06 Jun Celebrating 30 Years! The Wendy Hilliard Gymnastics Foundation Host 10th Annual Benefit On June 10, 2026
Celebrating the Sport’s Next Champion
This year’s event will honor Li Li Leung, Geoffrey Canada, Herbert Berger, and Asta & Ida Lowe for their contributions to the foundation, sports, and the gymnastics community. Serving as honorary chairs are Olympic gymnast Jordan Chiles and tennis legend Billie Jean King.
The Wendy Hilliard Gymnastics Foundation (WHGF) will host its 10th annual benefit, honoring significant contributors to the Foundation and its mission to empower the lives of young people from underserved communities by improving physical and emotional health through the sport of gymnastics. The event will take place on Wednesday, June 10, 2026, at 6:30 p.m. at the New York Athletic Club in New York City.
“We are grateful to celebrate our 30th anniversary of the Foundation and all of our supporters throughout the past three decades to make our organization’s impact a reality,” said Wendy Hilliard, Founder and CEO of WHGF. “When we started, I simply wanted a venue that provided opportunity for young athletes. What resulted is an organization that is supported by community leaders, legendary athletes and has brought hard working gymnasts to places around the world. This year’s honorees have helped pave the way for the sport, our foundation and the Harlem community, including our athletes who grew up training here and are now giving back as coaches. We look forward to the Foundation’s future and the next 30 years.”
Hilliard was the first Black rhythmic gymnast to represent the U.S. internationally and was inducted into the USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 2008. As a result of her experiences, she founded WHGF in 1996 before expanding to her hometown of Detroit in 2016, to make gymnastics accessible to urban youth. The Foundation serves urban youth between the ages of 3 to 17. At WHGF, young gymnasts learn about time management, responsibility, teamwork, leadership, and sustainable health habits. To date, WHGF has served over 30,000 youth.
The annual benefit will raise funds to continue providing high-quality gymnastics to urban youth through scholarships, meet the demand for the foundation’s low-cost classes and free events, and raise awareness of the opportunity to learn and train in the sport.
Hilliard told Inside Gymnastics last week that looking back over the 30 years happens almost intermittently because of the volume of daily work within the foundation. It’s a labor of love for her, and, alongside her incredible team, feels very blessed to have made a positive and lasting impact on so many.
“It just makes you think because in the work we do, we just do it every day. We’re not really looking at things like that daily. What it allows us to do is to take a second to look back. Gymnastics has evolved; women’s sports has evolved. I mean, when you stop and look at it from 30 years ago, there’s so much that was different,” she said.
Li Li Leung, who served as the President and CEO of USA Gymnastics from 2019 until December of 2025, and is one of this year’s honorees, is being recognized with the “Leadership Award” because of her role in helping USA Gymnastics navigate and evolve through an extremely difficult time in the organization’s history. Her focus on all of the sports’ disciplines including women’s and men’s artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, trampoline and tumbling, and acro, is also something Hilliard took to heart.
“Li Li, it’s so interesting because I think everyone in gymnastics appreciates what she did for our sport,” Hilliard noted. “For us as an organization, we do girl’s gymnastics, but we also have a really strong T&T team, and a strong rhythmic program. Where we really appreciate Li Li, from our standpoint, besides the overall safety of the sport, is that she really embraced all of the disciplines.”
The sustainable impact that foundation has had over the last 30 years is evident to Hilliard every day when she walks in the gym. “The biggest thing is that so many of our kids that grew up here as gymnasts are teaching for us now,” she said. “It’s magical because I know how they were trained, so I know how they’re training other kids. They’re so fun. They could have been really difficult as younger gymnasts when they trained here, but now when they coach, they’re just as tough as they want to be.”
Serving as honorary chairs for this year’s benefit are two-time Olympic gymnast, Jordan Chiles, and tennis legend Billie Jean King.
“Both of these incredible athletes have elevated women’s sports on an international level and have been longtime supporters of the foundation,” Hilliard said. “We’re thankful that even from afar on June 10, they stand by what we do, our athletes and our mission.”
