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Because of his colorful, contemporary style and dedication to personalizing paintings for athletes and inspirational entertainers, artist James Peterson has been named the United States Sports Academy’s Sport Artist of the Year in the Painter category. Peterson will be introduced to the public at the institution’s Awards of Sport program on its Daphne, Ala., campus on Thursday, November 10, 2022. Peterson is a contemporary portrait artist originally from Milwaukee, Wisc. His original 60×48 portrait of NBA Hall of Fame player Alex English is autographed by both the athlete and the artist. Peterson paints larger-than-life portraits of inspirational athletes and entertainers. As part of that series, Peterson created two unique portraits of each subject, gifting on to the athlete and keeping the other signed original, or in this case, donating it. [...]

American golfer Justin Thomas and Polish tennis star Iga Swiatek impressed on the biggest stages in their sports in May and were named the United States Sports Academy’s Athletes of the Month. Thomas won his second PGA Championship with a playoff win against Will Zalatoris on 22 May 2022 in Tulsa, Okla. Thomas shot a 5-under par 275 to win his second major tournament. Swiatek won her 28th consecutive match and captured the women’s Italian Open title with a 6-2, 6-2 win against Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur on 15 May 2022. Swiatek has now won all four Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) 1000 tournaments she has played in this season and won her last five WTA tournaments overall. The second place finisher on the men’s side was Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic [...]

Because of his dedication to depicting some of sport and history’s greatest figures, sculptor J. Brett Grill has been selected as the United States Sports Academy’s Sport Artist of the Year, Sculptor. Grill will be introduced to the public during the Academy’s Awards of Sport program on its Daphne, Ala., campus on Thursday, November 10, 2022. Since 1984, the Academy’s Sport Artist of the Year Award has been given to an individual who captures the spirit and life of sport so that future generations can relive the drama of today’s competition. The recipient may use a variety of art media including film, video or sculpture to depict the breadth and scope of both the agony and the ecstasy of sport. Grill, of Grand Rapids, Mich., was recently selected as the [...]

DAPHNE, Ala. – Athletes representing seven different sports make up the United States Sports Academy’s May Athlete of the Month ballot, which is online now for voting at the Academy’s website, www.ussa.edu.  Voting will continue until 5 p.m. Central time on Thursday, 9 June 2022. Male nominees are Ryan Crouser, athletics, United States; Novak Djokovic, tennis, Serbia; Michael Norman, athletics, United States; Garrett Scantling, decathlon, United States;  Justin Thomas, golf, United States; and Jun Woong-tae, triathlon, South Korea. Female nominees are Femke Bol, athletics, Netherlands; Anna Hall, heptathlon, United States; Sarah Hildebrandt, wrestling, United States; Eun-Hee Ji, golf, South Korea; Faith Kipyegon, athletics, Kenya; and Iga Swiatek, tennis, Poland. Each month, the public is invited to participate in the Academy’s worldwide Athlete of the Month program by nominating athletes and [...]

Vicki Mengel, a softball coach in Maryland, is quickly rising through the ranks in collegiate coaching. In five short years, Mengel has moved up from coaching at Havre de Grace High School to last year helping form and be the head softball coach for Cecil College. Now, Mengel earned her first Division 1 assignment as a volunteer assistant softball coach at Delaware State University. With one foot in the door, Mengel hopes that after she completes her Bachelor of Sports Science degree in sports coaching from the United States Sports Academy, she will be able to secure a Division 1 head coach position. Vicki Mengel and one of her players from Havre de Grace High School. "The instruction from the Academy is excellent and my instructors are beyond [...]

Paul Juda and Trinity Thomas won the men’s and women’s all-around titles at the NCAA Gymnastics Championships and were crowned the United States Sports Academy’s Athletes of the Month for April for their impressive feats. Juda, competing for the University of Michigan, won the men’s all-around title and tied Sam Mikulak’s modern-era school record of six All-America honors at the NCAA Gymnastics Championships in Oklahoma on 16 April 2022. In addition to the all-around title, Juda also scored 15.000 and won the vault title. Thomas, a University of Florida senior, held off Olympic all-around champion Sunisa Lee to win the women’s NCAA all-around title on 17 April 2022 in Fort Worth, Texas. Thomas also won the uneven bars and floor exercise events. The second place finisher on the men’s side [...]