Sports Envoy
Sports Envoy Program

Year: 2017

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

Crissa “Ace” Jackson

Harlem Globetrotters Basketball

Served as envoy

  • 2017  –  Estonia
  • 2017  –  Lithuania

In 2015, Former Point Loma women’s basketball player Crissa Jackson (2010-12) signed a contract to play for the Harlem Globetrotters. Hailing from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Crissa “Ace” Jackson was the 13th female player in the history of the Globetrotters, joining current female stars TNT Maddox and Sweet J Ekworomadu. Ace played her first two years of college ball at Savannah State University (Ga.), where she quickly grabbed the starting point guard job as a freshman and led the team in three-pointers and assists. She led the team in scoring and assists as a sophomore and was named to the NCAA Division I All-Independent All-American second team. The 5-4 standout guard then transferred to Point Loma Nazarene University for her final two seasons, leading the Sea Lions in points (15.4 ppg), three-pointers (1.4 3pg) and assists (4.3 apg) as a junior, and in three-pointers (1.5 3pg), assists (3.8 apg) and steals (2.7 spg) as a senior.

Anthony “Buckets” Blakes

Harlem Globetrotters Basketball

Served as envoy

  • 2017  –  Lithuania
  • 2017  –  Estonia

Buckets Blakes was born and raised in Phoenix and still lives in the Valley of the Sun, and his first exposure to basketball was watching the Phoenix Suns at the age of five. To make his own hoop, he would cut a hole in the top of his dad’s hat, flip it over and shoot a tennis ball through it.

Years of practice from that point forward made him one of the most accurate shooters around (hence the name “Buckets”). He can fill it up in many different ways, like when he broke the Guinness World Records® record for the most basketball underhanded half-court shots in one minute, dropping six– one more than the previous record. He actually made those six shots in just 46 seconds.

On World Trick Shot Day (Dec.6, 2016), Buckets nailed the highest shot ever recorded in North America. From the top of the Tower of the Americas in San Antonio, Buckets made a 583-foot basketball shot to a hoop located below.

His parents are his heroes, because they always involved Buckets and his nine siblings in positive things. He made them proud by earning his bachelor’s degree in psychology in January of 2012 by taking online courses. Despite the demands of entertaining people all over the world year-round, Buckets made the Dean’s List three times while completing his courses.

One of his favorite childhood basketball memories was when he finally stole the basketball from his older cousin, who taught him how to dribble. “He was one of the best basketball players in the state, and he would never just give me the ball; I had to try and steal it every time, ”explains Buckets.“ When I finally stole it from him, my confidence soared, and my fate in the game of basketball was sealed.”

Buckets was not only an outstanding basketball player growing up, but he also lettered in track and football in high school. As his basketball talents grew, his high school coach, Michael Ellsworth, showed him that hard work pays off, both on and off the court.

He took that work ethic to Arizona Western College, and then to the University of Wyoming, where he was team captain and MVP his junior and senior seasons, leading the team in rebounding, assists and steals as a junior. As a senior, Buckets was one of only two Mountain West Conference players to finish in the top 15 in scoring, rebounding and assists.

Buckets enjoys working with and mentoring kids, so here lies the opportunities he’s had to present the Globetrotters’ various community outreach programs all over the world as an Ambassador of Goodwill™. He sees himself running his own gym someday and helping kids build character and self-esteem through sports mentoring. He encourages youngsters to, “Be the best ‘you’ that you can be, because it’s very difficult to try and be someone else.”

YeRuchia “Rushia” Brown

Basketball

Served as envoy

  • 2017  –  Ethiopia

Rushia Brown was born in the Bronx, NY and raised in South Carolina. As a sophomore, she first picked up a ball and joined the Summerville High School Junior Varsity basketball team. Athletic, yet untrained, Rushia began a journey that would forever change her life. Through hard work and dedication, she was one of the top student-athlete recruits in the state of South Carolina as a senior; being courted by esteemed universities such as Harvard, Duke University and her then dream school, the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. With the recent loss of her father, Rushia chose to stay close to home and attend Furman University.

