Sports Envoy
Sports Envoy Program

Region: New Zealand

Phaidra Knight

Rugby

Served as envoy

  • 2022  –  New Zealand

Phaidra Knight is an athlete, sports media talent, motivational speaker, and business entrepreneur. For nearly 18 years, she traveled the globe as a professional rugby player, establishing herself as one of the premier players in the sport. She made three appearances in the Rugby World Cup and was selected as the top player in the world in her position in 2002 and 2006. In 2010, she was named the US Rugby Player of the Decade. She became the first and only black American inducted into both the World Rugby and USA Rugby Halls of Fame in 2017 and 2021 respectively. The former attorney is on the Board of Directors for USA Rugby Board and the Board of Trustees for the Women’s Sports Foundation (WSF). She served as the WSF President in 2021.

Phaidra founded PeaK Unleashed in 2019, a non-profit organization dedicated to the personal and physical development of marginalized youth through educational support, rugby and yoga, particularly those of incarcerated and exploited populations. She is a keynote speaker and has an expansive television dimension to her dynamic career. Her on-air sports broadcast experience includes sideline reporting, in-booth commentating and studio analysis. Phaidra has worked with ESPN, NBC Sports, CBS Sports, World Rugby, Flo Sports, and USA Rugby TV. She travels around the world delivering rugby commentary. Phaidra was on the NBC Universal 2020 Tokyo Olympics broadcasting team and covered women’s sevens rugby games. She was featured in a pivotal fighting scene with Oscar Award winning Halle Berry during her directorial debut “Bruised” (2021). Currently training as a mixed martial artist at the Renzo Gracie Academy in New York, New York, Phaidra is grooming to become a professional fighter. In 2021, she made her debuts in Muay Thai Kickboxing and MMA. Her current record is MMA (4-0) and Muay Thai (1-0).

She launched her clothing line, the PSK Collective, in August of 2020. The PSK Collective is a group of female athletes coming together to have a positive impact on girls and women alike. The PSK Collective has created a fusion of active and streetwear, designed to marry fashion, sports, and togetherness for greater causes. These causes include the empowerment of the athlete in us all, shifting attitudes surrounding fashion and expression, giving back to the organizations that help girls and women along their journey, and bringing athletes together – as part of a Collective – to help promote the line and important causes that advance women’s equity. One of the most popular products featured in the line is the Equal Pay rugby jersey. The PSK Collective is available at Walmart, Kohls, and JCPenney.

Ron Roenicke

Baseball

Served as envoy

  • 2015  –  New Zealand

A native of Covina California where he attended Edgewood high school and was rising star in baseball. Ron was drafted four times: the Oakland A’s in 1974, San Francisco Giants in 1975, Detroit Tigers in 1976 and the Atlanta Braves in 1976. Ron declined to sign all four years and elected to play collegiate baseball at UCLA. In 1977 was drafted by the Dodgers and chose to sign with one of the top franchises in Major League Baseball, and eventually made his Major League debut at the age of 24 in 1981.Ron played 8 years in the Majors for 6 different teams and played in 527 games with a career batting average of .238.Since retiring from baseball as a players Ron has worked his way through the coaching ranks over the years and is now the manager for the Boston Red Sox.

DJ Carrasco

Baseball

Served as envoy

  • 2015  –  New Zealand

From Safford, Arizona, D.J. was a right handed pitcher who excelled at baseball from an early age which lead to him being drafted when he was 18 years old right out of high school by the Texas Rangers. Choosing to attend college instead, D.J. spent one year at Chabot College and Pima Community to help sharpen his skills, which led to him being drafted again by the Baltimore Orioles in the 27thround. D.J. made his Major League debut in 2003 while playing for the Kansas City Royals and spent 8 years in total as a Major League Player.D.J. is now a pitching coach in the New York Mets organization and spent the previous 3 years as a Major League scout with the Los Angeles Dodgers. In 2018, he was signed on as a pitching coach to New Zealand’s first ever professional team.

Jen Welter

American Football

Served as envoy

  • 2020  –  Virtual
  • 2022  –  New Zealand
  • 2022  –  Samoa

Dr. Jen Welter is the first female to coach in the National Football League (NFL). In the summer of 2015, she served as a linebackers coach for the Arizona Cardinals. Widely known as a trailblazer and pioneer in professional American football, she most recently served as a defensive specialist for the Alliance of American Football (AAF). Following her record-breaking accomplishment with the Cardinals, Welter became the head coach of the first Australian women’s national team in 2017. Welter became the first woman to play running back in a men’s professional football league with the Texas Revolution. In early 2015, Welter was hired as the first female coach in men’s professional football, helping coach the most successful Revolution season in franchise history. Prior to joining the world of men’s professional football, Welter had a highly decorated 14-year career in women’s professional football which included four World Championships, two gold medals as a member of Team USA in the 2010 and 2013 International Federation of American Football’s (IFAF) Women’s World Championship, and eight all-star selections. She was inducted into the first class of the Women’s Football Hall of Fame on November 30, 2018. Welter is committed to increasing access and opportunities in football. To empower women through football, Welter designed her signature program, “A Day in the Life,” Camp and continues to create a range of camps for girls and women through her GRRRidiron Flag Football Camp. Her initiatives go on to include everything a “Camp on the Corner” program for youth in under-served areas to publications like “Play Big: Lessons in Being Limitless from the First Woman to Coach in the NFL. ”Welter has served on the advisory board for the NFL’s Pro Football Hall of Fame Game for Life Academy since 2017. She holds a doctorate degree in Psychology, a Master’s in Sport Psychology, and a Bachelor’s degree from Boston College.

Lori Lindsey

Soccer

Served as envoy

  • 2015  –  Canada
  • 2015  –  Egypt
  • 2015  –  Jordan
  • 2016  –  New Zealand
  • 2016  –  Venezuela
  • 2016  –  Samoa
  • 2017  –  Colombia

Lori Lindsey played at the University of Virginia (UVA) from 1998-2001 and was the school’s first-ever Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year, winning the award two consecutive years (2000, 2001) joining North Carolina’s Mia Hamm as the only other player to achieve that distinction. She finished as the sixth all-time scorer in UVA history with 33 goals and 76 points, NSCAA Second-Team All-American in 2001, and third-Team All-American in 2000. She was also a 2001 finalist for the Mid Atlantic Conference Award and named Female Athlete of the Year at UVA for the 2001-02 academic year.

Lori Lindsey broke into the National Team relatively late in her career but was a consistent call-up from 2009 to 2012. Lori Lindsey made her first appearance on the National Team in July 24, 2005, vs. Iceland. She was called into WNT training camps on the strength of her WPS performance in 2009 but did not appear in a match. Her best and most active year for the USA was in 2010, playing in 13 matches while starting six and upping her career cap total to 14. In 2011 Lori played in 10 games, starting three, and made her first Women’s World Cup team, playing in one match in Germany, starting and playing the entire 90 minutes in the USA’s second group match, with a victory over Colombia. Finally in, 2012 she played in six matches, starting two, and scored her first career national team goal against Guatemala – on a header – at the Olympic qualifying tournament in Vancouver, Canada. She was named as an alternate to the 2012 Olympic Team and traveled with the squad to the U.K

Through the Women’s Professional Soccer League, she played for the Washington Spirit and with Canberra United in Australia. She was the captain of the Washington Spirit in 2013. In the years prior to playing for the Washington Spirit and Canberra United, she also played for the Western New York Flash in the WPSL-Elite and the Philadelphia Independence. Lori was the first player taken in the 2010 Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) Expansion Draft by the Independence and that year she was named to the WPS Best XI and was also named to the WPS All-Star Team.