“BAWSI BAWSI BAWSI!”
The effusive energy on the blacktop at A.J. Dorsa Elementary School flowed through the girls to their coaches and back. In that moment on a recent weekday afternoon, these 40 grade schoolers seemed ready to conquer the world.
That’s pretty much the ultimate goal. Their cheer is the acronym for the Bay Area Women’s Sports Initiative — whose centerpiece is a free after-school fitness mentoring program aimed at empowering girls of color attending schools in low-income neighborhoods in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties.
Valeria Topete, a 9-year-old fourth grader at Dorsa, considers herself “super active” after two years in the BAWSI Girls program at her school.
“We get to hang out with the coaches and get to do a bit of exercise,” Valeria said during a break between playing soccer and tag and writing in her journal. “We’re exercising and having fun no matter what.”
With donations from Wish Book, BAWSI hopes to fund a full year at a school site, for up to 130 girls between second and fifth grades, encompassing two eight-week programs over two semesters, covering equipment, staff salaries, transportation, and other operating costs to keep the program free for participants.
Gema Ortiz — one of the original BAWSI girls from 2005 — helps run the exercise stations. She says she owes the program a debt of gratitude for immersing her in a world where she continues to thrive as a graduate student in sports psychology.
“You’re like a candle, and you start losing hope, and this sparks you up. You become a leader as a young girl,” Ortiz said. “Without them, I wouldn’t be where I am today, as a student or as a teacher.”
Ortiz grew up the sixth of eight children in Gilroy. Her parents discouraged her from playing sports, she said, because they didn’t see its value. She persisted because of her budding love for soccer. Then she learned about BAWSI. Her school, Rod Kelley Elementary, was one of the original sites for the BAWSI program, which along with an awe-inspiring visit from Bay Area soccer legend Brandi Chastain nurtured her passion.
She continued to get encouragement from outside home, with the community generously donating her soccer equipment. She also arranged her own rides to soccer practice, and even ran to practice when she couldn’t get a ride.
Overcoming steady obstacles, Ortiz became a star soccer player in high school. But she lacked the guidance to go straight to a college soccer program. She ended up at Gavilan College in her hometown. But it didn’t offer women’s soccer. So she cut her hair and tried out for the men’s team and convinced them to let her train with them.
She went on to play soccer at Evergreen Valley College, then transferred to San Jose State University and became the first member of her family to graduate from college, with a psychology degree and minor in kinesiology. She is now completing graduate coursework at JFK University.
Jennifer Smith, BAWSI’s co-CEO, said Ortiz’s experience and struggle for acceptance as a young athlete is common and inspired the program and what it tries to instill. She cited research by the National Women’s Law Center highlighting a stark disparity for low-income girls of color and access to sports and physical fitness programs. That’s why BAWSI targets schools where 70 percent of students receive free or reduced lunch.
In Santa Clara County, Smith said, other race- and income-based disparities surface in fitness testing data from 2015: 40 percent of economically disadvantaged students scored substandard in aerobic capacity, compared to 19 percent of their more economically well-off peers. In the same data set, Smith pointed out that in Campbell, about 12 percent of Hispanic fifth-grade girls met fitness standards compared to about 31 percent of their white peers.
At BAWSI, the girls — who are of varying ages and grades — learn about team-building and other concepts to boost their confidence in interacting with their peers, and pursuing sports at the middle- and high-school levels. Fifth-graders also can take leadership positions among their peers to keep them engaged after multiple runs with the program.
The ideas resonate, Smith said, because they are being conveyed by young women who are pursuing athletics and leadership. At Dorsa, many of the volunteer coaches are soccer players at Evergreen Valley College who literally ran off to practice after spending time with the students, showing them a tangible example of those concepts in action.
“These girls are like their favorite big sisters. They’re active women of all shapes and sizes who have made good choices in life,” Smith said.
Tiana Lujan, a 9-year-old fourth grader at Dorsa, enjoys the bonds she makes with her classmates and the adults.
“I like making new friends and meeting the coaches,” Tiana said.
Smith added that the program is also meant to give the girls weekly reprieve from environments often marked by housing instability and other hurdles that often prevent such youngsters from taking part in sports and other extracurricular activities. Smith said she sees the difference BAWSI makes when she surreptitiously watches her students at recess breakaway from the sedentary activities that elementary school girls tend to gravitate to and mix it up on the blacktop instead.
“They start taking over the playground. That’s when we know we’ve done our job,” Smith said. “It speaks to their fitness and confidence to take over.”
Ortiz, who returned to the BAWSI fold last year, sees herself in the girls she coaches and mentors, and hopes to make their path easier than hers.
“This was a gateway. I grew up in a low-income family, and when you join a sport, you can make a difference,” she said. “When I share my experience and tell them I used to be a BAWSI girl, their eyes just sparkle. It feels like I’m home.”
THE WISH BOOK SERIES
The Wish Book is an annual series of The Mercury News that invites readers to help their neighbors.
WISH
Donations will help fund a BAWSI Girls site for one school year, enrolling up to 130 girls at low-income schools in free after-school fitness and confidence-building activities. Goal: $20,500
HOW TO GIVE
Donate at wishbook.mercurynews.com or mail in the coupon.
ONLINE EXTRA
Read other Wish Book stories, view photos and video at wishbook.mercurynews.com.
