CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WCIA) — In February, WCIA 3 Sports reporter Courtney Layne Brewer sat down with four of the women who make Illini sports run smoothly and keep Illini athletes at their peak. You can watch all four pieces below and hear the stories of these powerful women in sports.

As chief sports officer and senior woman administrator, Sara Burton has a direct hand in the well-being of female athletes on campus and in managing women’s sports.

“I don’t take any of those moments for granted, and I’m grateful to see it happening,” said Burton. We want to continue to celebrate women and girls in sport. We want to continue to role model for women and girls, not just in Champaign-Urbana, but across this country and across the world.”

Aja Sims-Fletcher joined Illini gymnastics this year after coaching only the second HBCU gymnastics team in the country and has become an invaluable part of the program.

“Every time I see these girls nail a tumbling pass or stick a vault or just have the most amazing beam routine, it makes me just be like, wow, I did that one day too, and I really helped them progress to this level,” said Sims-Fletcher.

Autumn Taylor joined the staff at Illinois in the fall of 2019 as the head trainer for women’s basketball and women’s golf, her first opportunity to work exclusively with female athletes.

“There’s so many nuances that come to being a female and also having been a female who played in sports,” said Taylor. “I just want to be able to continue to give back, just want to be able to specialize in women’s sports and helping them reach their ultimate goal.”

Royal native Bobbi Busboom and lifelong Illini oversees donor relations and premium seating plans as the Associate Director of Athletic Development.

“Once you kind of dive in to things like that, you just do it,” said Busboom. “You don’t even think about it.”