In this week’s installment of the Women, Gender, and Sexuality (WGS) on Wednesdays, Dr. Natalie Smith spoke about some of the creative strategies that have made women’s soccer successful on a national and international scale.
This Wednesday, WGS on Wednesdays’ talk was led by Smith, an associate professor for ETSU’s Department of Sport, Exercise, Recreation, and Kinesiology. Her talk, “Women’s Soccer: A Creative Opportunity,” covered a brief history of soccer in various countries as well as an overview of the current status of the industry.
Smith has had the opportunity to work with women’s soccer organizations around the world, starting with her involvement with the National Women’s Soccer League’s team Sky Blue. Smith has also spent time working with European women’s soccer leagues. Her expertise is in bringing creative theories and strategies to the promotion and support of the sport.
Like many sports around the world, women’s soccer can be leveraged to impact the communities that support and sponsor teams and tournaments. According to Smith, this leverage can be applied to generate economic, social, physical and political impact.
“The Women’s World Cup has historically been sort of under leveraged,” she said.
Historically, FIFA and local organizational committees have not put the same amount of time and resources into making the Women’s World Cup a successful event as they have the men’s counterpart.
While recognizing that the Women’s World Cup has been seen as a “societal good” for inspiring young girls to play soccer, Smith said that “they framed it as a charity rather than an economic opportunity.”
Smith will continue her research and work in the world of women’s soccer with her upcoming study of the New Zealand FIFA Women’s World Cup. More of her research can be found in her numerous articles on sports management as well as the book “Organizational Behavior in Sport Management: An Applied Approach to Understanding People and Groups,” which she co-authored.
This and other talks from the WGS on Wednesdays series can be viewed on the organization’s YouTube page.
WGS on Wednesdays is a continuation of “Women on Wednesdays” which began in 2012. According to Chelsea Wessels, the interim director of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at ETSU, this series “seeks to highlight work on gender and sexuality on campus.” Each installment features a different speaker and topic relating to this work.
The next installment of WGS on Wednesdays will be April 6 at noon and will feature Dr. Michael Anthony Fowler and his discussion “Rosa Bonheur the Amazon? Equestrianism, Female Masculinity, and the Horse Fair (1852–1855).”