As a Lady Paladin, Rushia pursued her education and competed on the court, attaining every accolade available including Southern Conference Freshman of the Year, multiple MVPs, Southern Conference Player of the Year, Edna Hartness Athlete of the Year and eventually having her jersey hang from the rafters as #34 was retired, never to be worn again. Rushia’s collegiate years lead to a 10 year professional career overseas, which spanned 5 countries; Spain, France, Italy, Greece and Korea and 7 years in the WNBA; 6 years in Cleveland and 1 year in Charlotte.

Brown is currently working to make a difference in the lives of girls and women through the sport of basketball. Rushia is the Founder/President of the Women’s Professional Basketball Alumnae (WPBA), the only organization structured to assist women who have played professionally in the WNBA or in Europe as they transition into mainstream society.

Rushia is also the Director of Public Relations for Young Black Entrepreneur Magazine,(YBE) an educational platform for those with entrepreneurial aspirations.

Agnus Berenato

Basketball

Served as envoy

  • 2017  –  Guyana
  • 2017  –  Suriname

Agnus Berenato has earned a reputation of turning around struggling programs and building them into winners. After one season as the head coach of the Kennesaw State women’s basketball program, Berenato has shown signs of building upon that legacy.

In her first season leading the Owls, Berenato guided Kennesaw State to a 10-20 overall record, 8-6 ASUN Conference mark, and the program’s highest seed in the league’s postseason championship. KSU, which won eight of its final 12 games, hosted a tournament game for the first time, defeating NJIT, 62-60, and advanced to the ASUN Championship semifinals for the second time.

Under Berenato’s leadership, Kennesaw State had four players earn ASUN Conference postseason honors. Carlotta Gianolla was unanimously voted Freshman of the Year and selected to the All-Freshman team, while senior Deandrea Sawyers was tabbed second team All-ASUN Conference by the league’s coaches.

The Owls also proved to be winners in the classroom as juniors Chloe Branch and Clara Young were named to the ASUN Conference’s All-Academic team.

Berenato came to Kennesaw State with the distinction of being the winningest coach at the University of Pittsburgh and the second-winningest at Georgia Tech.

The 30-year coaching veteran has also enjoyed success on the recruiting trail since being hired on March 30, 2016 as she signed nine players who will join the program in the fall, including the Georgia 6A Player of the Year.

Within three years of assuming head-coaching duties at Georgia Tech, she led the Yellow Jackets to the 1992 WNIT championship. The next year, Tech made its first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance. Two years after taking the helm at Pitt, the Panthers rattled off five consecutive postseason berths, including back-to-back NCAA Sweet 16’s in 2008 and 2009.

Berenato has won 454 games in her 30-year head coaching career that spans four years at Rider University, 15 at Georgia Tech, 10 at Pitt and one at Kennesaw State. Her teams have competed in the postseason 11 times.

On the court, Berenato has mentored five players to All-America recognition — from Georgia Tech: Joyce
Pierce, Kisha Ford and Sonja Mallory and from Pittsburgh: Shavonte Zellous and Marcedes Walker. Her
players achieved 21 all-conference honors at Pitt, and 16 more at Georgia Tech.

Berenato emphasizes the development of the total person, and her student-athletes have complimented athletic success with academic achievement. Every one of her student-athletes who have completed their eligibility have graduated.

She is recognized as an inspirational leader and motivator and a dynamic public speaker, while also giving back in the community. Additionally, Berenato actively serves as a mentor to several former student-athletes and assistant coaches, who continue to impact the game of women’s basketball.

A 1980 graduate of Mount St. Mary’s University in Emmitsburg, Md., Berenato earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology and was a three-year starter on the basketball team. Playing for former NBA star Fred Carter, she was a two-time captain for the Mountaineers. Following eight years of service on the college’s Board of Trustees, she is now a Trustee Emeritus.

