Wish Book: BAWSI sparks girls’ love of sports because ‘girls who play become women who lead’

SAN JOSE — When Brisa Rojas was in elementary school, she was a rambunctious girl with lots of energy and busy immigrant parents who both worked two jobs.

Bay Area Women’s Sports Initiative, or BAWSI, was a “perfect” opportunity to keep her busy and in a safe place after school, said Rojas, now a young woman.

“My parents were always trying to figure out ways to get me involved and staying off the streets and keep me as active as possible,” Rojas said. “They couldn’t even afford a babysitter.”

For a young girl who was “super out there” — dressing in tutus and wearing rainbow socks to school — BAWSI gave Rojas an outlet to express herself and sparked a love of both sports and a talent for leadership that shaped her life.

“BAWSI really gave me the courage to be who I am,” said Rojas, who now serves as the organization’s first alumnus board member.

“There’s a comfort that you don’t necessarily have in co-ed programs so that all girls will come out and play,” said Dana Weintraub, CEO of BAWSI. “Whether or not they’re drawn to play sports, they learn to love to move their body, and then hopefully raise their hand, gain confidence and continue to play as they go on.”

Girls are far more likely to continue playing sports into middle and high school if they begin at a young age, Weintraub explained, adding that girls are less likely to start sports in middle and high school if they have not already begun.

“It’s not just about being active, learning to love physical activity, but also gaining those transformational lessons that happen on courts [and] fields,” Weintraub said. “We’re building in leadership into the activity that they’re doing.”

With the support of paid coaches and volunteers from local college sports teams and the community, girls spend an hour and 15 minutes weekly going through five stations that focus on sports skills, team building and leadership. BAWSI currently has programs at 11 elementary schools, two middle schools and one high school in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties.

“A lot of these girls wouldn’t otherwise have opportunities to play sports,” Weintraub said. “They learn that they love to play.”

BAWSI is entirely funded through donations, corporate sponsorships and public funding, Weintraub said. BAWSI is seeking a grant of $20,000 through Wish Book to provide 40 girls in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties with their free afterschool sports program.

“We want girls to feel confident, to raise their hand, to be leaders,” Weintraub said. “We know that girls who play become women who lead.”

On a recent Friday, the basketball courts at Hubbard Media Arts Academy in East San Jose were alight with smiling faces and purple T-shirts as dozens of girls settled down for BAWSI’s opening “locker room” meeting.

“Our word of the week this week is ‘proud,’ ” said one of the coaches, as another held up a whiteboard with the word written in large letters in both English and Spanish. The girls set their step goals for the day’s session before breaking off into groups.

Around the playground, girls rotated through five stations: They practiced dribbling a basketball, hopped through hula hoops laid out on the ground, learned teamwork by passing pool noodles in a circle, and tossed a football.

The last station was discussion and training in leadership.

“My favorite sport is all of them!” exclaimed an 8-year-old participant, adding that she wants to keep playing soccer and volleyball when she gets older.

“I like it when we write,” said a 10-year-old girl. Her favorite word of the week was that week’s – “proud.”

BAWSI runs two sessions per year and can serve up to 65 girls per session at each site, Weintraub said.

BAWSI has “created this continued positive climate that we have on our campus,” said Sandra Sarmiento, principal of Hubbard and BAWSI board member. She explained that she has seen a noticeable improvement in girls’ involvement in sports since BAWSI launched its programs at Hubbard three years ago.

Then, Sarmiento was barely able to put together a five-girl team for the middle school’s sports tournaments. One year later, when the fifth-graders who had participated in BAWSI moved to the middle school, the team grew to 18 girls.

“The impact — you can feel it, you can see it,” Sarmiento said. “You just see them, their energy, they’re not inhibited. (They don’t have) that fear factor that we see as girls get older.”

Ashlynn Autrey, who is now a middle school coach but previously worked as an elementary school coach, added that the lessons learned through BAWSI translate to other parts of a girl’s life.

“It can especially help with self-esteem and self-confidence growing up — just having the confidence that you can do things even outside of sports,” she said.

Rojas clearly remembers looking up to her coaches at BAWSI, who helped her and other girls develop a sense of “sisterhood and camaraderie,” she said.

“I thought they were like superheroes in the sense that they were doing sports — it was just amazing to me,” Rojas said. “Having that sisterhood and being able to have other females in your life build you up was just so important to me.”

After the girls rotated through each station, they joined all together again for the closing “locker room” meeting, where they got to check their pedometers and write in their purple journals how many steps they took.

“We both got the same goal!” one girl proclaimed to her friend.

That feeling of community can also serve girls in meeting adults from similar backgrounds who can show them life options.

“I know what these kids are facing when they go home. I’m from the same neighborhoods, and so I know what it’s like when kids don’t get exposure to sports,” said Sami Oliver-Alexander, a BAWSI coach. “Whether they stick with the sport or not, at least they were exposed to it, and they know that there’s something out there for them — a different outlet.”

THE WISH BOOK SERIES
Wish Book is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization operated by The Mercury News. Since 1983, Wish Book has been producing series of stories during the holiday season that highlight the wishes of those in need and invite readers to help fulfill them.

WISH
Donations to Bay Area Women’s Sports Initiative will allow 40 girls in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties to experience the program. Goal: $20,000

HOW TO GIVE
Donate at wishbook.mercurynews.com/donate or mail in this form.

ONLINE EXTRA
Read other Wish Book stories, view photos and video at wishbook.mercurynews.com.