Rodman Rising: Trinity Shedding Her Father’s Legacy and Driving a New Era in Women’s Sports
Trinity Rodman is a symbol of progress on multiple front in this new era of women's sports. If only we could stop asking about her dad...
IF YOU’RE JUST TURNING INTO THE PARIS OLYMPICS,
amidst the world’s most formidable athletes such as Simone Biles and Katie Ledecky, you’ll find a young soccer player who possesses the talent to transcend the soccer community as a global icon. Trinity Rodman, a record-setting million-dollar player, reflects both the progress in women’s sport and the areas where we still fall short in supporting its expansion.
This Olympics is an incredible moment for Rodman, who is dominating the international stage—if only we could stop asking her about her dad…
I really thought the 2023 World Cup would be the moment the world acknowledged and celebrated Rodman for the once-in-a-lifetime player and person she is. But alas, we know how that went. RIP Vlatko and the legacy of excellence for American women. We were robbed of witnessing a young star command a global audience for her first World Cup. No big deal. I mourned for these young players, but put on my “patience pants” knowing the Olympics were coming…
I’ve been obsessed with Trinity Rodman since I saw her play live in her rookie season at the NWSL final in 2021. I’ve spent a lot of time around the game, and the feeling of watching Rodman play is an energetic current of possibilities. I’ve never seen a player so dangerous from literally anywhere on the field. While the USWNT’s Smith and Swanson are equally impressive talents (whom I thank the soccer Gods everyday for), as a player and a coach, I feel an extra burst of “oh fuck” when Rodman is in control of the ball.
She made history at 18 as the youngest draftee in NWSL history.
Foregoing college for the pros is not unusual for top athletes, but for a women’s soccer player, it’s a relatively new phenomenon that very few players select. Lindsay Horan, Cat Macario, and Mal Swanson are the other current USWNT members of this very small club. Macario and Horan opted for Europe, something previously frowned upon by the U.S. Soccer Federation, while Swanson took a chance on a wobbly 2017 NWSL, where salaries ranged from $15,000 to $40,000 for the year, with team caps at $315,000. I even had the privilege of making a shocking $200 for my season with the Portland Thorns in 2016, but that’s another blog post.
The UCLA education Swanson passed on was a gamble, and albeit revolutionary for the U.S. women’s soccer community. I can’t find any information about Swanson’s starting NWSL salary, but looking at the pay scale, it looks bleak. In 2024, Swanson signed a historic 4-year deal of $2.5 million with the Chicago Red Stars, demonstrating how far we have come in the last seven years and shedding light on the moment and making of Trinity Rodman. The opportunities and support system that underscore her success provide actual pathways for more “Rodmans” to emerge.
Rodman had an electric rookie season, winning the NWSL championship and taking home Rookie of the Year, Best XI, and U.S. Soccer’s Young Female Player of the Year. In conversation with ESPN’s Charlotte Gibson about her $1.1 million, 4-year contract extension, Rodman sheds her own ego, understanding the existential significance of her role in the wider ecosystem of sport that many young athletes fail to recognize,
“I strongly acknowledge what ‘older players’ or veterans have done to earn what they’ve gotten. They’ve put blood, sweat, and tears into paving the path for me, and I feel so blessed. My goal right now is to pave the way for people younger than me and learn from those who did it before me.”
We’ve never had, in the history of women’s rights, 19-year-olds securing multimillion-dollar sports deals.
Her predecessors Alex Morgan, Mia Hamm, Abby Wambach, and Megan Rapinoe all had the added burden of fighting for respect and resources. We don’t know what a female athlete with this amount of talent is going to look like in ten years when there are actual professional level resources and infrastructure in place. It was not that long ago that many NWSL teams practiced in parks and high schools; now we have women-only stadiums being built in Kansas of all places. The tide is turning.
Rodman’s historic pay aside, this is also the first all-Black front line, and the most diverse U.S. roster ever.
