Difference Makers

By Jon Gold

UCLA students are known for their diverse interests, broad accomplishments and packed schedules, and for Bruin student-athletes, that is no different. For three such UCLA women's sports stars, their passions off the field of play are just as important as their impact on it.

Lia Foster
Women's Swimming | Junior

Growing up in Hawai'i, junior swimmer Lia Foster always felt the strong connection between nature and humans. As a child, she learned about Hawaiian culture and history, as well as her own. She learned that her grandparents were involved with agriculture and fought for farmers and indigenous rights.

"I grew up with them nurturing the idea of an environmental relationship," Foster said. "We're not supposed to dominate nature."

Hawaiians have a phrase for this: Aloha 'aina, malama 'aina. To love the land, protect the land. Also central in this belief is that humans and nature are interconnected, and one cannot survive without the other.

Foster has responded to that calling, and taken her passion to UCLA.

Last year, Foster brought her concerns to UCLA Director of Student-Athlete Development Ric Coy, hoping to initiate change. Those initial conversations blossomed into the Bruin Environmental Leadership Team (B.E.L.T.) initiative, aiming at making UCLA Athletics more sustainable.

In UCLA, Foster found a willing partner, and in her teammates, open ears.

"To be on this team, it's really important for everyone to share their own culture and identity," said Foster, who competes in the 100 Fly, 200 Fly and 200 IM for the Bruins' swim team. "UCLA and the swim team have been very accepting of that side of me. Education is key in this environmental issue. There is ignorance, but people do want to help and do care. I think the biggest thing UCLA has given me is this platform to spread this message."

She started in her own locker room, helping change attitudes and behaviors.

First, they banned one-use drinking cups at practice. A small change, but one that has drastically reduced waste. At the UCLA Fueling Station, which provides pre-workout and mid-day healthy snacks in the school's Athletic Performance Center, the team has decreased plastic and single-use items, and Foster is looking for even more ways for her own team to reduce its footprint.

"As an athlete, our schedule is completely full, and we think we need everything instantly," Foster said. "A lot of waste that is generated is because our lifestyles are on-the-go. But it's easier to change the kind of waste we're leaving. We're not trying to eliminate waste, but really just change the stuff we use every day. One of my dreams is to change individual habits and build awareness."

She has bigger dreams, too.

"My biggest, biggest goal — and I get really excited talking about this — I want to use our platform to pair up with other schools and push them to create better, more sustainable gear," she said. "Change the packaging, change the gear. Every piece of gear we get is given in a small plastic bag. From a bra to shorts, pants. It just seems so wasteful to me. I want to pair up with other schools, get their athletes on board and send the message that we want better, we need better, and you can do better."

Foster is hoping to follow her time at UCLA with a career in environmental justice, which she believes is tied in with other forms of justice. Perhaps law school to start.

"Classes I've taken here have completely opened my mind," said Foster, who majors in geography and environmental studies and minors in environmental systems and society. "UCLA as a school is really good about taking action, and I've learned that everything is interrelated. In a perfect world, I'd love to reimagine how water is used in Hawai'i, because UCLA has given me this education that ties everything together."

Jenavee Peres
Softball | Graduate Transfer

A random phone call from Lisa Fernandez in November changed Jenavee Peres' life.

The former slugging superstar for San Diego State had moved on from softball after giving birth to a beautiful baby boy in the summer of 2018. Her cleats were already hung up on the shelf, her bat tucked away in a closet somewhere, her focus now entirely on providing and caring for her young son, Levi.

As much as she missed softball, and as much as she still felt like she had gas left in the tank, Peres was settling into a nice little routine.

She had, she says, "her first big girl job," working in dispatch for a security company — her long-term goal is to work as a 911 dispatcher — and softball was becoming just a part of her past, not the defining characteristic of her present.

Then Fernandez called and asked Peres if she wanted to join the Bruins as a grad transfer.

"I was actually really hesitant," Peres said. "I'd moved on to my next stage. Did I want to make myself uncomfortable again, go back to school, put on hold what I wanted to do with my life? It took me two weeks to decide. I had a chance to be a Bruin, to get my master's degree, to play softball one more time, to get to finish what I started so long ago."

