Some charities begin in boardrooms. ReachuP! began on a soccer field, with a final whistle, a stadium full of fans, and two women who had spent years watching what sport could do for a girl’s confidence and what its absence could cost her. Founded in 2010 by World Cup and Olympic champion Brandi Chastain and Los Gatos podiatrist and entrepreneur Dr. Joan Oloff, the ReachuP! Foundation was created to give young girls something that both founders believed was in short supply: real role models, real mentorship, and a community that challenges girls to push past the limits they place on themselves.
This article explores the foundation from every angle: who founded it and why, how it was launched, what it set out to accomplish, the programs and projects attached to its name, how it fits alongside Brandi Chastain’s other charitable work, and what parents, coaches, donors and young athletes can take from its philosophy.
What Is the ReachuP! Foundation?
ReachuP! (usually written with a lowercase “u”, a capital “P” and an exclamation point, and sometimes rendered as ReachUP, Reach Up!, or Reach Up! World Foundation) is a registered 501(c)(3) charitable organization based in California’s Santa Clara Valley. Its purpose is to inspire, empower and challenge girls to reach beyond what they believe their limitations to be.
The foundation’s work rests on a simple premise that both of its founders lived out in their own careers: girls who participate in sport, who are mentored by women they admire, and who learn to treat their bodies with care develop the confidence, resilience and healthy habits that carry them through adolescence and into adulthood. ReachuP! describes its role as producing content and programs that help girls develop the skills needed to make healthy lifestyle choices, to become “true champions” in the broadest sense of the word, and to reach for their dreams.
In practical terms, the foundation has focused on three overlapping areas:
Mentorship and role models. Connecting girls with accomplished women, especially female athletes, whose stories show that success is built on effort, mistakes and perseverance rather than perfection.
Self-esteem and positive body image. Supporting programs that help girls see their bodies as strong and capable rather than as objects to be judged, a theme that runs through nearly everything Chastain has said publicly about the foundation.
Health, injury prevention and healthy lifestyle choices. Drawing on Dr. Oloff’s medical background and Chastain’s experience as an athlete who came back from serious knee injuries, the foundation has backed educational content on topics such as ACL injuries in young athletes.
The Founders: Two Very Different Paths to the Same Goal
Brandi Chastain: From San Jose Kid to World Champion
Brandi Chastain was born and raised in San Jose, California. As a hyperactive young girl growing up there in the 1970s, she fell in love with soccer at a time when the sport offered girls very little. She attended Santa Clara University soccer camps where she was one of just a handful of girls among hundreds of boys. That experience of being the exception, rather than the norm, would shape her view of girls’ sport for the rest of her life.
Her playing career is among the most decorated in the history of American soccer. She is a two-time FIFA Women’s World Cup champion and a two-time Olympic gold medalist, and over the course of her international career she appeared in three World Cups and three Olympic Games. She is a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame.
Her path was not a straight line upward. Early in her college career she suffered serious knee injuries, including torn anterior cruciate ligaments, and had to fight her way back to the field. She went on to star at Santa Clara University, graduating in 1991, the same year the United States won the first Women’s World Cup.
Then came the moment that made her a household name. In the 1999 Women’s World Cup final at the Rose Bowl, in front of more than 90,000 spectators, Chastain struck the decisive penalty kick against China to win the title for the United States. Her celebration became one of the most iconic images in American sports history and a symbol of a generation of women athletes who refused to apologize for their strength, joy and ambition.
After her national team career, Chastain played professionally, including for the San Jose CyberRays in the Women’s United Soccer Association, and later in other professional leagues in the Bay Area. When she finally retired from professional play in 2010, she did not step away from the game. She went on to work as a broadcaster, served as a volunteer assistant coach at her alma mater, Santa Clara University, and devoted a significant part of her energy to charitable work for girls and young athletes.
