By Lina-Doreen Rose, doctoral student and research assistant, Johannes Gutenberg-University, Mainz.
Between the 21st of August until the 26th of October 2024, Lina-Doreen Rose had the privilege to participate in a month-long research trip to the USA, where she primarily engaged with the University of Central Florida, the North Carolina State University, and Clubs of the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL). The research trip was driven by an exploration of the development and professionalization of women’s soccer in the USA, with a particular emphasis on the NWSL.
As part of the research trip, Lina-Doreen Rose was able to experience professional women’s soccer sport events and their organization by getting in touch with clubs in the NWSL and by attending matches of the league (for example NJ/NY Gotham FC vs. Portland Thorns, NC Courage vs. Kansas City Current, Orlando Pride vs. Kansas City Current).
While visiting the North Carolina Courage and Orlando Pride club offices on site, Lina-Doreen had the possibility to speak with staff and managers from various departments, as well as to the executive board, to get more insights into the structures of and themes related to women’s soccer from different perspectives. Key topics of the conversations which arose were the challenges, but also opportunities within the history and further professionalization of clubs, the league and women’s soccer in the USA in general.
The conversations provided Lina Doreen with valuable insights that strengthened her work. As a result of to the knowledge gained, Lina-Doreen was able to more clearly structure her research focus in the field of professional women’s soccer sport events and human rights. In addition, Lina-Doreen was able to set up in-depth follow-up interviews not only with the experts she met with in person, but also with experts from various clubs and, for example, the Chief Sporting Director of the NWSL.
Moreover, while staying at the North Carolina State University, where Lina-Doreen was invited by Jason Bacarro and Mike Edwards, and at the University of Central Florida, where she was invited by Stephen Pratt, Lina-Doreen had time to work on her research and to interact with scientists. She gave talks and a seminar on her research topic to professors, graduate students and undergraduates. These resulted in inspiring and thoughtful discussions about her research focus, design, methodology and further research subjects in the field of women’s soccer development and professionalization. They also opened up possibilities for future collaboration and knowledge exchange.
During her time in the USA, Lina-Doreen made significant progress in her research, enabling her to move on to the next stage of her studies. The research trip gave her the opportunity to connect with and talk to key people in the professional women’s sport event sector in the USA and to build up a contact list of experts for in-depth interviews. The discussions and exchange of knowledge with researchers brought new aspects and strengthened the theoretical and methodological framework of her work. Without this experience, Lina- Doreen Rose would not have been able to take these steps forward in her research.
Lina-Doreen Rose would like to extend her gratitude to the RISE “EventRights” project of the European Union, as well as her supervisor, Prof. Dr. Holger Preuß. She would also like to thank Mike Edwards and Stephen Pratt for their exceptional support during her stay at the NCSU and UCF.