AUBURN, Ala. – In her 22nd season coaching Auburn soccer, Karen Hoppa has seen the impact athletics makes.
"The great thing about sports for women is so much more than wins and losses," Hoppa said. "What sports do for women above and beyond that is really incredible. I think sports lays a foundation of confidence, physical fitness, health and well-being that can last these women a lifetime."
Wednesday marks the 34th annual National Girls & Women in Sports Day, a celebration that hopes to inspire girls and women to play and be active, a campaign Auburn's coaches enthusiastically support.
"When young women are confident and they believe in their skillset and they're equipped with an adequate skillset to have big dreams and chase those big dreams, that's when you see women start to make big strides, whether it be in business or medicine, whatever it may be," women's tennis coach Caroline Lilley said.
"I think that's the biggest thing for me is how can I equip my athletes, how can I give them the tools and the skills to believe that they're fully capable of competing on the largest stages in athletics, but also having success in whatever they want to have success in.
"When they have success on the tennis court, they then can translate that into success in life. When you're going to become a great coach or mentor to young women or young athletes, you have to have a holistic approach. It's not just about developing athletes, it's about developing people.
The challenges and adversity they face as an athlete equips them and gives them that confidence to translate that into different things."
Lilley points to junior Madeline Meredith, an aspiring pilot, as an example of the empowering potential of athletics.
"That's a male-dominated industry and she is an exception to the rule," Lilley said. "Her experience playing for Auburn women's tennis will equip her to thrive in that type of environment, and to make inroads for other females," said Lilley, whose staff includes women in leadership roles as assistant coaches, athletic trainers and strength and conditioning coaches.
"It's females' jobs to empower females," Lilley said. "As a female coach, that's always been something that I'm very aware of."
Auburn's coaches use their positions to develop their student-athletes in and out of competition.
"I really have a huge role to not just be their coach, but coach them through life, not just basketball but coach them through life," said women's basketball coach Terri Williams-Flournoy. "Why not teach them something great along the way? Here at Auburn we started teaching on how to be excellent. Be an excellent person. Do something for someone else, it's not about you."
Auburn will celebrate National Girls & Women in Sports Day Friday at Auburn Arena before the gymnastics meet vs. Kentucky at 6 p.m. CT. Student-athletes from all of Auburn's women's sports, except softball which is traveling, will sign autographs and meet fans beginning at 5 p.m.
"Being in the athletics arena, there's a grittiness, there's a toughness, there's a 'Hey, I want to earn the respect that's given to me every single day. I go out there and I work,'" Lilley said. "That type of mentality and that type of mindset is a little bit different."
"You can absolutely do anything." - @alsnmail1
— Auburn Tigers (@AuburnTigers) February 5, 2020
Today celebrate those who paved the way, those who are changing the game and those who are the future.
Happy National Girls and Women in Sports Day. #WarEagle x #NGWSD pic.twitter.com/PQbdtUbUIA
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeff_shearer