrison and workwithinwork.

Copeland created the Spanish Dance in Ratmansky’s The Nutcracker, the Fairy Fleur de farine (Wheat flower) in Ratmansky’s The Sleeping Beauty, His Loss in AfterEffect, and roles in AFTERITE, C. to C. (Close to Chuck), Dumbarton, Garden Blue, Glow – Stop, Her Notes, I Feel The Earth Move, One of Three and With a Chance of Rain.

Copeland received the 2008 Leonore Annenberg Fellowship in the Arts and was named National Youth of the Year Ambassador for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America in 2013.  In 2014, President Obama appointed Copeland to the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition.  She is the recipient of a 2014 Dance Magazine Award and was named to the 2015 TIME 100 by TIME Magazine.  Copeland is the author of the best-selling memoir, Life in Motion, children’s book Firebird and Ballerina Body.

Copeland was appointed a Principal Dancer in August 2015.

Ms. Copeland’s performances with American Ballet Theatre are sponsored by Valentino D. Carlotti.

Shannon MacMillan

Soccer

Served as envoy

  • 2006  –  South Africa
  • 2010  –  Argentina
  • 2011  –  Guatemala

Shannon enjoyed a career with the US Women’s National team for 12 years; playing in 176 games and scoring 60 goals.

During that time she won a gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, a silver medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and another gold as an alternate for the 2004 Greece Olympics. She also played a vital role in winning the 1999 Women’s World Cup and followed that up with a third place finish in the 2003 Women’s World Cup. In 2002, Shannon was named the US Soccer female athlete of the year. Shannon was a member of the US Soccer Envoys that conducted clinics in South Africa and Guatemala emphasizing the value of teamwork, respect, and leadership. In 2016, Shannon was elected to the US Soccer Hall of Fame.

In February of 2014, Shannon was inducted into the Cal South Hall of Fame.

Shannon currently holds a USSF National “B” license. She is a Certified Advance Sports Technology Facilitator. Shannon also is a Fox Soccer and ESPN/SEC analyst, covering matches such as the U17 and U20 Women’s World Cup.

Prior to joining the Sharks she was the Assistant Coach for the UCLA Womens team for two years, 2007-2009, helping lead the Bruins to two final four appearances. She is a 2008 Inductee to San Diego’s Breitbard Hall of Champions. Shannon graduated from the University of Portland with a degree in Social work. She was also a four time All American for the Pilots and the winner of the prestigious Hermann Award as college soccer’s top player in 1995.

Nick Garcia

Soccer

Served as envoy

  • 2017  –  Guatemala

Youth and College
As a junior and senior at Bishop Lynch High School in Dallas, Texas, Nick won the TAPPS state boys soccer championship, the first and second in their history. He was also all-district, all-state and all-tournament. Garcia won the 1996-97 Gatorade National Boys Soccer Player of the Year award, as well, while starring for powerhouse youth club, Dallas Texans. Garcia played college soccer at Indiana University, leading Indiana to consecutive national titles in 1998 and 1999. He was named National Freshman of the year and the Big 10 freshman of the year in 1997. Was a 1st team All-American in 1999.

Professional
Garcia signed a professional contract with Major League Soccer in 2000, and was drafted second overall in the 2000 MLS SuperDraft by the Kansas City Wizards.
Garcia subsequently played in – and started – almost 200 games for the Wizards between 2000 and 2007. He helped the Wizards win the MLS Cup in 2000, and the Lamar Hunt Open Cup in 2004.
He joined the San Jose Earthquakes as their captain upon their return to MLS in 2008. In early 2009 Garcia signed a multi-year contact with San Jose, but was traded to Toronto FC. He finished his 11 year career this past year up in Toronto, Canada; finishing with over 300 career games played.

International
Garcia played for the US Under-17 national team at the World Youth Championship in Ecuador in 1997 and captained the US Under-20 national team at the World Youth Championship in Nigeria in 1999. He earned his first cap for the full national team in 2003, against Canada. So far, he has amassed six caps for the United States.

Business life

Executive Director at Brookside Soccer Club in Kansas City Mo.

Owner/President at G3 INC., a dynamic and multifunctional company that develops, leverages and facilitates both profit and nonprofit ventures thru sports.

Director of soccer at NESA (North-East-Sports-Alliance) in Kansas City, Mo. NESA is a partnership of nonprofit organizations in Kansas City urban core that seek to provide a safe and fun learning environment where boys and girls of all ages learn to promote good sportsmanship, self esteem, self-discipline and life skills while enjoying the wonderful game of recreational soccer.

Personal life

Nick enjoys fishing, playing cards, cooking, reading books and going on vacation, lists Bora Bora as favourite destination…the Reality TV show he’d most like to appear on is “Iron Chef”…the best meal he cooks is Mexican…if he could be any action he’d be – Al Pacino…the player he’d most like to face in a game would be Lionel Messi…was a member of five consecutive championship teams, winning two high school state championships in 1996 and 1997, back-to-back NCAA titles with Indiana in 1998 and 1999.…was 1997 Gatorade National High School Player of the Year…has been involved with Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, CASA and Big Brothers/Big Sisters …can play the saxophone.

Championships:
Bishop Lynch HS
• TAAPS State Champ 1996
• TAAPS State Champ 1997
Indiana University
• NCAA Champ 1998
• NCAA Champ 1999
Kansas City Wizards
• MLS Champ 2000
• US Open Cup Champ 2004
Toronto FC
• Canadian Cup Champ 2009
• Canadian Cup Champ 2010

Jeff Pill

Soccer

Served as envoy

  • 2008  –  El Salvador

Jeffrey Michael Monken (born April 15, 1967) is the head coach of the Army Black Knights football team. He was formerly the head coach of the Georgia Southern Eagles football team. He previously served under Paul Johnson as a running backs coach and special teams coordinator at Georgia Southern, Navy and Georgia Tech.

In November 2009, Monken was hired to succeed Chris Hatcher as the head coach at Georgia Southern. In his first season with the Georgia Southern, Monken led the Eagles to an overall record of 10–5 and to the 2010 FCS Playoffs Semifinals, defeating top-ranked and previously undefeated Appalachian State to begin a streak of six consecutive wins.

In 2011, Monken led the Eagles to an overall record of 11–3, the Southern Conference championship and a second-straight trip to the 2011 FCS Playoffs Semifinals. He was named both the AFCA 2011 FCS Region 2 Coach of the Year and the Southern Conference Coach of the Year.

In 2012, Monken again led the Eagles to a Southern Conference Championship with a 10–4 overall record, a third consecutive FCS Semifinal Game appearance and final No. 3 national ranking. Georgia Southern accepted an invitation to join the Sun Belt Conference in March 2013 and subsequently made the move to FBS. In its first transition year in 2013, the Eagles were not eligible for the NCAA playoffs and ended their FCS history with a 26–20 victory over Florida in the season finale.

On December 30, 2013, Monken was introduced as the 37th head coach of the Army Black Knights football program.