Sports Envoy
Sports Envoy Program

Year: 2015

Michelle Goodall

Volleyball

Served as envoy

  • 2015  –  Philippines

Michelle Goodall has more than 25 years of experience directing and coaching volleyball programs. She has worked with the Iowas Region of USA Volleyball at different skill levels for the past 10 years.

In 2016, Goodall was called to serve as the team leader for the women’s national sitting volleyball team. She is an active high school coach and since 1999, she has served as the head coach for Class 5A Kennedy HS. Under her, the school has become one of the largest volleyball programs in the state. She has also served as a high performance coach for the Iowa region, is an active USAV club coach and oversees her school’s feeder club program.

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.

Trooper Johnson

Wheelchair Basketball

Served as envoy

  • 2015  –  Russia
  • 2016  –  Algeria
  • 2016  –  Morocco
  • 2018  –  Kuwait

Coach Johnson is a legendary NWBA member, showcase in the iconic symbol of the NWBA, as a NWBA Hall of Famer and Paralympian. As an athlete, Johnson is the only U.S. player to compete on 15 National Teams (1990-2004), and is widely acknowledged as the most prolific three-point shooter in NWBA history. His shooting accuracy led Team USA to the top of the medal platform for a total of nine gold medals and one silver medal. He also has two bronze medals as an athlete at the 1996 and 2000 Paralympic Games, and was a member of the 1992 and 2004 U.S. Paralympic teams.

Professionally, Johnson is the Sports Program Coordinator for the Bay Area Outreach and Recreation Program in California, which includes being the head coach of the Junior Road Warriors Wheelchair Basketball Team. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the Northern California Olympians & Paralympians. Johnson first found the sport of wheelchair basketball after being involved in a car accident at the age of 17 that left him paralyzed. After that, wheelchair basketball was all he knew. Coach Johnson resides in San Lorenzo, California. He and his wife, Megan, have a son Max, and triplets, Hank, Sam and Sophia.

Dan James

Wheelchair Tennis

Served as envoy

  • 2015  –  Bulgaria

Dan James spent 16 years as the US Paralympic Coach for Wheelchair Tennis in the United States. He coached teams to 11 medals during his international career including 3 gold. During that time he utilized impactful communication to raise awareness, triple budget dollars, and integrate wheelchair tennis into the Grand Slams (US Open). He delivered keynote, workshop, and television presentations throughout the world. He is taking his experience as an elite coach and applying it to impactful communication through storytelling and relationship building.

2007 and 2011 USOC Paralympic Tennis Coach of the Year
2007 and 2011 International Wheelchair Tennis Coach of the Year
2018 Tennis Education Merit Award Winner, International Tennis Hall of Fame
2012 Ikkos Award Winner (awarded by Olympic/Paralympic athletes who medal)

David Wagner

Wheelchair Tennis

Served as envoy

  • 2015  –  Canada

Wagner has won more than a dozen Grand Slam titles and been ranked in the top three in the world for the past 14 years. Wagner suffered a spinal cord injury in 1995 after breaking his neck in an accident on the beach which left him paralyzed from the mid-chest down, retaining only 30 percent feeling in his hands, therefore categorizing him as a quadriplegic. After he took up table tennis as part of his rehabilitation efforts, Wagner picked up a tennis racquet in 1999 and soon began to compete competitively. By 2003, he became the No. 1 ranked quad wheelchair tennis player in the world and has held the No. 1 ranking for a number of times in his career.

Four-time Paralympian (2004, 2008, 2012, 2016);
Eight-time Paralympic medalist (3 gold, 3 silver, 2 bronze)
Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, doubles (silver), singles (bronze)
London 2012 Paralympic Games, doubles (gold), singles (silver)
Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games, doubles (gold), singles (bronze)
Athens 2004 Paralympic Games, doubles (gold), singles (silver)

He has one sister, Heather and one brother, Shane. His hobbies include cooking, reading and cheering on the Seattle Seahawks and Seattle Mariners.

Karin Korb

Wheelchair Tennis

Served as envoy

  • 2015  –  Bulgaria
  • 2015  –  Hungary
  • 2015  –  Romania
  • 2018  –  Venezuela

Karin Korb didn’t pick up a tennis racquet until she was 27 years old. Yet, a year later, she was among the top four women wheelchair tennis players in the world and playing in the World Team Cup, the Fed Cup of wheelchair tennis.

She serves on multiple boards including the Alabama FBI Citizens Academy, a Friend of Mind, Baseline Tennis, America Walks, the Alabama Disability Advocacy Program, the Is-Able Organization’s Advisory Board and the International Tennis Federation’s Player Council. She was awarded the 2018 Athletes in Excellence award by the Foundation for Global Sports Development which recognizes elite-level athletes who have dedicated themselves to bettering their local and global communities through mentorship, service, and volunteerism. Her career in both advocacy and policy has spanned over three decades, and she is fiercely committed to creating a more equitable future for all.

