[ pelada ]

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

Pelada is by far the best documentary I have ever seen. I loved every second of it. I too had dreams of playing pro, but as my sophmore year of D1 soccer comes to close it seems more and more evident that I will not make it to the pros. This documentary helped to reinsure me that I will be just fine. And the love of the game will never leave me. By the way I read that your guys favorite players is Xavi, he is my favorite player as well,I wear his number 6 because he is so humble and a family man. I wish the best for your future Xavi.
-Paul Hogan

I was sharing with my daughter’s trainer about our recent trip to Haiti and how many pick up games we saw, little ones playing barefoot with a handmade ball. He shared with me your documentary and after watching I was filled with joy. Great work on your ends, will be sharing with our kids, including our two newly adopted boys from haiti who are passionate about ” fútbol “as they say in kreyol. God bless your growing family! The Renelus fam

I´ve started reading the book this week. I ´ve seen parts of the documentary on tv, but can´t find it here in Rio. You guy have made what i dream about for a long time. Traveling and playing football is one of the most fantastic things to do in the world.
I´m 33 and play a pelada every saturday at Urca (the barrio of the Sugar Loaf). I invite every one to come and play whenever you are in Rio. Greetings.

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