It's another Tuesday at UC Riverside for Head Athletic Trainer, Jessika Hunt, and it just so happens to be her busiest day of the week between treatments and rehabilitations for some of UCR's 300 student-athletes. Elsewhere in the Athletics and Dance Building, home to the department's coaches' and administrative offices, Michelle Almazan is busy with UCR's academic and life skills programming in her role as the Senior Associate Athletics Director, Student-Athlete Services/Senior Woman Administrator (SWA).

Together, the dynamic duo helps Highlander student-athletes navigate the rigors of college life while ultimately finding academic and athletic success. And, as Title IX turns the page on another 50 years and counting of gender equality in sports, UC Riverside Athletics has continued to write its own chapter with two of the most tenured members of the Highlander family. 

As Hunt and Almazan will tell you, representation and opportunity matters when it comes to women in sport. It just hasn't always been this way. In Hunt's eyes, the short-term and long-term goal is to provide women and girls the same opportunities and resources as their male counterparts, all while encouraging and empowering them to find success on their own volition - something those in her position know all too well. 

According to the National Library of Medicine, a 2015 study in the Journal of Athletic Training revealed that persistence and strong leadership skills paved the smoothest road towards a stronger female representation in athletic training. The results are a microcosm of what the Highlanders' head athletic trainer, now in her 16th year at UCR, can only describe as "a really long battle."

For Almazan, whose story hits close to home as a former student-athlete and later academic advisor at CSUN, that battle started as the only girl on an eighth-grade basketball team with one simple question: Where are all the girls? 

Perhaps one of the best and most clear courses of action toward continued equality points to more inclusivity in sports, interviews, advertisements and whatever else paints our perception of the status quo. But how do we get there? How do we become the role models for future generations that will reap the benefits of the progress we continue to make? 

"I try to be a good example of a woman who works with student-athletes and provides care," Hunt says. "I am a professional and I try to be a good example for other women to show them they can be successful in any realm as a health care provider, as a mentor, and as a supportive person."

As the highest ranking woman within Highlander Athletics, Almazan carries her own sense of responsibility. 

"As an SWA, you advocate for the young women just as much for the young men," she says. "Athletics can be a man's world sometimes, but it's pretty cool to show them that I can be there too, have a seat at the table and have that respect."

Having that seat at the table is one of the reasons why Title IX was created. It's why Almazan says her role shows young men that their daughters or future wives can achieve great things. It's why Hunt helps student-athletes navigate questions as to why women can or can't do certain things. Having a seat at the table isn't just a sign of immense progress, it's also a beacon of hope for the future. 

"It's about opportunity and representation in sport that men and women are treated equitably," Almazan says. "I think that's going to continue to grow. We're going to see more women leaders, we're going to see more athletics directors in these roles, and if not for Title IX, I may not have had the opportunity and the position I have today."