Dr. Joan Oloff: Podiatrist, Surgeon and Shoe Designer
Dr. Joan Oloff took a very different road to the same destination. She is a doctor of podiatric medicine (DPM) practicing in Los Gatos, California, where she founded the Los Gatos Foot and Ankle Center. She is board certified by the American Board of Foot and Ankle Surgery and has spent her career treating everything from sports injuries to chronic foot conditions such as plantar fasciitis, hammer toes and tendinitis.
Dr. Oloff’s connection to women’s soccer is direct. Years before ReachuP! existed, she served as the foot doctor for the San Jose CyberRays, the women’s professional team for which Chastain played. Treating elite athletes gave her firsthand insight into how much a woman’s performance, confidence and long-term health depend on the condition of her feet, and how often women’s footwear works against them rather than for them.
That insight later led her into business. After years of treating women whose feet had been damaged by poorly designed high heels, Dr. Oloff decided to fix the problem herself. She spent roughly four years working with designers and manufacturers in Los Angeles and Italy to create what she describes as orthopedically correct high heels, featuring built-in arch support, cushioning under the ball of the foot and a lower heel pitch that distributes body weight more evenly across the foot. Her label, Joan Oloff Shoes, found its way into high-end retail, including Bloomingdale’s in San Francisco, and earned coverage in national business and fashion media.
Importantly for the story of ReachuP!, Dr. Oloff tied her business to her philanthropy: a portion of her shoe sales has been directed to ReachuP!, the organization she started with Chastain to support women and girls in need. She has also lent her designs and time to other causes, including the Arthritis Foundation’s Fashion Fights Arthritis event in San Francisco.
A Friendship That Became a Foundation
The partnership between Chastain and Oloff grew naturally out of their years together in the CyberRays era. What began as a professional relationship between an athlete and her doctor became a friendship built on shared values. Both women worked in fields where women were historically underrepresented, both had overcome skepticism to succeed, and both believed that girls needed better examples of what strong, healthy, accomplished women look like.
Chastain has explained that the more time she and Oloff spent around young people, the more clearly they saw how deeply girls crave inspiration and real connections with mentors. ReachuP! was their answer.
How ReachuP! Was Launched: A Farewell Match With a Purpose
The foundation’s public launch was inseparable from the end of Chastain’s professional playing career. In 2010, when she officially hung up her cleats, Chastain staged a testimonial match at Buck Shaw Stadium on the campus of Santa Clara University, the same school where she had starred as a student and attended camps as a little girl.
The event did two things at once. It celebrated a career that had helped transform women’s soccer in the United States, and it formally introduced the ReachuP! Foundation to the public. Chastain invited well-known figures to take part in a celebrity game, and the reunion brought together some of the biggest names of the women’s soccer generation she had helped define, including her longtime national team teammate Mia Hamm.
Chastain framed the day as a thank-you to the community that had supported her. She also used it to explain what ReachuP! would stand for: mentoring young people to reach up toward their dreams and teaching them not to be afraid of falling down or making mistakes, because everyone does. That idea, that failure is part of achievement rather than its opposite, became one of the defining messages of the foundation.
Funds raised through the event were directed toward the foundation’s work, particularly programs designed to build self-esteem in girls.
The All-Star Celebrity Soccer Events
The success of the 2010 launch led to a second major fundraising event in 2012, and this one was even more ambitious. Chastain hosted an All-Star Celebrity co-ed soccer match at San Jose Municipal Stadium, a minor-league baseball park best known as the home of the San Jose Giants. The unusual venue was part of the charm: soccer played on a baseball ground, in front of a family crowd, for a good cause.
The roster reflected Chastain’s reach across the Bay Area sports community. Olympic figure skating champion Kristi Yamaguchi and her husband, former NHL player Bret Hedican, joined the event, along with former Santa Clara University players and Santa Clara head coach Jerry Smith, Chastain’s husband and longtime collaborator in coaching.
