Volume 1 | January 2017
Active Lives. Empowered Futures.
Welcome to BAWSI E-News!
8 BAWSI Girls sites, 8 BAWSI Rollers sites this past fall - that's 634 lives changed through purposeful play.

There’s been a lot of goodness on our BAWSI playgrounds and elsewhere this past fall, so take a look, share it with your friends and join us in the spring semester as we continue to engage, inspire and empower the children who need us most.  

BAWSI Girls Program Expands to Redwood City

In the early spring of 2016, BAWSI began conversations with a few influential and committed women on the Peninsula.  The conversation was about the forgotten children of Redwood City and the impact that a BAWSI Girls program could have in their community.  Thanks to the support of this small group of women, the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, the Quest Foundation, and the Bay Area Women’s Philanthropy Network, BAWSI was able to expand to John Gill Elementary and Fair Oaks Elementary. 

With the help of dedicated female athlete volunteers from Sequoia High School and Menlo College, we’ve had immediate impact on 90 girls and their school communities.  John Gill’s Principal, Katherine Rivera, shared that the program has brought together a diversity of girls, she loves seeing the quiet and shy girls intermingling with the louder, more confident girls.  She says each is learning from the other, it’s really good for them.  Thank you to everyone who shared the vision, the sense of urgency and helped to make this happen. 

BAWSI Girls Alum Starts College & Discovers Rugby
Some of you may remember Michelle Ramirez as a poignant speaker at our BAWSI Birthday Bash in May 2015.  Michelle was one of our earliest BAWSI Girls at Washington Elementary in San Jose.  She bonded with our athlete volunteers, and went on to receive full scholarships for middle school and high school at Notre Dame San Jose (thanks to the 31 Women giving circle). 

Michelle also made sure to stay BAWSI by volunteering at Dorsa Elementary for her last two years of high school while carrying a 4.67 grade-point-average (out of 4.0), and throwing shotput for her high school.  “Coach Bunny” was beloved by the Dorsa girls and modeled for them all that is possible with hard work, inner strength and a willingness to try new things. 

Today, Michelle is a treasured member of our BAWSI Advisory Council and she is also one of the newest members of the Scripps College Rugby Team.  Our hope for all of our girls is that they will develop the ability, confidence and desire to be physically active for life, which is exactly what Michelle has done.  Michelle found rugby during her first semester, which gave her instant friendships, and a way to stay in shape by moving and playing – sounds very BAWSI indeed!     
  Former Athlete Leader, Carrie Dew Staley, Mobilizes Support for BAWSI Rollers
Carrie Dew found BAWSI as an Athlete Leader, after four years of soccer at Notre Dame University, while she was playing professionally for the FC Gold Pride.  At BAWSI, Carrie lost her heart to BAWSI Rollers and since moving back to the area, she’s been leading the charge to grow support of our BAWSI Rollers program as an active Advisory Council member. 

In November, Carrie opened up her home to a great group of friends to share more about the program.  Our guests were joined by another heart that beats for BAWSI Rollers, Elaine Elkin, who shared her love for the program and why it suits her philanthropic interests. 

The highlight of the evening was a visit from a BAWSI Roller, Shaun*, his mother, and his Special Education teacher, (former Santa Clara Broncos basketball volunteer and BAWSI staffer) Kimee Goeggel.  Mouths dropped as Shaun shared his iPad videos of himself leading his mainstream PE classmates in stretches.  When we first met Shaun, we were hard pressed to get him to participate in anything, much less lead an activity.  Shaun’s video was a testament to the power of play, the power of team, and the power of connected coaching.
*Note – pseudonym.  

Fall Site Visits

Many thanks to the folks who made our public site visits possible, especially Daisy Rojas, Principal for Gardner Academy in San Jose, and Pam Murdock, Sunnyvale School District Health & Wellness Program Director.  Friends and visitors were able to see BAWSI in action at a BAWSI Girls site, as well as a BAWSI Rollers site.  We enjoyed a variety of perspectives as we heard from participants, teachers, volunteers and Athlete Leaders.
 



Stay tuned for dates for more Site Visits this spring – come curious and leave inspired!   
  Meet Our Athlete Leaders for the Spring
(and Help us Recruit More)
A nother phenomenal team of athlete leaders joins us this spring to build their leadership skills in service to the community, as they transition to life after collegiate sports. As usual they represent a diversity of backgrounds, personal styles, academic interests, and future career paths.  Atypically, this class is heavily skewed towards soccer, but all are comfortable introducing a variety of sports. 

Know anyone wrapping up their college playing career? Please share our link Join our Team

Lauren Berreman – grew up in Boise, Idaho, though she played four years of DI Tennis at Colorado State University.  Lauren started her career in zoology after graduation and is now transitioning to a second career in coaching and sports nutrition.

Whitney Kanavel – comes to us as a four year member of Arizona State women’s soccer team.  She graduated from Santa Teresa High School and played club soccer locally.  Whitney is applying to PhD programs for sports psychology, hoping to work with collegiate athletes.  In addition to BAWSI, Whitney coaches a U14 girls’ team for Central Valley Soccer Club.