Working with Chiles, who chose the foundation as her charity when she played Celebrity Family Feud in 2025, has been a joy for Hilliard. “Jordan represents someone who just gets it. We’ve interviewed her for our Black Gymnasts in History series. She’s always helped us out. She sent in a video to welcome everybody to the event because she can’t be there in person, and hopefully, we’re doing an event with her this summer.”
Because of the support of so many, including Chiles, Hilliard has seen, full circle, just how much those who have given to the foundation have made an impact on the kids, and, in turn, how much those kids have inspired the entire gymnastics community to support her work. “Giving back is a really important part of development as well. I’ve learned that from our top athletes, Simone (Biles), Gabby (Douglas), Jordan (Chiles), Laurie (Hernandez), Fred (Richard) is really working to give back to the athletes, Kyrstin Johnson is coming to our event—they’re all doing such a great job.”
Hilliard remains grateful to the gymnastics community for their unwavering support, and to all those who embrace the mission of her programs. Because of it, she’s been able to expand and offer opportunities to the young gymnasts the foundation serves on multiple levels. She’s also driven by her own experiences and opportunities, and is ultra-dedicated to extending that to the next generation, together with her team of coaches and staff.
“We’re like a family, which is really great that the kids stay with us,” she said. “What’s very gratifying is that we really have this thread where people can use their gymnastics skills; they can take it other places, but if they become gymnasts, they have the opportunity to give back.”
To follow the foundation’s updates, visit Instagram @WendyHilliardFoundation, Facebook @WendyHilliardFoundation, X/Twitter @WendyHilliardFD, and YouTube @GymnasticsFoundation.
More on the 2026 WHGF Honorees:
- Geoffrey Canada will be honored with the “Simone Biles Give-Back Award.” Canada is a thought leader and passionate advocate for education reform across the country. In 2011, he was named one of the world’s most influential people by TIME and as one of the 50 greatest leaders by Fortune in 2014. He created the Harlem Children’s Zone, a cradle to career network of programs that today serves close to 20,000 under resourced students and families in Central Harlem. He continues to serve as president and has since founded The William Julius Wilson Institute at Harlem Children’s Zone (WJWI), which serves as a national, outbound platform that helps communities impacted by poverty across the country design and implement their own place-based, cradle- to- career programs.
- Li Li Leung will be honored with the “Leadership Award.” Leung served as the President and CEO of USA Gymnastics from 2019 until 2025, where she emerged as a prominent leader within the Olympic and international gymnastics communities. As a former competitive gymnast herself, she focused on reshaping USAG’s organizational culture and instituting new norms and standards at all levels of the sport. In addition to the considerable contributions Leung made to the Gymnastic industry, she also served as the Vice President at the National Basketball Association (NBA) and worked as a managing director at the global sports management firm Helios Partners.
- Herbert Berger will be honored with the “Spirit of Sport Award.” Berger is a dedicated WHGF Board Member. He began his career in Acuscope therapy in 1979, quickly becoming one of the first certified Acuscope therapists. He has extensive experience working in dance medicine, professional and collegiate sports and served on the US Olympic Medical Staff team in 1984. Berger continues to provide expert acupuncture, microcurrent therapy, and manual therapy to support athletes and performers.
- Asta & Ida Lowe will be honored at the ceremony for their 13 years as athletes, mentors, and coaches of the WHGF. The Foundation allowed these sisters to kickstart their journey through training and competing across artistic gymnastics, rhythmic gymnastics, and TNT (tumbling and trampoline). Asta and Ida transitioned from students to leaders, helping to give back to the community that gave them so much. They proudly coach guiding athletes to become better athletes and to realize the power of community, family sacrifice, and a foundation that truly changes lives.
The benefit will raise funds to continue to provide high-quality gymnastics to urban youth through scholarships, increase the number of gymnastics classes to serve the demand of the foundation’s low-cost classes and raise awareness and access to college scholarships. This year, the prestigious Simone Biles Give-Back Award will return for its second year. As a long-time supporter of WHGF, the night’s top award represents the excellence, determination and commitment of the sport’s most decorated athlete.