The event was organized in partnership with Radio Disney AM 1310 and was designed for families rather than only for sports fans. Alongside the celebrity match, the day included a youth soccer clinic led by Chastain, open field time for kids, and a Radio Disney post-game concert. The event attracted support from a range of sponsors, among them Capital One, Nike, Gordon Biersch, Wente Vineyards, Max on Snax, and Dr. Oloff’s own Los Gatos Foot and Ankle Center.
All proceeds from the match were directed to the ReachuP! Foundation. In announcing the event, Chastain repeated the core of the foundation’s mission: creating a community where young girls can be inspired, empowered and challenged to reach beyond what they think their limits are.
Chastain was candid about her ambitions. She described the early events as just the beginning and expressed hope that the foundation might eventually grow into a model capable of staging youth festivals across the country, all with the goal of giving girls better role models.
Why Role Models Matter So Much to ReachuP!
To understand ReachuP!, it helps to understand a frustration Chastain has voiced repeatedly: when she was growing up, there were almost no visible female role models in soccer. She had to imagine a future in the sport because she could not see one. Decades later, she observed that many girls still lacked strong female role models, despite the enormous success of the women’s national team.
This concern sits at the heart of ReachuP!’s philosophy, and it is supported by broader research on youth development. Girls who see women succeeding in sport, science, business and public life are more likely to believe that those paths are open to them. Mentorship works in a similar way: a relationship with an older, accomplished person who listens, encourages and occasionally pushes can make the difference between a girl who quits when things get hard and one who keeps going.
ReachuP!’s approach to role modeling has always been honest rather than glossy. Chastain did not present herself as a flawless champion. Instead, she emphasized the injuries, setbacks, rejections and mistakes that shaped her. The message to girls is not “be perfect like me,” but “you can fall, get up, and still reach the top.”
Sport, Self-Esteem and Positive Body Image
A second pillar of ReachuP! is the link between sport and self-image. Chastain has spoken about how sport gives girls a sense of empowerment and a positive body image, a theme that has particular resonance given her own experience. Her 1999 celebration drew enormous attention to her body, and she has consistently pushed back against the idea that a woman’s body should be judged by how it looks rather than by what it can do.
This is exactly the shift ReachuP! hopes to encourage in young girls. Adolescence is a period when many girls become intensely self-critical about their appearance, and it is also when many of them drop out of sport. Those two trends are connected. When girls stop moving, competing and belonging to a team, they lose one of the strongest sources of confidence available to them.
ReachuP! programs and events were designed to keep girls engaged with physical activity and with positive female mentors through exactly those vulnerable years. The foundation’s emphasis on “healthy lifestyle choices” reflects the same thinking: confidence grows from feeling strong, capable and in control of your own health.
The Medical Dimension: Dr. Oloff’s Influence
What makes ReachuP! distinct from many athlete-founded charities is the medical perspective built into it from the start. Dr. Oloff brought decades of clinical experience treating athletes and everyday patients, and that expertise shaped the foundation’s focus on health education.
The ACL Injury Project
One of the clearest examples is a video project produced through the ReachuP! Foundation titled ACL Injury: Brandi Chastain’s Personal Journey. The project was designed to help improve the lives of young athletes by telling Chastain’s story from injured athlete to world champion, while also explaining the medical side of the injury: what an anterior cruciate ligament tear is, what causes it, how it is treated, and whether it can be prevented.
The topic was well chosen. ACL injuries are a serious problem in youth sport, and female athletes in sports such as soccer and basketball face a significantly higher risk of ACL tears than their male counterparts. Factors including landing mechanics, muscle strength balance, neuromuscular control and training habits all play a role. Many of these risk factors can be reduced through structured warm-up and prevention programs that focus on strength, balance and proper landing and cutting technique.
For a girl who has torn her ACL, the injury can mean many months away from the sport she loves, surgery, demanding rehabilitation and the very real fear that her athletic career is over. Chastain’s own history makes her an unusually credible messenger. She suffered knee injuries early in her college career and still went on to win World Cups and Olympic gold medals. Her story shows young athletes that a serious injury does not have to be the end, while the educational material explains how to reduce the risk of getting hurt in the first place.