Named an ACC Women’s Basketball Legend in 2014, Berenato was recognized on two occasions as a
Division I Coach of the Year by the Atlanta Tip-Off Club. She has been inducted into the South Jersey Hall of Fame, the Rider College Hall of Fame and the Mount St. Mary’s Athletic Hall of Fame.

In May of 2009, Berenato was awarded with an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Seton Hall
University and delivered the commencement speech to its spring graduates. She also holds an honorary
Doctorate of Humane Letters from her alma mater, Mount St. Mary’s.

The product of a basketball family, Berenato’s sister is Bernadette McGlade, a former Georgia Tech head coach and now the commissioner of the Atlantic 10 Conference.

Taj McWilliams-Franklin

Basketball

Served as envoy

  • 2014  –  China
  • 2017  –  Kazakhstan
  • 2023  –  Serbia

During her senior year of high school, Taj McWilliams-Franklin gave birth to a daughter, Michele. Sixteen months after the birth of Michele, McWilliams-Franklin welcomed a second daughter, Schera, into the world. As such, she now had to find a basketball family that would accept her expanding family.

St. Edward’s University, an NAIA school in Austin, Texas, the city where her mother lived, would serve as McWilliams-Franklin’s new college basketball home, offering her a partial scholarship that she supplemented with loans. To sustain her basketball career while surviving her academic and everyday obligations, McWilliams-Franklin gave Schera up for adoption. Despite these stresses, McWilliams-Franklin excelled on the court, attracting the attention of Division I programs. Yet, appreciative of the opportunity, McWilliams-Franklin stuck with St. Edward’s. She was named 1993 NAIA Player of the Year her senior season.

In need of money to finish school and support her family, McWilliams-Franklin headed overseas. She played in Wolfenbüttel, Germany (1993-94), Contern, Luxembourg (1994-95) and Galilee, Israel (1995-96), all with Michele in tow. Hooping in far-flung locales did not strain her love for the game, instead confirming that basketball was the career she wanted.

While McWilliams-Franklin combined her commitments — to the game and to her daughter — her unconventional arrangement did not earn widespread approval, including from Michele’s biological father. He sued for custody, successfully raising questions about McWilliams-Franklin’s “fitness as a mother.” The parental rights he won did not last long, however, with McWilliams-Franklin regaining custody from Michele’s father after his one-month fatherhood experiment failed.

Soon thereafter, it seemed McWilliams-Franklin’s perseverance would pay off. A professional women’s basketball league, the ABL, was established in the U.S. in 1996. After participating in a combine for prospective players, she was selected by the Richmond Rage in the inaugural ABL Draft with the 40th overall pick. In Richmond, McWilliams provided a powerful post presence, complimenting star point guard Dawn Staley and versatile forward Adrienne Goodson to form a talented threesome that led the Rage to the ABL championship series, where they fell to the Columbus Quest.

This successful season did not secure the Rage a permanent place in the Richmond sporting landscape. The team was relocated to Philadelphia, giving McWilliams-Franklin another new basketball home. After an underwhelming 1997-98 season, the Rage folded early in the 1998-99 season. McWilliams-Franklin, thus, traveled overseas, this time to Greece. McWilliams-Franklin took another shot at making a roster in the WNBA by attending the 1999 combine. Despite her documented success in the ABL, however, she remained available until the third round, when the Orlando Miracle, an expansion team, selected her with the 32nd pick. In a fitting match, one of women’s basketball’s ultimate underdogs would join an unquestionably underdog expansion team.

Led by McWilliams-Franklin, the Miracle overachieved during their debut season after opening their inaugural season with two-straight road losses. The Miracle finally scored a win with McWilliams-Franklin converting a game-winning bucket with 21.7 seconds remaining. McWilliams-Franklin was named an Eastern Conference All-Star reserve along with teammates Nykesha Sales and Shannon Johnson. The Miracle finished 15-17 for the 1999 season. In 2000, Orlando would establish itself as a legitimate playoff contender driven by an ever-determined McWilliams-Franklin.

