Why I Invested in Women's Sports and Why Every Founder Should Be Paying Attention
Beyond the Banner: How Uncommon Women Change the Game
UCLA women's basketball head coach Cori Close won her first NCAA national championship on April 5, 2026, by defeating the South Carolina Gamecocks 79–51.
Cori Close’s recent win hit me differently.
Inside the arena, following the NCAA Women's Basketball Championship, the confetti hadn’t even settled yet. The lights were bouncing off a sea of blue and gold; and soon a new banner would hang, marking UCLA Bruins women's basketball as national champions for the second time in program history.
While this moment was decades in the making, there was head coach, Cori Close. Not rushing the stage, not grabbing the spotlight; but simply, taking in the moment.
As the co-founder and co-owner of a professional women’s volleyball team, LOVB San Francisco, I wasn’t just in awe of the banner. I was struck by what she chose to say about it.
“Banners hang in gyms and rings collect dust, but who you become and who you impact, you get to keep forever.”
In my world, as a CEO, mom of daughters, softball coach for elementary kids, owner of the Dance Barre HTX, a ballroom dance studio in Houston, I’m always thinking about what actually lasts and what we’re building when no one’s clapping, yet. I try to teach my kids, my softball team, and our dancers what it looks like to choose something bigger to focus on in life than the obvious win.
And then she said something else I can’t stop thinking about. She said:
"I wanted to find uncommon, courageous women that were willing to make uncommon choices that maybe possibly could yield an uncommon result, and today it did."
That part stayed with me because uncommon choices don’t always feel powerful or popular in the moment. They feel uncomfortable, uncertain, and sometimes even invisible. Uncommon choices can look like going first, trying something without a clear roadmap, and trusting your gut when it would be easier to follow someone else’s path.
I see all of that up close as I build LOVB SF with my co-founder and co-owner Jes Wolfe, and the extraordinary athletes we’ve brought around the table. From World Cup champion and Olympic gold medalist Abby Wambach, #1 New York Times bestselling author Glennon Doyle, World Cup hero and Olympic gold medalist Brandi Chastain, 12-time Olympic medalist Natalie Coughlin, and 3x Olympic volleyball medalist Kelsey Robinson Cook, and many more, we’re building something that’s meant to last and a culture rooted in impact, opportunity, and in changing what’s possible for women in sports, and beyond.
Watching Close capture this win the way she did: with deep gratitude, emotion, and hugs, reminded me why the work we’re doing on the volleyball court; and, the work I do on a daily basis to empower young girls and women, matters.
From my vantage point, UCLA’s NCAA win isn’t just about what Close achieved in practice or in the national spotlight. As someone who has met her and been in her world, I can tell you it’s about who she chose to become in the process, and who she brought along with her.
That’s the kind of legacy I want to be part of, one that changes people, one that changes the way the world sees women in sports, and the way women see each other and themselves.
Because in the end, she’s right. Who we become and the impact we make is all we get to keep.
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