Samantha Judge’s Kinesiology Background Within Her Athletic Profile
Throwing mechanics were the subject of Samantha Judge’s graduate research at California State University, Fresno. Her master’s project examined the potential relationship between elbow angle during throwing and UCL injury susceptibility in Major League Baseball players. Fresno State recognized the work as the Outstanding Master’s Degree Project in Kinesiology in 2017, placing an academic achievement within a background that also includes endurance running.
Samantha Judge’s kinesiology studies involved human movement, with graduate interests encompassing biomechanics, athletic performance, and injury prevention. Baseball offered a specific setting for examining those interests through the physical demands of throwing. Her own athletic participation has taken a different form: multiple marathon finishes, repeated appearances at the TCS New York City Marathon, and a guide role at the 2026 Boston Marathon.
Now based in New York, Samantha Judge also serves on KultureCity’s Board of Directors. Her marathon efforts have included awareness and fundraising for the nonprofit’s sensory inclusion mission. Research, running, and nonprofit service bring her into contact with different aspects of sport: understanding movement, undertaking an endurance event, and supporting participation by others. Her involvement extends from the athlete’s physical activity to the environments in which people attend sporting events.
Samantha Judge’s Graduate Work at Fresno State
\A California native, Samantha Judge attended Linden High School before continuing her education at California State University, Fresno. Her studies in kinesiology developed into graduate work with a particular interest in how the body moves under athletic stress. Throwing in professional baseball became the focus of her master’s project, connecting the study of movement with a question about injury susceptibility.
The project was titled “Posterior Elbow Angle During the Movement Phase of Throwing in Relation to the Susceptibility of UCL Injury in Major League Baseball Players.” It brought together a specific movement feature, a phase of throwing, and an injury-related question. Within professional baseball, the potential relationship between throwing mechanics and UCL injury susceptibility provided the subject for that inquiry.
Samantha Judge’s graduate research in kinesiology concerned athletic movement in a defined competitive setting. Elbow angle was the feature under examination, with attention to its relationship to injury susceptibility during throwing. The project connected biomechanics with injury prevention as areas of academic interest, examining the body in the context of the activity an athlete performs.
In 2017, Fresno State recognized the project as the Outstanding Master’s Degree Project in Kinesiology. The recognition marked an academic achievement associated with her graduate work. Her connection to sport therefore includes university research into movement as well as the personal experience of participating in endurance events.
Endurance Running as Personal Participation
Samantha Judge’s marathon experience includes multiple finishes and repeated appearances at the TCS New York City Marathon. In the 2023 event, she completed the 26.2-mile distance in 3:31:44 while representing KultureCity. That race brought her own athletic participation together with support for an organization whose work addresses sensory accessibility and inclusion.
Her graduate project and marathon running involve different physical activities and different forms of engagement. The research concerned professional baseball players and throwing mechanics; running places her on the course as a participant in an endurance event. Studying movement and undertaking a race each involves attention to the body, while the settings and purposes of those activities remain distinct.
Sam Judge’s marathon efforts have included raising awareness and funds for KultureCity. The nonprofit works toward acceptance and inclusion for people with sensory needs and invisible disabilities, including access to public experiences that some individuals and families may find overwhelming. Her representation of KultureCity at the New York race connects a personal athletic effort with that wider organizational mission.
At the 2026 Boston Marathon, Samantha Judge’s participation as a guide involved accompanying Adrienne Bunn, an endurance athlete with autism. In this role, she used her athletic capability in support of another competitor. Bunn took part as an athlete in her own right, with Judge serving alongside her as a guide during the event.
Athletics Within a Wider Inclusion Role
KultureCity’s work encompasses sporting events, concerts, entertainment venues, and other public experiences. Board service connects Samantha Judge with the organization beyond individual marathon appearances. Its mission concerns people’s ability to participate in shared occasions, including those who may find the surrounding lights, noise, crowds, and stimulation difficult to manage.
Her involvement includes helping establish and endow a permanent sensory room at Madison Square Garden with Aaron Judge, KultureCity, and the venue. Opened in 2024, the space provides a calming environment for guests with sensory processing needs and invisible disabilities. Its purpose includes helping children, adults, and families experience games and concerts together when they may previously have felt unable to attend.
A sporting event brings together physical activity and the experience of being present with others. Her kinesiology research concerns athletic movement; her running involves personal participation and service as a guide; the sensory room addresses the surroundings that guests encounter. Across these settings, her connection with sport reaches from a focused academic inquiry into throwing to the practical circumstances of participating in a race or attending an event.
About Samantha Judge
Samantha Judge’s community activities beyond athletics include charitable initiatives with her husband through the ALL RISE Foundation, supporting children, education, character development, health and well-being, and leadership. Her background spans California and New York, from kinesiology studies at California State University, Fresno, to her current New York base. She is a marathon runner and serves on KultureCity’s Board of Directors, with involvement in sensory inclusion through nonprofit service, running, and the shared Madison Square Garden sensory room project.