The project was crowdfunded, with supporters offered rewards such as associate producer credits, signed DVDs and a dinner with Chastain and Dr. Oloff. It reflected the foundation’s practical style: combining a famous athlete’s lived experience with a physician’s knowledge to produce something directly useful to young athletes, parents and coaches.
Feet, Footwear and Women’s Health
Dr. Oloff’s broader work on women’s footwear also echoes ReachuP!’s values. Her central argument is that women should not have to choose between looking good and protecting their health. Much like ReachuP!’s message to girls, it rejects the idea that women must accept discomfort or damage as the price of participation, whether on the soccer field or in professional life.
By directing a share of her shoe sales to ReachuP!, Dr. Oloff created a link between a for-profit business and a charitable mission, a model often described as cause-related commerce. Customers buying her shoes were, in a small way, also supporting programs for girls.
ReachuP! and Brandi Chastain’s Wider Charitable Work
Brandi Chastain’s name is attached to several organizations working with young people, and it is easy to confuse them. Understanding the differences helps clarify what ReachuP! is and what it is not.
BAWSI (Bay Area Women’s Sports Initiative)
Before ReachuP!, Chastain co-founded BAWSI, the Bay Area Women’s Sports Initiative, alongside her national team teammate Julie Foudy and sports executive Marlene Bjornsrud. BAWSI grew out of the community connections built around women’s professional soccer in the Bay Area and is guided by the idea that girls who play become women who lead. It works largely through schools, bringing physical activity programs to girls who would otherwise have little access to sport, and has also developed programs for children with disabilities.
BAWSI and ReachuP! share a philosophy, but they are separate organizations with different co-founders. BAWSI is the larger and more established school-based program; ReachuP! is the foundation Chastain created with Dr. Oloff, with a particular emphasis on mentorship, self-esteem, health education and high-profile community events.
The REACH Youth Scholarship Program
Another source of confusion is the REACH Youth Scholarship Program, run through the San Jose Sports Authority and co-chaired by Chastain and Pro Football Hall of Famer Ronnie Lott. REACH stands for “Recognizing Excellence, Adversity, Courage and Hard Work” and awards scholarships to Santa Clara County high school seniors who have overcome adversity while excelling academically and athletically. Despite the similar name, REACH is not the same organization as ReachuP!.
Concussion and Athlete Health Advocacy
Chastain has also become a prominent advocate for athlete safety beyond knee injuries. In 2016 she pledged to donate her brain to the Concussion Legacy Foundation for research on concussions and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), and she has used her platform to push for changes such as limiting heading for young children. This advocacy fits neatly with the health-education side of ReachuP!: keeping young athletes in the game also means protecting them from avoidable harm.
Taken together, these efforts show a consistent pattern. Chastain’s charitable work revolves around three themes: access to sport for girls, mentorship and role models, and the long-term health of young athletes. ReachuP! sits at the intersection of all three.
The Philosophy Behind the Name
The name ReachuP! is more than a brand. It captures a specific attitude toward growth. “Reach up” suggests aspiration, stretching toward something higher than where you are now. The capitalized “P” and the exclamation point give it energy and urgency, as if it were something shouted from the sideline.
Chastain’s own explanation of the name ties it directly to mentorship: helping young people reach up toward their dreams while teaching them not to fear falling down or making mistakes. In this sense, ReachuP! is not about guaranteed success. It is about the willingness to try, fail, learn and try again, which is precisely the mindset sport teaches when it is coached well.
This philosophy also explains why the foundation’s events were so participatory. A clinic with a World Cup champion, a match played alongside Olympians, a concert after the final whistle: all of these were designed to make girls feel part of something, not merely spectators of other people’s success.
Who ReachuP! Was Created to Serve
ReachuP! was built primarily for girls in the Santa Clara Valley and the wider San Francisco Bay Area, the community where both founders live and work and where Chastain grew up. The foundation’s concerns, however, are universal, and its content, such as the ACL injury project, was intended to reach young athletes wherever they play.
