Overtime on the other side of the pond

 

 

Amy Massey, a former captain of the Mira Costa girls soccer team, battles for ball control as a member of the Oxford Women’s Blues in England. Photo courtesy of www.jamesprickett.co.uk

When the USC women’s soccer team played its final match of the 2008 season, Amy Massey thought her days of competing on the soccer field were over and she would hang up her cleats. Massey was right, but only in the sense of terminology.

A former captain of the Mira Costa High School girls soccer team, Massey was a member of USC’s 2007 national championship team during her junior in college. After her senior season, the scholar-athlete was selected as the female recipient of the prestigious NCAA Walter Byers postgraduate scholarship, paving the way for the Manhattan Beach native to continue her education at the University of Oxford in England.

Despite a demanding academic schedule, Massey’s love for the sport she grew up calling soccer was too much to give up so she began playing “football” for the Oxford Women’s Blues. For the first time in the school’s history, the team not only advanced past the first round of the British Universities & Colleges Sport Championships, but won the title with a 2-1 victory over Bedford.

Massey was named Player of the Match, recording 1 ? assists while playing a stellar game at center back.

“I feel very blessed and amazed at this incredible journey, especially since I never expected to be a part of another National Championship, let alone one in another country,” Massey said. “I thought my soccer career had ended at USC, so my football career here at Oxford has felt like a round of overtime with an extremely exciting ending. I’m still getting accustomed to both the British terminology and the food, but I’ve definitely enjoyed my time as a footballer on the pitch. 

“The team was absolutely thrilled to make it to the final (It helped that the team is currently half American with three former NCAA student-athletes). It was quite an experience. Nothing like the NCAA (I still miss it), but it’s been a great bonus round to finish up my competitive soccer/football career.

“I’ve learned lots of new terminology and actually find myself saying football more readily than soccer. But I haven’t quite got used to saying “keepie ups” instead of juggling (I’ll never fully understand that one). I don’t know if I’m quite ready to hang up my “boots,” but this was definitely a nice way to retire from competitive football.” 

Officially a part of Pepperdine’s Law School Class of 2013, Massey is pursuing a Master’s Degree in Forced Migration and plans to graduate from Oxford in June. She is in the process of writing a 15,000 word dissertation titled “The Responsibility to Protect: The Case of the Karen from Burma.”

Massey said she traveled with King’s Harbor Church (Redondo Beach) to Thailand last summer and worked with Karen refugee children in a Bible school.

“That was a profoundly inspirational and touching experience for me,” Massey said. “Now at Oxford, I am learning about International Human Rights Law and the history of human rights abuses in Burma. There is a gap between what the Burmese government is required to do under international law and their actions, which are characterized by ethnic cleansing of minority groups like the Karen, human trafficking, forced displacement, conscription of child soldiers, and other massive human rights violations.

“I don’t know how much of a real difference a master’s thesis can make in the real world, but if nothing else, it has given me the tools and the background knowledge necessary to raise awareness of the plight of the Karen in the future. 

Massey became involved with the plight of impoverished nations after a trip to Malawi while working with the Manhattan Beach-based organization Water Wells for Africa.

“My younger sister, Hannah, will be traveling with the Water Wells for Africa team this summer,” Amy said. “My trips to Malawi were such amazing experiences that have helped shape who I am today. There’s no doubt in my mind that Hannah will come back a different person, with her eyes wide open to the great need in Malawi and other impoverished nations.”

Massey said she is thankful for the opportunity to attend Oxford but looks forward to returning to southern California.

“I rarely see the sun around here and am very grateful for when I do. It is finally warming up a little bit now that it’s March, but it is still pretty cold for a California girl. My time at Oxford has been an incredible intellectual experience. I’m surrounded by the smartest people I’ve ever met in my life, which was incredibly intimidating at first, but everybody is really grounded, and I’ve made some lifelong friends from all over the world. I have been challenged academically and have expanded my knowledge of issues of global justice, which has always been my passion.

“I am extremely excited about the wide range of opportunities at Pepperdine and their global focus as well as their Christian perspective, particularly having the chance to work in the Pepperdine Asylum Clinic run by former Federal Immigration Judge Bruce Einhorn which offers legal aid to victims of persecution based on race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership of a particular social group.”

As she did during her competitive athletic career, Massey continues to keep her eyes on the goal and her feet on the ground. ER

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