In a sport typically dominated by white suburban girls, Rodman and company represent a new era of access and support. As crucial players in the pay equity movement, the increasing visibility of Black women on the USWNT will undoubtedly have ripples in the global sport equity movement. The rise of an all-Black frontline is emblematic of a broader societal shift towards recognizing and valuing intersectional identities. Representation, as it turns out, matters. But this advancement is not without resistance; Black female athletes face far more scrutiny and pressure. There is much work to be done in shifting the media’s response to these women.
Obviously, I know who her father is. I frequently joke that I need 48 hours in Vegas. My parents, being Chicago natives and massive Bulls fans, I know Dennis as the eccentric, gritty, boundary-pushing wild card of a player you hate to play against and relish that they’re on your team.
Trinity has much to gain from her last name but equally has no meaningful connection to him.
My jaw hit the floor when Hoda Kotb asked her if her dad came to support her at the opening round of the Olympics. Google Trinity's name, and you’ll find out pretty quickly that they are not close. She handled the question with grace and a “nope” that is still hanging in the air of NBC’s Paris studio. She followed with, “but my mom gave me a big hug,” and she smiled as the interview moved on while USWNT fans at home face-palmed. As a side note, the man showed up in North Korea but can’t make it to the Paris Olympics? Again, another story for another time. In a way, this feels reminiscent of the Williams tennis shake-up, but Dennis is no King Richard, albeit annoying to have a feature-length film about the greatest athletes of all time’s dad…
This is not new—the sports media overshadowing women’s achievements by insisting on connecting them to the male figures in their lives is universal and ultimately shackles women to the need for male validation and connection for notoriety and advancement.
Sports media, in general, has done a historically oppressive job
of supporting women’s sports. I want to scream at ESPN every time I turn on the TV, hoping for a women’s game to be aired only to be trumped by Top Golf tournaments, little league, and a 30 for 30 library that’s flooded with male content. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good game or story regardless of gender, but the gaslighting by the sports media is shameful, telling women for decades that no one will watch. The numbers in the last year have spoken, and it’s a resounding “told you so.” Shockingly, women’s sports are entertaining and profitable. Now that women have the sports media's attention, we can’t seem to help but bring it back to the role of men in their lives.
Despite her father, Trinity is completely self-made.
Watch her confuse and embarrass her opponents on one end while ruthlessly defending on the other. She is equal parts creativity, stealth, and grit. But beyond that, she is everything women’s sports is embracing. She is power and speed, passion and drama. While women have historically retrofitted themselves to fit into sport, distancing themselves from femininity and expression, Rodman turns up with pink braids and winged eyeliner. As I declare frequently, for female athletes, ponytails are social capital, and Trinity is LOADED. Perhaps a nod towards Rapinoe’s pink hair in the 2019 World Cup, or she’s just a fucking stud. Either way, she challenges convention unapologetically, pushing the boundaries of what it looks like to be a female athlete, mirroring what we are seeing across women’s sports—from Jordan Chiles’ grills to Ilona Maher’s red lips to Sha’Carri Richardson’s explosion of style.
It feels like we’re finally leaving behind norms that require athletes to be stoic, apolitical, and palatable, now embracing athletes' humanity and expression.
This Olympics, I have no doubt this will be a catalyst moment for Trinity. She’s already a star in the soccer community of her own volition, but the media’s obsession with her father distracts from the true genius that is emerging. While her last name draws her attention, it will equally shadow her rise to stardom. I’m sure many women can relate to being eclipsed by a man who isn’t even around. I get it, we love an origin story, especially one that has 1 degree of separation from the greatest NBA team of all time. The sports media would shock and awe if they began to shift their stories towards Trinity Rodman’s
symbolism of the paradigm shifts we’re witnessing. She and the USWNT should be utilized as powerful lens through which to view both the progress made and the work still to be done.
Trinity is a symbol of change in an era that needs no male validation, and if we can get over that, we will undoubtedly witness magic.
love your passion and perspective Mo. You ROCK! Keep it up. What a voice you have!!