"THIS IS my baby," says Leesa Barnes. But instead of holding up a wriggling infant, she points to a computer screen. Her parental pride is focused on her six-month-old on-line magazine, Sportsfemmes.com, the Web mag she recently launched dedicated entirely to women's sports and Canada's female athletes.

"Sportsfemmes.com is trying to get people to think of sports as another form of femininity," says Barnes (BA'97).

As editor-in-chief, she spends eight hours a day at her computer screen in her east-end bachelor where she surfs the Net for the latest scores and sports news, edits features and writes editorials.

The magazine is still Toronto-centric, but Barnes hopes to connect with other women's sports writers across the country to provide a national perspective.

Though the idea for a Web mag had been simmering in Barnes' mind for months, it wasn't until she connected with the Toronto Webgrrls - an on-line forum for women and technology - that the concept became a reality. Her main motivation for doing the mag was her love of sports. "I didn't like skipping with the girls but I loved playing soccer with the boys. I got in touch with my 'masculine ', side at an early age." (She also played on the York women's basketball team for two years until a knee injury left her on the bench.)

Eventually she says she wants to establish a print version to rival Sports Illustrated for Women.

Her on-line magazine is for anyone interested in women's sports, she says.

"It's not sports feminists. It's Sportsfemmes.com."

Photo: Lindsay Lozon