To read about our adventures on the road and on the field, check out my new book with St. Martin’s Press: Finding the Game: Three Years, Twenty Five Countries, and the Search for Pickup Soccer. It’s available here: http://www.amazon.com/Finding-Game-Twenty-five-Countries-Search/dp/1250002044.
Nearly three years after premiering at South by Southwest, PELADA is doing well and has screened in many countries across the world, from Qatar to Poland. We’ve been overwhelmed by the response that pickup has generated-in addition to some generous reviews of our film (check out this one by James Dall on ESPN), we’ve received wonderful emails from viewers who have told us their own pickup tales, fantastic accounts of games played everywhere, with anyone. Thank you so much for sharing your stories.
We, the Pelada crew, are doing well. Ryan’s new film, Good Ol’ Freda (http://www.goodolfreda.com/) , centered on the never-before-told stories of the Beatles’ longtime friend and secretary, will premiere at SXSW this March. Rebekah (aka Ferg) has her own production company in San Francisco-check out her website at www.rfilmsprod.com. Luke is practicing environmental law at a small firm in Newport Beach. And I’m teaching writing classes at Laguna College of Art and Design and Orange Coast College.
Finally, Luke and I are expecting a baby this summer. Despite some envisioned headaches involving pronunciation, we intend to name the kid-boy or girl-Xavi, after the Barcelona center-mid whom we are both mildly obsessed with, drawn to his subtle grace.
We love hearing pickup stories and would love to hear more in the comments section.
All the best,
Gwendolyn