Gwendolyn Oxenham

Gwendolyn Anne Oxenham (born November 24, 1983) is an American writer, filmmaker, and retired soccer player. She studied English and documentary filmmaking at Duke University, where as a soccer player she was the youngest NCAA Division 1 athlete in history. She later studied creative writing at the University of Notre Dame, where she was awarded a prestigious postgraduate writing grant. During a summer break there, she played professionally for the Brazilian soccer club Santos.

Oxenham has written, directed, and performed in a number of soccer-oriented documentaries, most notably the 2010 film ''Pelada''. She has written two books and contributed many articles to prominent U.S. periodicals.

Early life and education

Gwendolyn Oxenham was born in West Covina, California, but grew up in Gulf Breeze, Florida, near Pensacola. She graduated after her junior year at Gulf Breeze High School, having been named Northwest Florida soccer player of the year. She was awarded an athletic scholarship to Duke University, and in her first year there was a starter and top scorer on the women's soccer team. At 16 years old, she was at that time the youngest NCAA Division 1 athlete in history. In four seasons for Duke, she scored 10 goals and recorded 17 assists in 80 appearances.

Graduating four years later with a BA in English and a certificate from Duke's Center for Documentary Studies, she enrolled in the MFA in Creative Writing program at the University of Notre Dame. During the break after her first year there in 2005, she played professionally for the women's team of Santos, the premier Brazilian soccer club. Back at Notre Dame she received the Nicholas Sparks Prize, a year-long postgraduate writing grant.

Filmmaking

Upon finishing her grant year, Oxenham and three friends decided to make a documentary film about pickup soccer games around the world. The crew took three trips, encompassing 25 countries, to shoot the film. One trip, in 2007, was to South America; another, in 2008, was to Europe and Africa; the third, in 2009, was to Asia and the Middle East.

The resulting film, ''Pelada'', premiered in 2010 at SXSW. It was distributed internationally and shown at festivals in the U.S., where it won numerous awards. Its New York City premiere was at a bar in Manhattan's Koreatown; it received positive reviews in ''The New York Times'' and ''The New Yorker''.

Oxenham wrote and directed, with Erit Yellen and Rebekah Fergusson, the 2015 sports documentary '' An Equal Playing Field''. She was consulting producer for ''Finding Football'', a 2018 original series produced for YouTube.

Writing

Gwendolyn Oxenham is the author of two books and numerous articles and essays.

*''Finding the Game: Three Years, Twenty-five Countries and the Search for Pickup Soccer'' follows and expands upon the adventures chronicled in ''Pelada''. It includes many details and stories that could not be fit into the 90-minute film.
*''Under the Lights and in the Dark: Untold Stories of Women's Soccer'', tells twelve stories about female soccer players around the world, including U.S. professional star Allie Long, who trains in an underground men's league in New York City, and Danish international star Nadia Nadim, who honed her skills after her family fled from the Taliban.

She has contributed articles to many publications, including ''The Atlantic, Sports Illustrated,'' and ''The New York Times''.

Personal life

Oxenham married Luke Boughen, co-star of ''Pelada''. She lives in Southern California, where she teaches English and screenwriting at Orange Coast College and Laguna College of Art and Design.

References

External links

Gwendolyn Oxenham website

''Pelada'' website

Video of Oxenham talking about playing for Santos and writing ''Under the Lights'' (2:34)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oxenham, Gwendolyn
1983 births
Living people
People from West Covina, California
Sportspeople from West Covina, California
People from Gulf Breeze, Florida
Filmmakers from California
Filmmakers from Florida
Writers from California
Writers from Florida
Educators from Greater Los Angeles
Educators from Florida
Soccer players from California
American women's soccer players
American women documentary filmmakers
American women non-fiction writers
Women's association football forwards
Duke Blue Devils women's soccer players
Santos FC (women) players
American expatriate women's soccer players
American expatriate sportspeople in Brazil
Expatriate women's footballers in Brazil
21st-century American women educators
21st-century American educators
Teachers of English
Writing teachers