The foundation’s main audiences can be summarized as follows:
Young girls and teenagers who need encouragement, confidence and positive role models, especially those at risk of dropping out of sport during adolescence.
Young athletes of both sexes who can benefit from injury-prevention education and stories of resilience, though the foundation’s emphasis has always been on girls.
Parents looking for guidance on how to support their daughters’ participation in sport and their healthy development.
Coaches and youth sports organizations interested in mentorship, injury prevention and building positive team cultures for girls.
Women and girls in need, whom Dr. Oloff has identified as a group the organization was established to support more broadly.
Lessons From ReachuP! for Parents and Coaches
Even for families who never attend a ReachuP! event, the foundation’s philosophy offers practical lessons that are worth applying at home and on the training field.
Keep Girls Playing Through Adolescence
The years between roughly 11 and 16 are when many girls quit organized sport, often because of self-consciousness, social pressure, a lack of fun, or the feeling that they are not good enough. Keeping girls involved, even at a recreational level, preserves one of the strongest foundations for self-esteem, physical health and social connection. Parents can help by emphasizing enjoyment and effort over results, and by finding programs where girls feel they belong.
Make Role Models Visible
ReachuP! exists partly because girls need to see women who succeed. Take girls to women’s matches, share stories of female athletes and professionals, and look for mentors in your own community. A role model does not need to be famous; an older teammate, a coach or a local professional can have enormous influence.
Talk About Mistakes Openly
One of the foundation’s most important messages is that falling down is part of reaching up. Adults can reinforce this by talking openly about their own failures and how they recovered, and by responding to a girl’s mistakes with curiosity and encouragement rather than criticism.
Take Injury Prevention Seriously
Given the higher risk of ACL injuries in female athletes, coaches and parents should prioritize structured warm-up programs that build strength, balance and good landing and cutting mechanics. These programs take only a few minutes per session and can significantly reduce injury risk. Proper footwear, adequate rest and attention to early signs of pain or overuse injury matter just as much. When injuries do occur, early assessment by a qualified sports medicine professional is essential.
Frame the Body as Capable, Not Ornamental
Language matters. Praise what a girl’s body can do (run, jump, tackle, recover) rather than how it looks. This reinforces the positive body image that ReachuP! has worked to build.
The Legacy and Influence of ReachuP!
ReachuP! has never been a giant national charity with a large staff and a massive budget. Its strength has come from the credibility and personal commitment of its founders, its roots in the local community, and its ability to bring together athletes, celebrities, sponsors, medical expertise and families around a clear, simple mission.
Its influence can be seen in several ways. The events it staged gave hundreds of girls direct contact with champions who had once been girls dreaming of the same things. The ACL project helped bring injury prevention into the conversation about girls’ sport. And the foundation added to a broader shift in the Bay Area and beyond, in which women’s sport is increasingly seen not only as entertainment but as a tool for developing confident, healthy young women.
ReachuP! also stands as an example of how athletes can extend their impact after retirement. Rather than simply lending her name, Chastain helped design events, ran clinics herself and told her personal story, including its painful parts, in service of the foundation’s goals. Dr. Oloff, for her part, contributed both her medical expertise and a stream of support from her business. The partnership between an athlete and a physician gave the organization a combination of inspiration and practical knowledge that few similar charities can claim.
How to Support or Get Involved With ReachuP!
Anyone interested in supporting ReachuP! or organizations with the same mission has several options.
Verify the organization’s current status. Like many small community foundations, ReachuP! has had periods of higher and lower public activity. Before donating, check its status as a tax-exempt organization through the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search tool and contact the founders’ offices directly to confirm how contributions are currently being used.
Support through commerce. Dr. Oloff has directed a portion of the proceeds from Joan Oloff Shoes to ReachuP!. Customers interested in supporting the cause in this way can ask the company about its current charitable arrangements.
