Bay Area doctor pivots to helping girls, young women reap benefits from organized sports

By Sharon Chin

A Bay Area pediatrician is making sure girls don’t get left on the sidelines when it comes to the long-term benefits of playing team sports.

Dr. Dana Weintraub played soccer and other sports growing up.

“Learning the leadership lessons – teamwork, resilience, the confidence that I gained from participation in sports – all of these fed into what I became,” Weintraub said.

And that’s why Weintraub works to give girls an equal chance to play. The pediatrician heads up the San Jose-based nonprofit Bay Area Women’s Sports Initiative. 

“I want them to know that they are BAWSI on the playground, in the classroom and at home,” Weintraub said of girls.

Weintraub notes an Ernst & Young study that says 94% of women in executive roles played sports during their youth. She said BAWSI aims to level the playing field for girls in sports.

The organization connects 2nd to 12th-grade girls from under-resourced communities to women athletes for play and leadership development. It also leads activities for girls and boys living with disabilities.

BAWSI was founded 20 years ago by soccer stars Brandi Chastain and Julie Foudy, along with executive Marlene Bjornsrud, after the Women’s United Soccer Association folded. Five years ago, Weintraub took the ball as a CEO. She worked as a pediatrician at Stanford Medicine Children’s Health for more than 20 years until transitioning into the CEO role full-time at BAWSI a little more than a year ago. 

Under Weintraub’s leadership, BAWSI has expanded, adding middle and high school leadership programs that include career days and visits to universities and businesses. The group’s enrollment has grown nearly 50% to 1,400 children at about two dozen schools.

Aria Dzatko could not wait to become a second grader – old enough to join BAWSI’s afterschool program at Blackford Elementary School in San Jose.

“I waited a whole year, and then I got to go! I’m a second grader now,” Dzatko said. “It’s just amazing to me, I love it!”

Students are building confidence while having fun. Take third grader Nadine Nappi.

“It makes me want to try different sports and learn different sports and never give up,” Nappi said.

Weintraub led a survey of alumni that found more than 90% of BAWSI girls graduated from high school. Most continued to college and kept playing sports.

“We would hear the same words come from our alumni, about role models, strong women, the first time they’ve seen strong women and leaders who looked like them,” Weintraub said.

While she credits BAWSI’s team of paid and volunteer coaches for its success, program director Kimberly Ramirez says the inspiration comes from the top.

“I guess what we’re talking about is that BAWSI magic that she brings to everyone – making people feel seen, listening to them, and inviting them to whatever she’s a part of,” Ramirez said.

Weintraub has also served the Bay Area community in other ways. She founded the Peninsula Family Advocacy Program, a medical-legal partnership that supplies low-income families with free legal services. She’s also on the board of the U.S. Soccer Foundation and has served on the board of the Boys and Girls Club of the Peninsula for years while coaching hundreds of youth in several sports.

Weintraub is excited to be leading BAWSI at a time when Bay Area girls are seeing more professional women in sports, with teams like the Golden State Valkyries and Bay FC.

“We say if they can see her, they can be her, and the BAWSI girls can definitely see her in the Bay,” said Weintraub.