As the fulcrum of the Orlando offense, she turned in one of the most productive offensive seasons of her career, averaging nearly 14 points per game on better than 52 percent shooting. Fans showed appreciation for McWilliams-Franklin’s play, voting her in as an All-Star starter — an honor that confirmed the underdog had become one of women’s basketball’s elites. The Miracle also would earn a playoff berth and meet the Cleveland Rockers in the first round. The lower-seeded Miracle stole Game 1, powered by a perfect McWilliams-Franklin, who made all seven of her field goal attempts. Yet, the road woes that had bedeviled Orlando all season stalled a deeper playoff run. The Miracle dropped Games 2 and 3 of the three-game Eastern Conference Semifinals.

For McWilliams-Franklin, overall on-court success was accompanied by off-court stability. While playing abroad in Italy during the WNBA offseason, McWilliams-Franklin met Reggie Franklin, an Army sergeant. In December 2000, they were married, and three years later, they gave birth to a third daughter, Maia. With Reggie willing to serve as the primary parent, McWilliams-Franklin appeared to have found the balance needed to fulfill her hooping dreams and familial desires.

All the more, the precariousness of women’s professional basketball presented her with additional difficulties. After the 2002 season, the Orlando Miracle would become the Connecticut Sun, making Uncasville, Connecticut, McWilliams’ new basketball home.

McWilliams-Franklin would spend four seasons as a Connecticut Sun, a time that would cement the underdog’s reputation as a winning player. In 2004, Connecticut advanced all the way to the WNBA Finals, where they fell 2-1 to the Seattle Storm. In 2005, the Sun were even better, with the fantastic foursome of McWilliams-Franklin, Sales, Lindsay Whalen and Katie Douglas pushing to a league-best 26-8 record.

McWilliams-Franklin also collected individual honors in 2005, securing her third All-Star selection and being named to the All-WNBA Second Team. However, the ultimate achievement — a championship — eluded McWilliams-Franklin and the Sun. They again came up short, losing the WNBA Finals 3-1 to the Sacramento Monarchs.

The 2006 season followed a similar script. At 26-8, the Sun again had the WNBA’s best record. McWilliams-Franklin again earned All-Star and All-WNBA Second Team honors. Yet, more disappointingly, Connecticut fell to the Detroit Shock in the Eastern Conference Finals.

So, for all the success that McWilliams-Franklin had attained, she still remained an underdog because her teams were unable to break through and earn a title. To continue her quest for a championship, she would have to journey elsewhere.

Ahead of the 2007 season, McWilliams-Franklin requested a trade to the Los Angeles Sparks, with the opportunity to live and play in L.A. best meeting the needs of her family at that time. Although she had turned in another All-Star season, another cross-country journey was in her future. The next offseason, she was traded to the Washington Mystics. Then, at the 2008 trade deadline, the Detroit Shock sought McWilliams-Franklin’s services for the playoff run.

In the Motor City, all this movement would pay off, with McWilliams-Franklin proving the perfect booster for the Shock. After adding McWilliams-Franklin, Detroit finished the season 12-3 and, most importantly, won the WNBA title.

The Shock envisioned serving McWilliams-Franklin as a role player, supporting stars Katie Smith and Deanna Nolan. Soon after her arrival in Detroit, she told the Ocala Star-Banner:

For the past couple years, I’ve been on young teams where I’ve been expected to be the leader for a lot of young players. It’s been a nice change to be on a team where I’m just one of the veterans — where I have so many great players surrounding me.

However, during Detroit’s playoff run, McWilliams-Franklin exceeded her role. Then almost 38 years old, McWilliams-Franklin proved she still possessed the clutch gene.

In Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals, McWilliams-Franklin added 19 points and eight rebounds, pushing the Shock past the Liberty and sending them back to the WNBA Finals. In Game 3 of the Finals, she spurred the Shock to their championship-clinching victory, going on a personal 4-0 scoring run with approximately four minutes remaining to give the Shock an insurmountable double-digit lead.

In 2007, McWilliams-Franklin reconnected with Schera, re-establishing a relationship with the then-Shawnee State University basketball player.

Seemingly, McWilliams-Franklin might have decided to retire after the 2008 season, completing her unexpected, underdog career with a championship. Yet, as she asserted soon after beginning her professional career abroad, McWilliams-Franklin was determined to play as long as possible.

As an indication of her obsession with the game, McWilliams-Franklin continued to play abroad throughout her WNBA career, suiting up in Italy, South Korea and Russia. After another WNBA season in Detroit and single season with the New York Liberty, Cheryl Reeve, who had been an assistant coach with the Shock, lured McWilliams-Franklin to the Minnesota Lynx.

Ahead of the 2011 WNBA season, a rather unremarkable Minnesota team added two very different yet equally important talents — a seemingly guaranteed superstar in the much-heralded rookie Maya Moore and the 40-year-old, over-achieving basketball lifer in McWilliams-Franklin. Combined with Seimone Augustus, Lindsay Whalen and Rebekkah Brunson, the Lynx coalesced into a championship contender.

In full ‘“Mama Taj” mode, McWilliams-Franklin provided sturdy, veteran leadership for an organization with a losing reputation. Her experienced play also proved pivotal. With McWilliams-Franklin manning the back line, the Lynx captured the 2011 WNBA title and appeared poised to add a second in 2012, until a GOAT and her pack of underdogs — the Tamika Catchings-led Indiana Fever — ruined the repeat.

Somewhat ironically, McWilliams-Franklin, the longtime underdog, decided to call it quits right after she was no longer the underdog, but a member of the top dog squad that suffered an upset. McWilliams-Franklin retired from the WNBA at age 41 after the 2012 season. She would play one more season abroad, joining Clube Amigos do Basquet in Spain in 2013-14. In total, her professional basketball career, which spanned over 30 years, was a testament to perseverance.

Sue Wicks

Basketball

Served as envoy

  • 2009  –  Philippines
  • 2010  –  Indonesia
  • 2011  –  Dominican Republic
  • 2013  –  Malaysia
  • 2016  –  Cambodia
  • 2017  –  Jordan

Sue Wicks was a first-round selection by the New York Liberty in the WNBA’s inaugural draft in 1997. Wicks went on to play six seasons with the Liberty, earning an All-Star selection in 2000. She also was the recipient of the Kim Perrot Sportsmanship Award in 2000. Wicks finished her WNBA career in eighth place all-time in blocked shots.

Wicks played collegiately at Rutgers University, where she was a three-time All-American and the 1988 National Player of the Year. She was inducted into Rutgers’ Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in June 2013.

Alex Shibutani

Ice Dancing

Served as envoy

  • 2017  –  South Korea
  • 2018  –  Japan
  • 2019  –  Japan

Maia and Alex Shibutani, known to audiences around the world as the “ShibSibs,” are the sister-brother ice dancing duo who captured two Olympic bronze medals at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea.

Their dedication and hard work, skating together for 14 years, paid off as they became the first U.S. team of siblings to earn an Olympic medal in ice dancing and the first in the world to do so since 1992. The Shibutanis also made history in South Korea as the first ice dancers of Asian descent to claim an Olympic medal.

Maia, born in NYC and Alex, born in Boston, MA, spent their early years growing up in Boston, MA and Old Greenwich, CT. Maia and Alex decided to take up ice dancing when she was 9 and he was 12 after their family traveled to Washington, D.C., to see the 2003 World Championships. They were so enthralled by the ice dancing competition that they became a team shortly afterward.

