This summer Associate Professor of Sport Management Sarah Zipp, Ph.D. traveled to Sydney, Australia, where she shared some of her findings at the 2023 Business and Development of Women’s Football, as well as attended several Women’s World Cup soccer games. Zipp, whose trip was funded in part through the university’s faculty Summer Development Grant, is program director for the undergraduate and graduate Sport Management Program in the Richard J. Bolte, Sr. School of Business.
The conference, which took place from July 31 to August 1 at the University of Sydney, focused on issues for women in soccer, from accessibility to the sport to the future of women in soccer and from inclusion to commercialization. Zipp, who is especially passionate about the role of young women and girls in sports, was invited to participate in several events.
Zipp sat on a panel about diversity and inclusion in women’s athletics moderated by Tracey Holmes, a top women’s sport broadcaster in Australia, presented some of her research findings on the role of menstrual health for female athletes and moderated a panel on how sports empower women and girls. The latter panel was joined by her 13-year-old daughter, Gwen, who shared thoughts of her own with attendees.
“I’ve been doing this type of coaches’ education, on women’s health in sport, for a few years now and it has become a 
popular topic. For example, CoachingHer is a program I’m contributing to through the Tucker Center for Research on Gender and Sport at the University of Minnesota. I wrote some new coaching education modules that are a part of their program to support coaches in girls and women’s sport,” shared Zipp.
The conference was particularly exciting for Zipp, who received word just before leaving for Australia that her book proposal on the connection between menstrual health and athletics had been accepted by Routledge.
Additionally, the backdrop of the Women’s World Cup added a buzz of excitement and immediacy to the topics of the conference. While in Sydney, Zipp and her daughter attended several games, including England v. Denmark, Germany v. Colombia, and Panama v. France.
“We had a busy and wonderful time. Going to a World Cup opens the door to meet with many leaders in global sport in just one trip,” exclaimed Zipp.