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The United States Sports Academy is taking the next steps toward earning accreditation for its sports management degree programs from the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP), one of the world’s leading business school accreditors. In early 2019 the Academy became a candidate for accreditation from ACBSP, a leading organization offering accreditation services to business degree programs focused on teaching and learning. Becoming a candidate starts the accreditation process, and candidates must develop an action plan for meeting ACBSP’s standards and criteria. Last year the Academy hired a consultant to help guide the institution through the accreditation process. Recently, the Academy welcomed to campus ACBSP mentor Dr. Kathleen Cornett, who advised the institution on the accreditation process and reviewed data that had been collected by Academy faculty and staff [...]

A pair of American winter sports superstars were named the United States Sports Academy’s male and female Athletes of the Month for January. Figure skater Nathan Chen and alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin took home the Academy’s top honors after stellar performances in the month. The Academy’s reigning 2019 Male Athlete of the Year, Chen won his fourth consecutive U.S. Figure Skating Championship after totaling 330.17 points and landing six quadruple jumps between two programs in Greensboro, N.C., on 26 January 2020. Chen is the first man to win four consecutive U.S. titles since Brian Boitano in 1988. Shiffrin recorded four World Cup podium finishes – two gold medals and two bronze medals – in January, winning the super-G and downhill races in Bulgaria and taking third place in slalom and [...]

The United States Sports Academy is continuing its program to train physical education teachers and coaches in the Kingdom of Bahrain to meet the needs of athletes with adaptive needs. The Academy’s initial post-secondary, non-degree certificate program in disabled and adaptive sport in Bahrain graduated 223 students in the spring of 2019. Academy instructor Marty Floyd recently returned to the island nation in the Middle East to teach the program again this year for the Bahrain Sports Federation for Disabilities (BSFD). The Adaptive Sports program is a unique course of advanced study designed for coaches and physical education teachers who have or want to have experience working with athletes with varying degrees of adaptive needs. The program has a two-pronged approach that includes working with competitive athletes and developing inclusive programs [...]

Following an online voting period that garnered thousands of votes from all corners of the world, American figure skating superstar Nathan Chen and Estonian freestyle skiing sensation Kelly Sildaru were selected as the United States Sports Academy’s 2019 Male and Female Athletes of the Year. Chen became the first American man since 1984 to win back-to-back world championships. Chen also won his third consecutive ISU Grand Prix Final and captured championships at the Internationaux de France and Skate America. He also won his third consecutive U.S. title, smashing the record for the highest margin of victory at 58.21 points. Chen started 2020 with his fourth consecutive U.S. title. At age 16 Sildaru became the youngest freestyle skiing halfpipe world champion of all time when she won gold in the event [...]

Graig Kreindler, the painter of America’s national pastime and the United States Sports Academy’s 2018 Sport Artist of the Year - Painter, is contributing 230 original portraits to a celebration of the history of professional baseball’s Negro Leagues. Kreindler is a featured artist at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum Centennial Celebration in Kansas City, Missouri, in February. The celebration – which will kick off with a grand opening on 13 February 2020 – will recognize the rich history of baseball’s Negro Leagues, which provided a playing field for African American and Hispanic baseball players at a time when American society was segregated by race. Graig Kreindler The celebration and art show coincide with the 100th anniversary of the founding of the National Negro League by Andrew “Rube” Foster [...]