![Assistant Athletic Director of Academic Retention & Services Jill Gerloff delivers the opening speech at her final NGWSD dinner before her retirement. “I love all of my athletes and my women's teams always show up for me, and I want to make sure that I can do something to show up for them,” Gerloff said. [File photo]](https://therambler.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/OpeningSpeaker_Gerloff-1200x800.jpg)
The Athletic Department invited all women’s sports teams to dinner in the Martin University Center ballroom for National Girls and Women in Sports Day (NGWSD).
The nationally recognized event was founded after the premature death of Flo Hyman at 31. Hyman was a world class outside hitter who propelled the women’s US volleyball team to their first Olympic medal in 1984. Using her platform to advocate for civil rights and gender equity in the mid 1980s, she testified on Capitol Hill for the enforcement of Title IX, a legislation that prohibits sex discrimination in federally funded programs, including sports. She then helped lobby for the Civil Rights Restoration Act in 1987, which requires institutions who receive federal funding to comply with all civil rights laws across the institution, not just a singular program.
National Girls and Women’s Day was initially founded in remembrance of Hyman and her advocacy efforts but soon evolved into a federally recognized annual event that celebrates the achievements of female athletes, coaches and leaders nationwide while advocating for gender equality in sports. Texas Wesleyan became one of the hundreds of universities that celebrates NGWSD thanks to Assistant Athletic Director for Academic Retention Dr. Jill Gerloff, who founded the tradition on campus in 2024.
“They just need to be reminded every year that they are important,” Gerloff said. “Especially in a time where we are trying to shy away from [recognizing] particular groups, it’s important to still remember that as athletes they’re important; but also [recognize] that as women, they bring something special to the table.”
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Assistant Athletic Director of Academic Retention & Services Jill Gerloff delivers the opening speech at her final NGWSD dinner before her retirement. “I love all of my athletes and my women’s teams always show up for me, and I want to make sure that I can do something to show up for them,” Gerloff said. [File photo]
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Six Texas Wesleyan alumna panelists share their experiences before and after their college career to current student athlete attendees. One panelist, Jordan Brimberry, was a former Gold Line Dancer and currently part of the Texas Rangers Six Shooters, the official dance team of the Texas Rangers.
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“It’s really important to be able to put women in these spaces,” panelist and alumna Jordan Brimberry said. “Allow them to give their perspective to girls who are going to eventually be in the same positions that we’re in, and let these girls feel, ‘I can do anything that I put my mind to.’”
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Lady Rams student athletes are served a dinner of salad, pasta, vegetables and breadsticks.
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Gerloff offers her takeaway from the night, and a piece of advice of her own saying, “I believe in authenticity. I bring my own fresh, weird self to work every day. A couple of people mentioned it tonight— if you just bring your weird authentic self, your people will find you. I have made connections on this campus. I’ve gotten respect from students, from faculty, from staff from whoever, just by being me.”
While women’s sports has reached new heights, NGWSD remains an important event to recognize progress and to strive for more, according to the Women’s Sports Foundation. The foundation states that even today, girls in high school still miss out on more than a million sport opportunities than boys. NGWSD reminds institutions and grassroots organizations across the nation of this lack of access they are striving to fill.
“I feel like our male sports get lots of attention,” Gerloff said. “Women’s sports get attention during the Olympic Times, which is great. But I think that while women are in college, they need to be recognized [and] supported because you don’t always have the opportunity to be recognized in the professional world.”
![[Graphic courtesy Christine Duke, Student Diversity and Inclusion Program Intern]](https://therambler.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Womens-History-Month-Bingo-Graphic-Bertie-1200x675.jpg)
