As The Women’s Sports Foundation’s New President, Scout Bassett Hopes To Propel Athletes Like Herself Forward

When the Women’s Sports Foundation approached Scout Bassett about becoming its president, she was certain if she accepted the role, she would give it her all.

“I didn’t want to just be a figurehead,” Bassett, a 2016 U.S. Paralympian, said. “I really wanted to show that as president, I am doing something about making the changes I want to see, that I’m really being active and out there in terms of fundraising.”

After beginning her term at the start of 2024, Bassett, 35, is balancing her duties as WSF president with her Para track and field career. The Americas record holder in the 200-meter T63, Bassett is training with an eye on qualifying for the Paralympic Games Paris 2024.

“For me, it was a little bit challenging, because this is a Paralympic year,” she said. “I was a hesitant in that sense, but was able to go back and say, ‘I’m very interested, but I have another major commitment, to train for the Games.’”

Born in Nanjing, China, Bassett lost her right leg in a chemical fire as an infant and lived in an orphanage for seven years before being adopted by an American couple and moving to Harbor Springs, Michigan, in 1995.

After graduating from UCLA, she took a marketing job with a medical device company and trained before and after work. She started her career as a triathlete and regularly competed at the Paratriathlon world championships, winning four career medals at that competition.

By 2015, she resolved to pursue the Paralympics full time as a track and field athlete. Although sometimes reduced to living out of her car, Bassett qualified for the 2016 Rio Games in the 100-meter and long jump.

“I quit my job and moved down to San Diego and found a coach that was going to take me on, for no pay,” she said. “I had saved up a little money, but not enough to be able to (fund myself).”

The more Bassett reflected on her own career, the more taking on the WSF presidency role made sense to her.

Established in 1974, the WSF is dedicated to advancing the lives of women and girls through sports and physical activity. Through grants, research and advocacy, it aims to expand access and opportunities for female athletes. In 2013, Bassett received her first Travel & Training Fund grant from the WSF, and it helped lead her to Rio.

“That grant really propelled me to a path of Paralympic sport that I hadn’t really been able to pursue before then, and really changed my license in so many ways,” she said. “And just to see the impact of the organization over the years and all the young girls and women they’ve been able to support and help, it just really felt like a natural fit for what I’m about and what I’m looking to do in the future.”

Bassett already had a strong relationship with the WSF before she took over as the foundation’s president. Last year, she launched the Scout Bassett Fund, which partnered with the WSF to create the Scout Bassett Grant to award financial assistance to women athletes with disabilities who are pursuing the Paralympics.

Earlier in March, Bassett revealed the fund’s inaugural class of five athletes who will each receive $8,000 this year: alpine skier Alexis Johnson; equestrian athlete Andie Sue Roth; track and field athletes Femita Ayanbeku, and Jaleen Roberts; and swimmer Julia Gaffney.

“Throughout the year, whether it’s at our events or in interviews, I will tell the stories of these incredible women as they are on their Paralympic journey,” Bassett said.  

Here are more of Bassett’s thoughts and goals while she serves as the WSF president.

On balancing training and competing with her new role:

I think one of the powers of being a woman athlete is that I, like many others that have come before me, do a lot of other things. We have passions and causes that we are involved and invested in, and I don’t see myself as any different in that way. … Most of the past presidents have taken this role after they are done with their athletic career. I’m certainly not the first to do it while they’re still competing. I have such a great team (including coach Tonie Campbell) and the team at WSF is so helpful and so supportive.

On the Scout Bassett Grant recipients:

Five individuals, and they are across all different Paralympic sports, several different disabilities and come from all walks of life. And that’s something that I’m really excited and proud of with the fund, because we really want to span all backgrounds. … We really want (to represent) that richness and diversity of what disability looks like.

On funding the grants:

A sponsor of mine last year donated the initial seed money to start the fund. Since then, several of my other partners have been able to continue to support the fund, such as Nike, Citibank and Bridgestone. I’m really appreciative to my partners for seeing the vision and goal and dream that I had to develop and support other young woman athletes with disabilities. We’ll also be doing a couple of fundraisers, one on the East Coast, one on the West Coast, to continue to invest in the fund. And when we do speaking engagements, in lieu of myself receiving an honorarium, we will ask for a donation to the fund.

On increasing women’s Paralympic participation:

Women Paralympians do not have the same number of opportunities to compete as men. At the 2024 Paris Games, on the Olympic side it is going to be the first gender-equal Games, and yet we’re going to see that there are fewer sports and events offered to women at the Paralympics. And the Paralympic Committee has told me, one reason (is) there’s not enough numbers — we don’t see enough interest (from women) to be able to add more sports. So this is a way of being able to support and develop a pipeline of young women talent to compete at the Paralympic Games.

On expanding Title IX to include Paralympians:

When I went to college, and I wanted to pursue the Paralympics, I wasn’t able to use the facilities at UCLA. I wasn’t able to train with the track team. I wasn’t able to work with any of their coaches. I had to do it on my own. And so that’s really where I see the future of Title IX and the work we do at WSF. I’m hoping that across this country we’re going to see more scholarships given to athletes with disabilities, in particular women athletes with disabilities, for them to go to college to pursue Paralympic sport. I think that’s really where WSF can have a tremendous impact from an advocacy or legislation standpoint.

On the 50th anniversary of WSF:

I’m really proud to be selected as the first Asian American president of the organization in our 50-year history. I think it’s especially meaningful, because in the face of sport, there are not a lot of Asian figures, so to speak. So for me to be able to blaze a trail, I hope that future generations of Asian Americans see that pathway. Whether you’re an athlete or you’re in the (sports) business or you want to get into the media side, whatever it might be, we’re showing that sport is a space for Asian Americans.

This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.

Lynn Rutherford has covered five Olympic Games, including the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing for TeamUSA.com. Based in New York, she is a freelance contributor to USParaTF.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.