BAWSI newsletters are back! In this summer edition, you'll find:

• Program updates
• Middle school pre-pilot highlights
• New board, advisory council, and staff members
• And more

Last school year, BAWSI led live virtual programming sessions, connected directly with participants and families through phone calls and letters, provided home activity bags, and offered videos of favorite BAWSI games. Get active anytime at BAWSI's YouTube channel!

BAWSI programming reached 310 students from 17 different schools last school year.

We'll be at school in-person or on virtual playgrounds this fall serving up enthusiasm for play and movement with award winning programs, connected coaching, and leadership development.

As part of BAWSI's Strategic Plan, we are expanding to middle school and high school over the next 5 years. To kickstart this exciting vision, we pre-piloted our middle school program in the spring at Renaissance - Fischer Middle School.

6th and 7th grade girls learned sport fundamentals and expanded their leadership skills during their BAWSI sessions. In each class, we had over 40 girls attend. It was a huge success!

BAWSI proudly joined Valley Palms Unidos at their Soccer Pitch Opening Ceremony, where we were able to connect with the community, thank them for allowing us to learn and work along with them, and continue to spread the love for sports and physical activity.

BAWSI shared with Valley Palms Unidos leaders return to play protocols and ideas for bringing engaging activities to the new facility.

We're happy to be one of the finalists in the running to receive the 2021 Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Sports Award, an honor recognizing professional teams, athletes, coaches, and community organizations that remove barriers to health equity through sport.

We're looking forward to the awards announcement this fall!

Our virtual Light Up the Night gala was a huge success! The event connected more than 300 people to BAWSI's mission, and created an hour of fun and inspiration, as well as important funding for our BAWSI Girls and BAWSI Rollers.

Thank you to our donors, corporate sponsors, board, supporters, and attendees.

A special thank you to our Platinum Sponsor, ServiceNow, and our Gold Sponsor, Heartbeat.

Our BAWSI Posse knows how transformative sport can be as all members have been largely involved in sports for their whole lives. For introductions, we asked everyone to share a photo of themselves playing youth sports. Check them out!

You can learn about each new member below, or view everyone's full profile here.

New Board Member

• Karen Lee brings years of marketing experience – including digital strategy, audience growth, and content development – to the BAWSI board. Karen was a three sport athlete at Middlebury College (cross county, basketball, and water polo).

New Advisory Council Members

• Noriko Honda Chen shares her finance leadership experiences and commitment to equity in education and opportunity with BAWSI. She's also an accomplished tennis player and runner.

• Kim Turner is a Senior Staff Attorney and Project Director of Fair Play for Girls in Sports, a project of the nonprofit Legal Aid at Work. Through litigation, education, and policy work, Kim advocates for equality in athletic opportunities for female youth.

• Brenda Villa is a top water polo player who has represented Team USA in four Olympics. A Latina child of immigrants, Brenda’s story parallels that of many BAWSI Girls.

New Staff Members

• Dana Weintraub, MD is Co-CEO of BAWSI and Clinical Associate Professor in the Division of General Pediatrics at Stanford Children’s Health. Dana has extensive experience both playing and coaching soccer and developing and evaluating after school programs.

• Michelle Ramirez Martinez is the Community Specialist where she leads our expansion into middle and high schools in San Jose.

• Arya Asadi is the Program Coordinator after her exceptional work as an Athlete Leader last season.

• Jan Moody is the Marketing Lead where she tells the inspiring stories of our BAWSI Girls and BAWSI Rollers.

We caught up with former BAWSI Posse member Hilary Hunt. Hilary was an Athlete Leader in 2015-2016, then she joined us as a Program Coordinator in 2016-2017.

Hilary calls her time at BAWSI life changing: "BAWSI gave me a sense of direction in what to do for the rest of my life. My time there helped me realize that I wanted to be a change maker. I needed to continue to help people."

After leaving BAWSI, Hilary headed straight to graduate school to get her Masters in Occupational Therapy at the University of Utah. Now, she works as a Pediatric Outpatient Occupational Therapist in Salt Lake City. Every day, she meets with up to eight patients under the age of 21 to "help make their life better".

Hilary, thank you for being such a wonderful role model and for upholding the BAWSI values!

High school volunteers creatively and energetically contributed to BAWSI during the pandemic year.

• Bella Panaccione, graduating high school senior, has been volunteering with BAWSI since 8th grade but this year jumped at the chance to further her impact, leading the effort to engage her classmates and their families in BAWSI’s first ever virtual 5K run. Bella was one of our top recruiters and fundraisers. 

• Annika Decker, graduating high school senior, knew she wanted to leverage her passion for basketball to support a nonprofit helping other girls have an opportunity to play. This past year, she held basketball clinics for kids and asked parents to donate to BAWSI in lieu of a fee for her clinic. Annika raised over $800 for our programs!

• Prabhleen Kaur Lamba, rising senior in high school, reached out to BAWSI to include founder Brandi Chastain and BAWSI in her upcoming book “She Plays to Win” about “female athlete leaders, and the fight for equal pay, media coverage and respect in women's sports.” All proceeds from Prabhleen’s book sale will benefit BAWSI and Women’s Sports Foundation.

Thank you for your exceptional work and for supporting BAWSI!