Penn is teeming with exceptional female athletes, from Team USA lacrosse star and 2025 Wharton graduate Anna Brandt to reigning Ivy League women’s basketball Rookie of the Year and Penn women’s basketball sophomore forward Katie Collins. However, long before female names reached the top of the Red and Blue’s record books, Penn women were fighting for something simpler: the chance to play. Out of their determination came the Penn Women’s Athletic Association, which laid the foundation for generations of trailblazing athletes.
Perseverance and determination are two themes that are most notable in Penn’s female athletic history. In 1918, female students at Penn formed a Girls’ Athletic Committee through which they could enter interclass meets. In 1920, another group of students organized a class for Penn women at a nearby YMCA, which allowed them to create teams in sports such as basketball, hockey, and tennis. One woman, Margaret Majer Kelly, led the way for new facilities for women’s athletics. She went on to become the first head coach of a women’s team at Penn. Finally, in 1921, bolstered by the female students’ dedication to accessible sports for women at Penn, the Undergraduate Assembly granted a coveted wish by establishing the WAA.
“It started as a way for women to participate in organized sports,” Penn swimming and diving senior freestyle/individual medley specialist and WAA co-President Anna Moehn said. “Now, it’s kind of transformed [from] a way for us to actually participate in sports [to] a way for us to be involved in the community and in each other’s lives outside of sports.”
Today, this association serves as a unifying body for all female athletes at Penn, as it is inclusive of every sport. Within its student-led organization, WAA comprises numerous committees, including marketing, finance, social, and internal. While every female athlete is considered a member, WAA offers leadership positions through these committees that build community while simultaneously fostering support for every team in Penn Athletics.
After climbing the ranks on WAA’s executive board from her sophomore year, senior diver and current co-President Sadie Howard spoke highly of the community and opportunities the association offers.
“Even if you are just an athlete, you’re a part of it, but if you want to get more involved, you can quickly have a higher, executive role,” Howard said, “It’s just like a way to meet new people and connect, because a lot of times, you’re really close with your teammates but not with other sports.”
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Inclusion is especially valued and expressed through assigning two ambassador roles to every team. This ensures that each female team at Penn is given support and granted the opportunity to be part of the larger Penn Athletics community, and their sense of community is shared with the rest of Penn’s campus and the broader Philadelphia area.
Through annual, traditional events such as lemonade sales and “Dodgeball and Donuts,” the WAA stays connected with groups larger than themselves. These student-athletes also devote themselves to civic engagement by choosing charities to fundraise for and partnering with nonprofit organizations like Young Quakers.
“It brings the entire athletic community together at Penn and for a great cause,” Moehn said.
Today, Penn female athletes undoubtedly uphold a reputation for hard work and tenacity, and they reflect the spirit of evolving times.
Between 2022 and 2024, revenue from women’s sports in the United States grew 4.5 times faster than that of men’s sports, according to McKinsey & Company. In addition, WNBA, NCAA women’s basketball, and NWSL televised games reached approximately 370 million viewer hours in 2024, up 430% from three years prior, according to the same data analysis from McKinsey.
As women in sports worldwide continue to level the playing field with their male counterparts, the WAA rides this momentum with pride.
“I’m supportive of everything that everyone has done to show that increase in equality within sports,” senior gymnast Alisha Werlen, former president and current director of WAA, said. “We have grown so much in terms of being a name on campus, and Penn Athletics is giving us so much support.”
