Atherton, Calif. The fence line on Selby Lane is broken by the footprint of Selby Lane Elementary School, a neat but aging campus in the middle of the neighborhood. The signboard in front of the parking lot, detailing upcoming school activities, is written in Spanish. Most of the children who live in the neighborhood go to local private schools.
The kids who attend Selby Lane are bused to campus from nearby Redwood City. Many are the children of people who provide service work in this neighborhood, including housekeepers and gardeners. Twice a week at Selby Lane, on the back playground, a group of 65 girls don purple T-shirts. They scream and squeal as they play kickball, twirl hula hoops and chase each other around the grass playing tag.
The group works to engage young female athletes. BAWSI aptly pronounced "bossy" has taken root in the area south of San Francisco and is on the verge of becoming a national model. BAWSI was born on an afternoon hike. In the months after the WUSA women's professional soccer league folded, Bjornsrud -- the former general manager of the San Jose CyberRays -- pondered what would come next, not only for her but for the athletes who had played in the league and spent so much time in the community fostering relationships.
The day it came together, Bjornsrud and Chastain were on a long walk in the hills above the Silicon Valley.
They talked about wanting to serve young girls who weren't being exposed to organized sports, or even to physical education classes, in some of the area's least privileged schools. They wanted to reach girls in communities where obesity and diabetes were prevalent. They talked about wanting to engage young female athletes, to give them an opportunity to connect and serve. They have engaged women's athletic teams at Stanford, San Jose State and Santa Clara, along with local high schools and community colleges.
