We have some personnel news from the Pioneer League’s Northern Colorado Owlz, where Rosie Aguilera is new president of the team’s home, Future Legends Complex.
The announcement, fittingly enough, comes on National Girls and Women in Sports Day.
Aguilera will oversee operations for the Owlz as well as USL League One soccer club Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC. She is believed to be the first Latina president of a professional baseball team.
“This is a thrilling opportunity for me to take everything I’ve learned and apply it as an executive at a professional level,” Aguilera said via press release. “It’s exciting to be part of new franchises and build championship-contending teams made up of players who are good humans on and off the pitch.
“I’m excited to be able to make an impact, and to blaze a trail for other women who may want to become executives at professional franchises.”
“Rosie is unique in that she has experience in soccer as a player and an administrator, and in a professional baseball front office,” said Jeff Katofsky, member of Future Legends Complex, via press release. “We are so lucky to have someone like Rosie, whose experience, and, as important, heart, will take the Owlz and Hailstorm to high levels of performance and fan experiences.”
In 2017, Aguilera, a native of Piedmont, Calif., founded the RV United Women’s Football Club in Cape Town, South Africa. RV United uses soccer to build self-esteem, encourage physical health, and promote academic development among young women in South Africa. As the managing director of RV United, Aguilera fundraised, wrote grants, created and managed the organization’s budgets, and served as the liaison with donors.
Working in some of the most impoverished areas of South Africa, making every dollar stretch as far as you could was key, Aguilera said. “There were days when you’d have to decide between feeding the girls and making sure they got home safely. That’s pressure.”
Aguilera received an internship from Grassroot Soccer in 2015 and moved from California to South Africa to work with the organization. Much like RV United, Grassroot Soccer provides life skills and mentors to young people through soccer.
She has also worked in minor league baseball, acting as the community affairs manager and director of business and community affairs for the San Rafael Pacifics (Pacific Association) during the 2012 and 2013 seasons.
Aguilera was the goalkeeper for the University of California at Berkeley women’s soccer team from 2007–09 after transferring from UC Irvine. She earned a bachelor’s degree in conservation and resource studies from Cal in 2010, and her master’s degree in sport management from the University of San Francisco in 2013.
The new complex is set to debut later this year.