Sloan Lewis - joins us from UC Santa Barbara Rowing, having grown up in Saratoga, CA and played soccer for Archbishop Mitty High School.  Sloan is applying to Masters/PhD programs in biomedical engineering.

Gema Ortiz – joins us from Evergreen Valley College where she competed on the women’s soccer team. She is finishing her undergraduate degree at San Jose State University as she follows her path toward a PhD in sports psychology.  Gema was a BAWSI Girl in Gilroy where she now coaches track and soccer at the youth and high school level.

Hannah Rosenberg – joins us as a recent graduate of Washington University in St. Louis with a B.S. in electrical engineering and a DIII National Championship ring for the women’s soccer team.  A product of Los Gatos, Hannah joins us as she transitions to a high tech career or graduate school.

West Coast Conference SAAC Leaders Get BAWSI
In early November, scholar athletes from the West Coast Conference’s annual gathering of their Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) joined us to volunteer on the BAWSI Rollers playground at Montague Elementary in Santa Clara.  The WCC’s brightest leaders (both young men and women) transferred their passion for sports to help cognitively disabled kids find their own love of sports. It was a real treat for our Rollers to have a private coach to themselves the whole session. After the BAWSI session, the WCC athletes were treated to a little of their own teambuilding, BAWSI-style, thanks to the mentoring of Program Director, Courtney Good.

A Visit From Tajikistan – Play Unites the World

It’s not often we get to host female soccer players from half way around the world, but this fall was full of surprises. In early December, BAWSI played host to 20 female players from Tajikistan’s Women’s National Team (ages 16 to 28), 3 coaches, and a team of 3 translators.  The women were traveling to the United States on a SportsUnited grant from the U.S. State Department.  After taking in the NCAA Women’s Soccer College Cup, the team visited Bay Area organizations dedicated to the empowerment of women and girls through sport.

Simultaneous translation enabled us to share our backgrounds around a large conference table. All would admit things were a little stiff until we invited our guests out to a play circuit set up in the parking lot.  Once playing, there was instant kinship, bonding, laughs, high fives and hugs. Our connecting point was teaching foundations for soccer-specific coordination.  The collective joy reinforced our long-held belief that often, the most natural way to create human bonds is through the simple act of play.

BAWSI Moves a Crowd of 5,000 at the 1st Annual World Wide Women Girls’ Festival in San Francisco

Wow!  What a day it was for girls of all ages at Fort Mason Park in San Francisco. On October 15th, 5,000 attendees braved the weather and were treated to BAWSI’s high energy games as they entered the giant festival pavillion dedicated to girls’ empowerment.  Joined by volunteers from the National Charity League’s Saratoga/Los Gatos chapter, we ran thousands of girls and women through our circuit of fun, challenging, games that build foundations for sport.  Female Olympians, Brandi Chastain (soccer), Brenda Villa (water polo), and Juli Furtado (mountain biking), took to the Festival’s Main Stage to reminisce about their days in competition, sharing openly about their private lows and their public highs. Check out our great coverage and learn more about the festival at  Girls Festival

Local Legends Host the Women’s Soccer College Cup 

It was a chilly evening in Avaya Stadium, filled with BAWSI friends and family celebrating the best in collegiate women’s soccer.  Before the West Virginia University and University of Southern California women took to the fields, we were joined by soccer legends Julie Foudy, Brandi Chastain, Danielle Slaton, and soon-to-be-legend, Abby Dahlkemper for a panel discussion.  Foudy shared some of her ESPN prognostications and players to watch, then doled out advice for aspiring young players and their parents. No surprise, Foudy’s emphasis was on fun, first and foremost.  Brandi, Danielle and Abby shared their respective paths to greatness, all of which included a heavy emphasis on being a good teammate.  Each of our legends reflected on the blessing of sports in their own lives.  Foudy also reminded us of the many children who have no access to sports, advocating for a BAWSI in every city in the country.  Sounds great to us, and we all know…  good things happen when Julie and Brandi dream big

  BAWSI Gets Some Consulting Help from Harvard Business School Community Partners 

Through a competitive application process, BAWSI was selected to be the lucky recipient of pro bono strategic consulting services from the HBS Club of Northern California.  A “Dream Team” of consultants with a diverse range of experiences from venture capital to biotech, and a strong desire to help community-based organizations has been working with BAWSI since September to help us create a foundation for future growth. Having a third party, objective view of our current state and future growth has been a luxury we would not have been able to afford.  We are enthusiastic about the recommendations and confident that this effort will position us to be able to reach more children through our award-winning programming.  Paul Losch, Patty Chiang, Ben Dubin, Eva Miranda, Douglas Levick, Deborah Schueren – what a privilege to have you on our team!

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BAWSI is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit organization (federal tax ID #55-0897084)

  Active Lives. Empowered Futures.
Bay Area Women's Sports Initiative | 1922 The Alameda, Suite 420 | San Jose, CA 95126 | 408.247.2544 |
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