The Metro Women’s Athletic Association (MWAA) has been recognized as one of the most competitive all-girls conferences in the nation since its creation more than 30 years ago.
Last season, four teams from MWAA won Missouri state titles and 15 teams placed inside the top four in their respective sports.
But despite many on-field successes, there was a sense that the league no longer felt like a unified conference, but rather, a collection of athletic programs traveling separate paths.
“We’ve kind of been stagnant, so we decided that we wanted something better for our female athletes,” Ursuline athletic director Jen Brooks said. “It was time to become a partnership where we all work together, as opposed to sitting in our own silos or working against each other.”
On July 1, Brooks will begin her tenure as the first president of the Girls Independent Schools League (GISL), a new athletic conference with an innovative vision and mission that will replace the long-standing MWAA conference.
GISL, which Brooks affectionately pronounces “Gissle,” will consist of nine St. Louis area schools – seven that were previously members of MWAA: Cor Jesu, Incarnate Word, Nerinx Hall, St. Joseph’s, Ursuline, Villa Duchesne and Visitation, and two new members – Notre Dame (STL) and St. Dominic (girls only).
Former MWAA members Barat and Whitfield will not join GISL.
Barat ceased operations as a school in June, and Whitfield will be unaffiliated with a conference during the 2023-24 school year before becoming the eighth member of the Metro League in 2024-25.
The vision for GISL took shape over several months before Brooks presented the idea to the heads of schools within the conference.
She introduced several conference-led initiatives, including mental health services and leadership training for student-athletes.
It received 100 percent approval.
“We’re committed to providing opportunities for our young women outside of just playing games,” Brooks said. “As high school sports evolve, GISL will evolve, and that’s something MWAA never did.”
To help achieve its mission, GISL appointed a conference commissioner with no affiliation to a member school.
Former Parkway West athletic director Brian Kessler, an administrator once in charge of emerging sports such as field hockey and girls lacrosse, brings a unique perspective as GISL commissioner.
“Being part of high school athletics is a passion, and getting to learn more about the private school sector has been fun,” said Kessler, who has been working in the youth baseball sector since his retirement from Parkway West in 2022. “I can just help people. I don’t even have to do any of the dirty work, I can just do the fun stuff.”
Part of the “fun stuff” for Kessler will be facilitating coaching seminars, where current GISL coaches can share knowledge with others.
“We literally have some of the best coaches in Missouri, so having them instruct others will create better opportunities for our young ladies and for our coaches,” Brooks said.
Kessler identified several “growth points” he will introduce as commissioner, including the assurance that conference teams will compete against each other in every sport and that sportsmanship will be prioritized.
“That was sometimes a hard conversation to have as an AD, but now I can have those conversations at a GISL coaches’ meeting. ‘Yes, go win, but what does sportsmanship look like in a contest where the outcome is already at hand? What is best for kids, including those on your team?’” Kessler said.
GISL will have its own social media presence and a website that houses an archive of win-loss records, all-conference teams and college signees, among other historical information.
“I’m passionate about creating awareness and love for women’s sports, and now we have more avenues,” said Brooks, who envisions GISL as a leader in the celebration of Women in Sports Day on the first Wednesday of February.
“If we’re doing it together, people will see and hear women’s sports,” she said.
MWAA was envisioned in the 1990’s by then-Villa Duchesne coach Debby Watson, who became the first conference president. Brooks, and most recently, Nerinx Hall athletic director Nancy Milward also served as conference presidents.
Milward retired this spring, and with a transition in leadership already in motion, Brooks felt the timing was right to reimagine and reinvent the conference.
“I recognize I’m standing on the shoulders of those women who started MWAA and because of them, we’re able to form GISL in a way that I think would make them proud,” Brooks said.
She added, “We have so much good between all of our schools, with our young women, with our coaches, with our ADs, and it’s time for us to come together for the greater good, which is these young women.”
The GISL website is located at: https://www.girlsindependentschoolsleague.com/
Instagram: girlsindependentschoolsleague
Twitter: @girls_indep_sch