Gwendolyn Oxenham: Bolivian Prison Footballer, Filmmaker and Women's Football Writer

Josh Schneider-Weiler
Oct 1, 2017
2 min read

Our guest today is Gwendolyn Oxenham, author of Finding the Game: Three Years, Twenty-five Countries and the Search for Pickup Soccer, and the co-director of Pelada, a documentary that the book is based off. We discuss the movie and international street football at great length. Oxenham has also written for the Atlantic and MLSsoccer and is currently an English professor at the Laguna College of Art and Design.

She is also the author of the new book Under the Lights and in the Dark: Inside Women's Soccer, which is in bookstores now. That book is a collection of the most interesting short stories in women's football, most of which have never been told before. The love and determination of the subjects in the book is astounding. In our episode, she discusses the fascinating stories of a homeless English national team player, the emotional journey of one Nigerian player and the discrimination pregnant mothers face in the game. And of course, we go into Oxenham's backstory and why she decided to this book.

You can follow Gwendolyn Oxenham (@gwenoxenham) on twitter here.

Timeline

From ballerina to soccer player 4:15

How she became the youngest player in D-1 history 8:55

The Inspiration for her documentary on street football 12:40

Her favorite memories from Pelada 17:28

Playing in a Bolivian prison 21:50

How her experience with Pelada led to her most recent book 31:25

Most powerful stories from her book 38:26

How subjects in the book inspired her 43:41

What didn't make it into the book 46:36

The hot-button issues in the women's game 49:22