Finally, she thought, "How can I pass this up?"

She remembers her first walk into the team room.

"I was honestly a little starstruck," she said.

After taking 18 months off of softball, she was a little rusty. But this is no typical grad transfer: She owns SDSU records for batting average (.409), on base percentage (.466) and slugging percentage (.743) and ranks third in Aztec history in runs batted in (131), fourth in home runs (34), sixth in runs scored (112) and eighth in total bases (298). But the former Mountain West Conference Player of the Year — the first SDSU player to earn NFCA Second Team All-American honors (2017) — said she's found a new home with the Bruins.

"It's an indescribable feeling," said Peres, on being asked to join a team as loaded as UCLA's. "I asked myself, 'Why would they want me? I haven't played in a year and a half.' Wait, if they want me, they see something in me. I know I have it in me. My 18 months off, I got lost in being a mom; I kind of became only Levi's mom, not Jenavee. Them seeing it in me lit this fire in me. I'm for dang sure going to be productive in any shape or form — bullpen catcher, pinch hitter, designated hitter, starting catcher — no matter the role, I'm going to be my best. I know they see it in me, and I know my experience brings something to the team."

Once she realized what she could add to the Bruins, Peres was in.

And UCLA? The Bruins were already waiting for her.

"They've brought us both in with open arms," she said. "I couldn't be more thankful for how understanding they've been, knowing I'm a mom first. Something coaches instill in me every day, our team mantra, even, is family, school, softball."

Having a rambunctious — and active — little boy in the locker room could be a rallying point for these Bruins. Peres' teammates are already vying for his affection. She gives her teammates fruit snacks to get on Levi's good side.

"Everyone totally loves Levi," Peres said. "I brought him to practice only once so far, and team managers helped watch him. Our athletic training staff was in on it, too. Coaches were like, you do what you need to on the field, and we'll handle him in here. Them helping me separate being a mom and a player, I couldn't be any more thankful. They haven't experienced anyone with a child, and we're all going through it together."

Taylor Johnson
Women's Tennis | Sophomore

No matter how much they may love their teammates, no matter how much they may trust their coaches, sometimes the most important conversation a UCLA student-athlete can have is with someone from another sport.

UCLA tennis player Taylor Johnson knows this well, and when she discovered that one of her childhood friends had started an organization on the Columbia University campus dedicated to female athlete cohesiveness, she realized she wanted to bring that to the Bruins.

Last year, Johnson started the FAST chapter at UCLA — Female Athletes Stand Together — in order to empower, connect and support student female-athletes on her own campus. The broader goal? Help spread the idea to campuses nationwide.

"FAST is a cool way for all of us to just come together and talk about our dreams and our struggles," Johnson said. "We're all kind of on a similar boat. I'm seeing a lot of friendships forming, and a lot more support toward each other. Women's sports used to be very competitive with one another. At our last meeting, I saw people talking to each other who they'd never met before."

On a campus like UCLA's, where athletes across the board are the cream of the crop, who better to empathize with the tremendous highs and lows of being a Bruin athlete?
"It's really important to have other people on campus to talk to," she said. "You're with your teammates all the time, and even though I'm fortunate to be on a great team and we're all close, it's nice to go outside of your team, as well. It's nice to talk about other things than just your sport. We're all going through the same thing here. We all have a sense of what's happening in each other's lives."

As of the winter, the organization has had just two meetings. But at the last meeting, FASTgiving, nearly 60 female student-athletes attended. Another meeting was planned for February as of publication. Johnson said the goal of the organization is to put on events, to work with other organizations on campus and to spread a message of inclusion.
On other campuses where most teams are not expected to be in contention for national championships every year, perhaps the message would be different. At UCLA,

essentially an athletic incubator for the top talent in the world at their respective fields, the pressures and stresses of college life are almost universal.

"It's amazing everything UCLA has done in women's athletics," Johnson said. "It's such a great environment to be in. We're constantly surrounded by people who are striving to be better. We're all going after one same goal."

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The above story appeared in the Spring 2020 edition of Bruin Blue Magazine.

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Difference Makers

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Difference Makers

Players Mentioned

Lia Foster

Taylor Johnson

Jenavee Peres

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