Past honorees have included Abie Grossfeld, Andrea Joyce, Anne Williams Isom, Audrey Smaltz, Bart Conner, Bill Hladik, Billie Jean King, Bruno Klaus, Christina Minardi, Christopher Harrison, Corrinne Wright Tarver, Dan Doctoroff, David O’Brien, Dimitrius Hutcherson, Donna de Varona, Emeka Okafor, Gail Marquis, Geoffrey Canada, George Ntim, Harlem Community Development Corporation, Harry Smith, Jay Kriegel, Jené Elize, Joanne Sotres, John B. Rhea, Michael Tiedemann, Nadia Comaneci, Reggie Van Lee, Rose Voisk, Simon M. Lorne and others.
FOR MORE, A LOOK BACK TO FEBRUARY 2026
The Wendy Hilliard Gymnastics Foundation (WHGF) is kicking off its busy calendar of festivities celebrating 30 years of free and low-cost gymnastics with the return of its Harlem Gymnastics Invitational (HGI). The 11th annual competition will feature various levels of gymnasts competing in Rhythmic Gymnastics, Trampoline & Tumbling and Girls’ Artistic Gymnastics, creating a live spectacle of sport. The competition will be held Friday, February 20 to Sunday, February 22, 2026 from 9 AM to 6 PM each day at the 50,000 square foot historic Harlem Armory, located 40 West 143rd Street, New York, NY.
“2026 marks three decades of offering low-cost and free gymnastics here in Harlem, and we could not be more excited to kick off the anniversary with our annual invitational, bringing the sport live to Harlem,” said Wendy Hilliard, Founder and CEO of the Wendy Hilliard Gymnastics Foundation. “It’s not every day that you get to see high flying skills, powerful tumbling or a ribbon and hoop in action. It’s also not every day that athletes across all economic backgrounds can compete at the same meet. The foundation has come such a long way, and has had more than 25,000 athletes through our doors. With the funds raised at this year’s invitational, we’ll be able to provide opportunity to athletes to come.”
Wendy has been a great friend of Inside Gymnastics throughout the years, and she continues to inspire us with her dreams and her drive to bring gymnastics and life skills to young athletes all around the country. It’s a true honor to continue to share her story.
Checking in with Wendy this week, she told us of the 30-year milestone: “30 years ago, I set out to create a space that empowers athletes who might not have otherwise had the opportunity to train in gymnastics. Over three decades, it’s become evident that we’re NOT teaching just physical skills. We’re teaching lessons on and off the mat, including time management, discipline and teamwork, which athletes can carry with them and apply throughout their lives – no matter their profession or path. Starting a local foundation from the ground up wasn’t the easiest, but I was determined to give back through the sport that I loved. I am grateful for the support of partners, donors, Olympic athletes and others, who have helped us keep our doors open, expand into Detroit as well, and serve nearly 30,000 young athletes in Harlem and Detroit. Here’s to the next 30 years and beyond.”
The kids are the why of every initiative.
“This community across the board has been so supportive of what we do, and it really affects the kids’ lives,” she told us last spring. “The stories we have from the different kids that we have, it’s a big range. In gymnastics, as you understand, the parental part is big. That’s why we’re in the community, right? We have to support families as well, oftentimes. The cool thing about our gym is that the reason we all wear the same leotard is because once you’re there, everybody’s the same. It’s that level of care that you have for the kids. Once everybody’s in the gym, everybody’s the same. And that’s really special.”
In 2025, more than 800 gymnasts aged 7 to 18 representing Metro NYC, New Jersey, Connecticut, Georgia, Maine, California, Ohio, North and South Carolina, Maryland, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Canada competed in Harlem. Among the competitors this year will be dozens of WHGF students, including gymnasts from WHGF Detroit, which is celebrating its 10th year in 2026.
Click here for more information on the 2026 Harlem Gymnastics Invitational, email hgi@wendyhilliardfoundation.org
From 2025
Photos courtesy of the Wendy Hilliard Gymnastics Foundation and Jane Feldman
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