November 14, 2017
Bryanna Winner
Many Olympians come to UCCS as students or honorary guest panelists, like gymnast Gabby Douglas, who visited the university in April.
Four Olympians will visit UCCS Nov. 14 for the Winning with Integrity Luncheon, hosted by the sport management program and the Daniels Fund Ethics Initiative. The luncheon will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the Roaring Fork Dining Hall.
At the luncheon, the athletes will discuss ethics in soccer and answer questions in a panel discussion designed to bring behind-the-scenes details of sports to attendees.
Landon Donovan, former player on U.S. men’s national soccer team; Becky Sauerbrunn of the U.S. women’s national soccer team; Padraig Smith, the interim general manager and sporting director for the Colorado Rapids; and Richard Motzkin, a sports agent for Wasserman Media Group, LLC will participate in the event.
Landon Donovan
Donovan is a former forward and attacking midfielder who played on the U.S. national team from 2000-2014.
During his career, Donovan played for German teams Bayer Leverkusen II (1999-2000), Bayer Leverkusen (2000-2005) and for the LA Galaxy (2005-2014). He’s also been on loan to a few teams, including the San Jose Earthquakes (2001-2004), German team Bayern Munich (2009) and English team Everton (2010, 2012).
By the end of his career, Donovan made 157 appearances and had 57 career goals as part of the national team. He also accumulated 398 league appearances and 156 goals during his career in the various clubs he was a part of.
Donovan is the all-time leader in assists. He is tied with Clint Dempsey as the all-time leader in scoring, and is the second-most capped player of his country.
Donovan is the only American player to reach the 50 goals/50 assists mark. He is a four-time recipient of the U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year award and seven-time winner of the Honda Player of the Year award.
Becky Sauerbrunn
Sauerbrunn is a center back for the U.S. national team and FC Kansas City.
Sauerbrunn has played for multiple Women’s Professional Soccer and National Women’s Soccer League teams. She played for Washington Freedom (2008-2010), magicJack (2011) and D.C. United Women (2012) before signing with FC Kansas City in 2013.
Since the start of her national team career in 2008, Sauerbrunn has made 133 appearances with no goals. Since the start of her club career, she has appeared in 160 games and scored five goals.
Sauerbrunn was named the NWSL Defender of the Year three times: in 2013, 2014 and 2015. She was nominated to be named U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year in 2015 and BBC Women’s Footballer of the Year in 2016.
As part of the U.S. national team, she won silver at the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Germany, gold at the 2012 London Olympics and gold at the 2015 FIFA World Cup in Canada.
Padraig Smith
Smith is the interim general manager and sporting director for the Colorado Rapids. His job consists of overseeing team operations, working in direct support of the vice president of soccer operations and technical director, Paul Bravo, and of interim head coach Steve Crooke. Along with Bravo, Smith represents the Rapids on the league’s technical committee.
Before becoming the sporting director for the Colorado Rapids, Smith had spent three years with the UEFA, the governing body for European soccer, as a key player in their Financial Analysis Group, and had previously worked as the Internal Compliance Officer for the Football Association of Ireland.
Richard Motzkin
Motzkin is an executive vice president of the Global Soccer Group and managing executive at Wasserman Media Group, LLC.
He has negotiated some of the most lucrative and high-profile contracts in MLS history and has represented the No. 1 pick in the MLS SuperDraft eight times. Motzkin’s clients include Donovan, Tim Howard, Bobby Convey and Freddy Adu.