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About: Risa Isard

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Full Name: Risa Isard
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Details: Risa Isard, a native of Phoenix, Arizona, is a Duke University student. A community service enthusiast turned social change activist, Risa is developing her own major in Social Change and Social Inquiry through Duke's Program II. An impassioned sports fan and athlete, she spent her freshman year as a manager for Duke's Women's Basketball Team and playing ultimate frisbee on the women's club team, Chakra. In the fall of 2009 Risa walked-on to Duke's crew team. During the summer of 2009, she and a former soccer teammate made a road trip to LA to attend a Women's Professional Soccer game in their inaugural season. Though she no longer plays organized soccer, Risa had the pleasure of playing for several years growing up through her Sophomore year of high school. At Shadow Mountain High School she captained the JV soccer team as a freshman, while also spending time playing at the varsity level. As a sophomore she lettered and was recognized as her team's Most Improved Player. In total, Risa earned eight varsity letters in high school competing in Cross Country, Soccer and Track and Field. Her career aspirations include getting a Ph.D. in sport sociology and studying how sports can be used as a platform for social change, community development and outreach. Her favorite soccer player is Carli Lloyd of the US Women's National Team.

Posts by Risa Isard:

27 Oct 2009 Hope Solo
21 Oct 2009 Soccer and Homophobia

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A Football Report
- Seattle, you are something else in American Soccer You know... June 18, 2013
  Seattle, you are something else in American Soccer You know what’s a good problem to have? Not being able to tell which is more entertaining: your fans or your team. Seattle hosted its first World Cup qualifier for US Soccer in 37 years, and it was one to remember. Under the leadership of Jürgen Klinsmann, the U.S. played with a new confidence and cruised to […]
- The World Cup and the world’s protest in... June 18, 2013
  The World Cup and the world’s protest in Brazil “Everything in Brazil is a mess. There is no education, health care — no security. The government doesn’t care. We’re a rich country with a lot of potential but the money doesn’t go to those who need it most.” - 26 year old Brazilian photographer Manoela Chiabai, speaking to the AP. The pre-match pleasantries e […]
- Leverkusen welcomes a new Son By Ross Dunbar “With his open... June 17, 2013
  Leverkusen welcomes a new Son By Ross Dunbar “With his open nature, Sonny is the face of HSV and our organisation,” admits Hamburg Chairman Carl E. Jarchow, back in 2012. Commercially, and on the park, the South Korean international was the ‘Poster Boy’ of the club and commanded promising opinions of his playing qualities, and his reputation. Particularly fo […]
From a Left Wing
- Are the Doncaster Belles being punished for their history? Or for the history of women's football? June 14, 2013
  Moira Lovell, "John and Precious" from Stand Your GroundDoncaster Rover Belles players and their coachThe unfairness of discrimination can be so lacerating, so outrageous that you hesitate to speak directly to the experience of it. Once you start, you are sucked into a tornado of totally justified and completely disabling paranoid thinking. Who wan […]
  Jennifer Doyle
- The Runner's Runner May 9, 2013
  I've long wanted to write about Justina Cassavell. My sister has been the cross-country coach at Voorhees High School in New Jersey since the mid 1990s. She is also the head track coach (boys and girls). She announced her resignation yesterday - within minutes it seemed, the story was posted on NJ.com.Under her leadership, the girls cross-country team h […]
  Jennifer Doyle
- Brittney Griner, Jason Collins and the Sex of a Story May 1, 2013
  The (not-homophobic side of the) sports world has invested a lot of magic in the currently-professional-and-playing-out-gay-male-athlete. It's no wonder, given how elusive that athlete has been.Jason Collins comes out decades after Stonewall, he comes out long after Ellen DeGeneres came out while professionally-active-and-on-television and then recovere […]
  Jennifer Doyle
Football is Coming Home
- Online Fútbol University May 13, 2013
  My online course “Culture of Soccer” launched today at Michigan State University. With 120 students enrolled, it recognizes and nurtures younger Americans’ growing appetite for fútbol. It may even be read as a “‘rejection’ of U.S. isolationist/exceptionalist attitudes,” as @OhioGooner put it to me on Twitter. But it’s also important to note that the course [ […]
  Peter Alegi
- Research Forum on South African Football: Mapping the Field May 3, 2013
  Guest Post by *Marc Fletcher Gloomy skies and wet weather greeted the Research Forum on South African Football held at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) last month. The bleak conditions made for an intimate crowd, but the academics, journalists and sports practitioners in attendance were rewarded with three strikingly different presentations on varying asp […]
  Peter Alegi
- Playing the Game: World Cup and Olympic Development in Rio April 29, 2013
  Police in riot gear battle protestors in the streets of Rio de Janeiro. Aggressive slum clearance threatens favelas. Gentrification at Maracanã Stadium. FIFA exclusion zones around World Cup venues. Sound familiar? As readers of this blog know, South Africa staged a successful World Cup in 2010, marketing the country globally to tourists and foreign investor […]
  Peter Alegi
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