During their first year competing, they earned a silver medal at the U.S. Junior Championships (2005) at the Juvenile level. From 2006-2007, they lived and trained in Colorado Springs, and won unprecedented back-to-back National titles at the Intermediate (2006) and Novice levels (2007). As they advanced to the Junior level, they relocated to Michigan to train alongside the top ice dance teams in the world. They debuted internationally with a gold at their first Junior Grand Prix at the ages of 14 and 17. They won silver medal at the 2009 World Junior Championships, and the Junior ice dance title at the 2010 U.S. Championships.

Upon advancing to the senior level, Maia and Alex made a historic debut on the international circuit in 2010, becoming the first ice dance team ever to medal at both of their Grand Prix events during a rookie season. By earning a silver medal at the 2011 Four Continents Championship, they became the first ice dancers of Asian heritage to medal at a major ISU championship. During the 2011 World Championships, they became the first American ice dancers to medal at their Worlds debut. At just 16 and 19, they were the second youngest team in the history of the sport (and youngest since 1962) to medal at the World Championships. They secured a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team, competing at the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, competing as the second youngest team in the field and placing ninth.

Maia and Alex went on to win the national crown in both 2016 and 2017. Maia and Alex are the only ice dance team to medal at every level of national competition over consecutive years, standing on the podium at each of the 14 years that they have competed. A gold medal at the 2016 Four Continents Championships marked their first ISU Championship title. They returned to the World Championships medal podium, earning a silver medal in 2016 and the bronze in 2017. Their bronze-performance secured three spots for the United States at the 2018 Olympic Games.

Maia Shibutani

Ice Dancing

Served as envoy

  • 2017  –  South Korea
  • 2018  –  Japan
  • 2019  –  Japan

Maia and Alex Shibutani, known to audiences around the world as the “ShibSibs,” are the sister-brother ice dancing duo who captured two Olympic bronze medals at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea.

Their dedication and hard work, skating together for 14 years, paid off as they became the first U.S. team of siblings to earn an Olympic medal in ice dancing and the first in the world to do so since 1992. The Shibutanis also made history in South Korea as the first ice dancers of Asian descent to claim an Olympic medal.

Maia, born in NYC and Alex, born in Boston, MA, spent their early years growing up in Boston, MA and Old Greenwich, CT. Maia and Alex decided to take up ice dancing when she was 9 and he was 12 after their family traveled to Washington, D.C., to see the 2003 World Championships. They were so enthralled by the ice dancing competition that they became a team shortly afterward.

During their first year competing, they earned a silver medal at the U.S. Junior Championships (2005) at the Juvenile level. From 2006-2007, they lived and trained in Colorado Springs, and won unprecedented back-to-back National titles at the Intermediate (2006) and Novice levels (2007). As they advanced to the Junior level, they relocated to Michigan to train alongside the top ice dance teams in the world. They debuted internationally with a gold at their first Junior Grand Prix at the ages of 14 and 17. They won silver medal at the 2009 World Junior Championships, and the Junior ice dance title at the 2010 U.S. Championships.

Upon advancing to the senior level, Maia and Alex made a historic debut on the international circuit in 2010, becoming the first ice dance team ever to medal at both of their Grand Prix events during a rookie season. By earning a silver medal at the 2011 Four Continents Championship, they became the first ice dancers of Asian heritage to medal at a major ISU championship. During the 2011 World Championships, they became the first American ice dancers to medal at their Worlds debut. At just 16 and 19, they were the second youngest team in the history of the sport (and youngest since 1962) to medal at the World Championships. They secured a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team, competing at the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, competing as the second youngest team in the field and placing ninth.

Maia and Alex went on to win the national crown in both 2016 and 2017. Maia and Alex are the only ice dance team to medal at every level of national competition over consecutive years, standing on the podium at each of the 14 years that they have competed. A gold medal at the 2016 Four Continents Championships marked their first ISU Championship title. They returned to the World Championships medal podium, earning a silver medal in 2016 and the bronze in 2017. Their bronze-performance secured three spots for the United States at the 2018 Olympic Games.

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