Meredith College’s Summer Reading Program selection for 2013 is “Finding the Game,” by Gwendolyn Oxenham.

Oxenham, who was a starter and leading goal-scorer on Duke University’s soccer team, became the youngest Division I athlete in NCAA history at age 16. When the women’s professional soccer league ended shortly after Oxenham graduated, her U.S. soccer career was over. First, she played professionally for a Brazilian women’s soccer team, and then she earned an M.F.A. in creative writing. “Finding the Game” and the accompanying documentary follow Oxenham and her friends around the world in search of pickup soccer, reflecting a unique combination of her writing and athletic skills.

In “Finding the Game,” Oxenham describes pickup games in 20 different countries, including Bolivia, Kenya and Iran. Oxenham traveled the world to play and film informal soccer games and to observe the ways that people connect and enrich their lives through the sport.  The book describes her adventures and, more generally, shows how a determined and creative person can pursue ambitious goals, adjust to disappointments and circumstances, and ultimately find success. 

The Summer Reading Program was created to enhance the academic climate on campus and to engage incoming first year students in a shared intellectual endeavor with the entire campus community, including students, faculty, staff and alumnae.

Summer Reading Events

Monday, August 26:
Summer Reading Book Discussion
Discuss “Finding the Game” with your advising group

Wednesday, August 28:
2013 Summer Reading Lecture, presented by author Gwendolyn Oxenham,
at 7 p.m. in Jones Auditorium
Lecture is free and open to the public.