Paul Walker

Wheelchair Tennis

Served as envoy

  • 2015  –  Hungary
  • 2015  –  Romania

Paul Walker was injured in a parachuting accident in 1994 while serving as a commissioned officer in the United States Army. He is a 1986 graduate from Florida Southern College, having earned a B.A. in history and political science. He received his commission in 1988 and retired as a Captain in 1995. He is a proud veteran of Operation Desert Storm, and finds it humorous that the last unit he served in was the 2nd Armored Division (nicknamed Hell on Wheels). His experience leading soldiers has engendered within him a great sense of duty, responsibility and professionalism that is apparent in how he approaches almost every task.

Paul began his tennis coaching career in 2002 at George Jenkins High School in Lakeland, Fla., where he coached for 13 years. During his early coaching career, Paul began coaching at numerous wheelchair tennis camps around the country. In 2005, Dan James, then national manager of Wheelchair Tennis invited Paul to coach the U.S. women at the World Team Cup in the Netherlands. He has been a dedicated member of the national staff since then. Around 2008-09, Paul began coaching USTA league players in Polk County. He still coaches a dedicated group of women who he affectionately calls the PWTA. This fall he will begin his third year as an assistant coach to Trish Riddell with the Florida Southern women’s team.

Paul has always been an athlete. During his college days, he played baseball for Florida Southern. After his accident and prior to his subsequent career as a tennis coach, he worked his way through the ranks of the USTA wheelchair tennis divisions and ultimately became a top men’s open player in the U.S. Although he is one of the main characters in wheelchair tennis worldwide, he spends the majority of his coaching time with the able-bodied tennis community.

Monica Gonzalez

Soccer

Served as envoy

  • 2015  –  Guatemala

Monica Gonzalez has not only captained Mexican national women’s team and founded Gonzo Soccer Peace Foundation, but she’s worked the sideline as a reporter for ESPN, is a commentator and analyst for FOX Deportes and sits on the Advisory Board for FIFPro, the World Players Union. As if this wasn’t enough, she’s joining us in a climb of a lifetime, up Mt. Kilimanjaro in June to break a soccer world record.

“I think I may be from the last great generation of street rats. It’s sad our world has become more dangerous over time and kids now don’t get to spend as much quality time together. My dad played soccer for the US Men’s national team in the 1972 Munich Olympics so he had a ball at my feet since before I can remember and even lied about my age to get me in the boys’ league when I was 4.

When I was 13, I learned that playing soccer could get me a college scholarship and from then on, it was my goal and soccer became my job. But now there is a mad race for college scholarships – women’s soccer in the United States is becoming much more exclusive and girls in underserved communities are missing out on the chance to play.”

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.

Jason Collins

Basketball

Served as envoy

  • 2015  –  Brazil
  • 2016  –  Angola

Jason Collins is a retired American professional basketball player of the National Basketball As-sociation (NBA).

Collins attended Stanford University, where he was an All-American in the 2000-2001 season. He was also named to the All Pac-10 First Team and awarded the NABC Pete Newell “Big Man of the Year” Award. He finished his college career ranked first in Stanford history for field goal percentage and third in blocked shots. Upon graduating with a B.A. from Stan-ford, Collins was selected in the first round of the 2001 NBA Draft with the 18th overall pick. Now a 13-year veteran, Collins has played center for six teams including New Jersey, Memphis, Minnesota, Atlanta, Boston, Washington and, most recently, the Brooklyn Nets (formerly the New Jersey Nets). Doc Rivers, who coached Collins during his time with the Boston Celtics, said of Collins: “He’s the best. He literally is one of the best guys I’ve ever had in the locker room, player or coach.” In his 13 years in the league, Collins’ teams earned 10 trips to the playoffs including 2 NBA Finals appearances.

After the 2012-13 NBA season concluded, Collins publicly came out as gay in a cover story for Sports Illustrated, becoming the first male active player in any of the four major American professional sports to announce that he is gay. President Obama expressed his gratitude to Collins for his courageous announcement and said he “couldn’t be prouder” of Collins, recognizing this as a point of progress for the LGBT community, and one more step in America’s goal to treat everyone fairly and with respect. Collins has traveled the country with the mission of empowering people to live their lives as their true selves, and has become an active member of numerous charities, foundations and organizations. In 2013, GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network, honored Collins with the Courage Award at the GLSEN Respect Awards. In 2014, Logo TV honored Collins with its inaugural Trailblazer Award. Also in 2014, the Matthew Shepard Foundation honored Collins with its Making a Difference Award at its annual Honors Gala.

In April 2014, Collins was featured on the cover of Time Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World.” He served on the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition, which works to motivate Americans to adopt a healthy lifestyle via physical activity and nutrition. Collins resides in Los Angeles, California.