Support related organizations. If your goal is to help girls through sport in the Bay Area, BAWSI and the REACH Youth Scholarship Program are both closely associated with Chastain and work toward complementary goals.
Volunteer as a mentor. The heart of the ReachuP! philosophy is mentorship. Volunteering with a local girls’ sports program, coaching a youth team or mentoring a young athlete applies the foundation’s ideas directly in your own community.
Spread injury-prevention knowledge. Encourage your local club or school to adopt evidence-based injury-prevention warm-ups, especially for female athletes.
Frequently Asked Questions About ReachuP!
Who founded ReachuP!?
ReachuP! was founded by Brandi Chastain, two-time FIFA Women’s World Cup champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist, together with Dr. Joan Oloff, a board-certified podiatric surgeon from Los Gatos, California, and the founder of Joan Oloff Shoes.
When was ReachuP! founded?
The foundation was established in 2010. It was publicly launched at Brandi Chastain’s testimonial match at Buck Shaw Stadium in Santa Clara, held to mark her retirement from professional soccer.
What is the mission of ReachuP!?
ReachuP! aims to create a community where young girls are inspired, empowered and challenged to reach beyond their perceived limitations. It supports programs and content that build self-esteem and positive body image, connect girls with mentors and role models, and encourage healthy lifestyle choices.
How did Brandi Chastain and Dr. Joan Oloff meet?
Dr. Oloff was the foot doctor for the San Jose CyberRays, the women’s professional soccer team Chastain played for. Their professional relationship developed into a lasting friendship, which eventually led to the creation of ReachuP!.
Is ReachuP! a registered charity?
Yes. ReachuP! was established as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization in the United States, which means donations to it have been tax-deductible within the rules applying to such organizations. Donors should confirm current status before giving.
Is ReachuP! the same as BAWSI?
No. BAWSI, the Bay Area Women’s Sports Initiative, was co-founded by Brandi Chastain with Julie Foudy and Marlene Bjornsrud and works mainly through school-based sports programs. ReachuP! is a separate foundation Chastain created with Dr. Joan Oloff. The two share a commitment to empowering girls through sport.
Is ReachuP! connected to the REACH scholarship program?
Not directly. The REACH Youth Scholarship Program is run by the San Jose Sports Authority and co-chaired by Brandi Chastain and Ronnie Lott. Despite the similar name, it is a separate initiative focused on scholarships for high school seniors.
What projects has ReachuP! been involved in?
Notable projects include Chastain’s 2010 farewell and launch match, an All-Star Celebrity co-ed soccer event at San Jose Municipal Stadium with Radio Disney AM 1310, youth soccer clinics led by Chastain, and the educational video project ACL Injury: Brandi Chastain’s Personal Journey, which explains ACL injuries and their prevention through Chastain’s own story.
Why does ReachuP! focus on girls?
Both founders saw that girls often lack visible female role models, tend to leave sport during adolescence and face particular pressures around body image. Female athletes are also at higher risk of certain injuries, such as ACL tears. ReachuP! was created to address these specific challenges.
What does the name ReachuP! mean?
The name reflects the idea of mentoring young people to reach up toward their dreams, and of teaching them that falling down and making mistakes is a normal and necessary part of getting there.
Final Thoughts
ReachuP! is, at its core, the story of two women who refused to accept limits. Brandi Chastain came back from serious injuries to win the biggest prizes in her sport and to become one of the most recognizable athletes in American history. Dr. Joan Oloff built a medical practice, worked alongside professional athletes and then took on the fashion industry to prove that women should not have to sacrifice their health for style. Together, they created a foundation that asks girls to do the same thing they did: look up, reach higher and keep going when it gets hard.
Its events brought champions and children onto the same field. Its educational work helped young athletes understand and protect their bodies. And its message, that girls deserve role models, mentors and the confidence to fail and try again, remains as relevant as it was on the day Brandi Chastain played her final professional match and handed that energy over to the next generation.
