'Soccer Grannies' Book Launch At Goodnow Library In Sudbury

SUDBURY, MA — Local author Jean Duffy will kick off a book tour at Sudbury's Goodnow Library on Wednesday to tell the story of the "Soccer Grannies," a team of 40 to 85-year-old players from rural South Africa. The book launch Wednesday will feature a reading, signings and a documentary about the team.

Here's more from a library foundation news release:

The Goodnow Library Foundation (GLF) today announced author Jean Duffy’s book launch and visit to the Goodnow Library on Wednesday, June 21 at 7 p.m., with book signings beginning at 6:30 p.m. The author visit and multimedia presentation is the second stop on a three-day Massachusetts book tour and launch for Soccer Grannies: The South African Women Who Inspire the World. The event also features Beka Ntsanwisi, founder of the South African Soccer Grannies team, and a screening of a short documentary film about the team.

Soccer Grannies tells the inspirational story of a team of 40- to 80-year-old women in rural South Africa who defy social convention to play soccer for the companionship and health benefits it provides. Their strength and resiliency help them face life’s challenges with dignity, humor, and hope. They teach the rest of us that age, gender, and expectations cannot define an athlete.

Beka Ntsanwisi, affectionately known as “Mama Beka,” founded the Vakhegula Vakhegula Football Club, also known as the Soccer Grannies, who play in the town of Nkowankowa in Limpopo, South Africa. She is a motivational speaker and a former radio announcer, and has received countless awards for her community activism. Ntsanwisi will share why she formed the team; the challenges the women face, including poverty, unemployment, loss of children to AIDS, domestic abuse, and more; and her plans for the future. Duffy, a soccer player herself, will recount how their shared love of soccer brought the Soccer Grannies team and her own soccer team, the Lexpressas in Lexington, together on both sides of the Atlantic, resulting in cross-cultural friendships and connections that illuminate the power of sports to bring people together.

“We are thrilled to have Jean and Beka at the Goodnow Library,” stated Loring Schwarz, president of the Goodnow Library Foundation’s Board of Directors. “Soccer Grannies is incredibly inspirational for all ages. We’re excited to be one of three stops these two women are making together to help promote the new book. It’s the perfect story to kick off the start of summer.”

This is an in-person event at the Goodnow Library, 21 Concord Road, Sudbury, Massachusetts. The event is free and open to the public; registration is required: goodnowlibraryfoundation.org. Recommended for ages 12+; the documentary film includes mention of domestic violence. The book will be available for purchase at the event. Duffy and Ntsanwisi will sign books before the presentation, at 6:30pm, as well as at the end of the event. The author is donating book proceeds to the Beka Ntsanwisi Foundation.

The event is sponsored in part by Kenneth Vona and Son Construction.