The Wendy Hilliard Gymnastics Foundation, a pioneering, Black-led organization, trailblazing a path for a multitude of international gymnastic champions, and started in Harlem in 1996 by Wendy Hilliard, the first Black athlete to represent the U.S. in international competition in rhythmic gymnastics, has helped produce another budding champion.
Phoenix Britt, a nine-year participant of the program, has signed an academic-athletic scholarship to attend Iona University, located in New Rochelle, New York. Britt, a senior at Albertus Magnus High School in Rockland County, will be a member of Iona’s acrobatic and tumbling team.
Iona, which is noted for its men’s basketball program that has appeared in the NCAA tournament 16 times since 1979, including last season, added the acrobatic and tumbling team in 2022.
Britt excels in trampoline and double-mini categories and was the top performer two consecutive years in trampoline at the Elite Challenge in Texas.
“At Iona, I hope to have a successful Acro Tumbling career while maintaining my grades,” said Britt, who also was coached by Roger Walker, a former World Champion who began training top Wendy Hilliard Gymnastics Foundation athletes at the CAVU Trampoline & Tumbling in New Jersey due to the COVID shutdown of the WHGF facility in Harlem.
“I also hope to take advantage of the study abroad program so that I can experience different cultures and languages.” A significant appeal for Britt selecting Iona is its close proximity to her home.
“My mom has been to every single performance and competition,” Britt said, “so I’m used to seeing her in the crowd. I’m thankful that my mom and dad can still come and support me from the stands.”
She credits Walker for being instrumental in her journey.
“Coach Roger was the one who introduced Acro Tumbling to me,” expanded Britt. “He told my mom about schools all over the country competing in this fairly new sport and thought I could excel. My mom and I started to give the idea of the sport more thought and after deciding that I wanted to do Acro Tumbling in college, I started to look only at schools that had the sport.
“After attending clinics and open houses, I felt that Iona’s team was the best fit for me.” Britt says she will major in accounting and economics as the focus of her academic pursuits.
“Phoenix came to the WHGF through Camp Dreamers, a community sports program in Washington Heights run by Dave Crenshaw,” said Hilliard, CEO of the WHGF. “We would do gymnastics for them every summer, and Phoenix wanted to join our team. It is an excellent story of how access to sports can make a difference in a young person’s life.”
This marks the second WHGF gymnast in two years to sign an athletic scholarship.
WHGF and University Heights High School alumni Zenell Mangal entered her freshman year this fall as a member of the Fisk University women’s artistic gymnastics team. Last winter, Fisk University in Nashville made national headlines when it became the first Historically Black College & University (HBCU) institution to introduce a women’s NCAA Division I artistic gymnastics program.