The David Beckham Academy: Captain Incredible

The David Beckham Academy: Captain Incredible by Emily Stead, illustrated by Adam Relf (Egmont)

PB RRP $12.95
ISBN 978-1-4052-5165-5
Reviewed by Anastasia Gonis

At the David Beckham Academy in London, boys and girls go to learn about football (soccer), develop their skills while having fun, gain self-confidence, and learn team work.

The main characters in this sports story are Dan, VJ and Mia. Dan has won a competition and the prize was two days at the Academy. VJ is a dreamer, and all he dreams about in class is soccer. Mia is bossy and controlling, and is the Captain of her school team’s under- elevens, therefore feels it is her right to captain this team as well. All the arrivals share a common goal no matter what brought them to the same destination. They long to live their dream for two days as they take part in competition games against other teams. The ultimate reward is a trophy for the winners.

The Academy turns out to be larger than anything the children expected. They are given royal blue Academy uniform kits, and end up on the same team, Brazil. They are all shy with one another at the start. Their coach, Woody, loses no time and gets them all out on the field for a warm up in preparation for selection.

These children know their game. They live it and breathe it. For some, it is all they have of interest in their lives. This is the beginning of a great accomplishment for the group as they play under the colours of various countries and work their way to the trophy.

But it is hard work and many lessons must be learnt. There is no place for pride or self-gratification. Group effort is what propels them to the winner’s position and vanity is washed away. The importance of reporting an injury also comes home to each and every player when VJ injures his ankle and delays the reporting of it to his coach. There are rules that must be adhered to, and for some of the children, this doesn’t come easy.

These are inspiring stories for all children in the 7+ age group who have any interest at all in any sport, not only soccer. The ethical parts of playing group sports are accentuated, particularly that of team spirit, working together for a common goal and respecting the rules of the game as well as one another regardless of their position on the field.

The illustrations play a large roll in the communion of text and image. Although black and white, the pictures are alive on the page and follow the text closely to give an intimate view of the story.

David Beckham’s photo is on the front of every book in the series of which there are now six, and the covers are in a glossy finish with full colour pictures, with royal blue the dominant colour.

The David Beckham Academy: Away From Home

The David Beckham Academy: Away From Home by Emily Stead, illustrated by Adam Relf (Egmont)

PB RRP $12.95

ISBN 978-1-4052-5164-8

Reviewed by Anastasia Gonis

This is another title with positive themes in the David Beckham Academy series of books. The story focuses mainly on three children; George, Ben and Stephan. They arrive at the Academy to learn what it means to play in real teams, under real team names, with a cup as the trophy to the winners at the tournament end. They will also get skills training, confidence building, and their self-esteem will be greatly increased by the time they set off for home again.

Stephan is a Polish boy who can’t speak English and for this reason, he is confronted with a great many obstacles. But he can play football (soccer) like a professional and he proves that the spoken language is not the only form of communication available when it comes to playing sport.

Kelly is the coach of Holland, the team in which the three children are allocated. Stephan tries his best to get a grip on what is being said in the skills training, but fails to do so. Luckily Ben is up first and Stephan follows his lead and comes out the best of the group. Ben claims the captaincy and hands out the positions to the rest of the team. When it comes to Stephan, the Polish boy tries miming to explain what he does best and is misunderstood, and is put into defence position instead of striker, which has adverse effects on the team’s performance.

It’s not until Holland have lost several games and become disillusioned, that things take a turn. Stephan is passing a training room when he sees a tactics board with play positions drawn up. He realises he has discovered the way to communicate without words. He calls the team in and calls each person’s name as he points to their position, then his as striker. He draws up the lines of play and defence and the team returns with full force to take the trophy, which is presented to them by David Beckham.

This series comes highly recommended by the reviewer. There are a lot of values and positive themes in these books which aimed at teaching children the important issues of team play, patience and perseverance. Each book has several lessons to be learnt, with each character evolving by some degree fro the better by the end of the book. Ideally suited for children aged 7+, these books will catch the interest of a wide-ranging audience not necessarily only those interested in sport.