Logan Brouwer

Mrs. Roskamp

LA, 8A

19 October 2015

Thematic Writing

The book I read was The Walk On. The author was John Feinstein. The Walk On is about a family that moved from Boston to Philadelphia. A freshman kid named Alex wants to try out for the varsity football team as their quarterback. He has no friends when he gets to his first practice. He meets a kid named Jonas Ellington who also new to the school who trying out to be a receiver for the varsity football team. After the first practice Alex realized the team already had a really quarterback who was the coach’s son Matt Gordon. Alex on his first day of school in french class met a really pretty girl named Christine Woford who was another one of his new friends. Alex ended making the varsity football as well and Jonas. Alex was third string quarterback and didn’t get to play much in games. On the last play of one of there games, Coach Gordon put Alex in to take the final knee to run down the clock to zero. Alex took the knee and got nailed by one of the defenders and broke some ribs and had a minor concussion. Jonas caught a some touchdown passes as one of the team’s best wide receivers. As the football team made the playoffs they took a steroid test and Matt Gordon was taking steroids and didn’t want to get caught so he switched his and Alex’s labels on the steroid bottles. Alex ended up getting the blame for taking the steroids until things ended up getting sorted out. Matt wasn’t allowed to play in any more football games and Alex ended up losing in the championship game and was really depressed, but after the game he went to homecoming with Christine Woford and that cheered him up. One lesson I learned was don’t try to make yourself better by cheating or lying.

This is obvious when Matt takes steroids. Matt Gordon was taking steroids throughout the regular season and never thought about drug/steroid testing when they would reach the playoffs. Matt ended up leading the team to the playoffs and they were undefeated when they reached the semifinals and Matt was having a great season. Matt was one of the best quarterbacks in the state and was getting looked at by some college scouts. Matt ended up getting caught by Alex and the high school drug inspector people. I realized that I should never take steroids to try to get better.

Another place I learned don’t try to make yourself better by cheating is when Alex’s best friend Jonas Ellington drops a pass in a playoff game and said he caught it. Jonas ended up getting in trouble after the game because his coach saw that he dropped the and cheated/lied to the referee that he caught the football. After Jonas got in trouble for lying to the ref and his coach saw it the next practice he had to come early and do sprints. I learned that you should not lie to the referee even if it’s gonna benefit your team. You should have good sportsmanship and be honest.  

I also saw that you should not make yourself better by cheating or lying when coach Gordon “Matt’s dad” told the media that his son did not take steroids and didn’t do anything wrong. Coach Gordon ended up getting fired for lying to the media and the high school drug people. Coach Gordon was not allowed to coach or teach at the high school anymore and his son wasn’t allowed to play any sports. Coach Gordon eventually admitted that his son took steroids and that he lied. I learned that you should never lie about taking steroids and you should come clean and admit that your son took them.

One lesson I learned was don’t try to make yourself better by cheating or lying. I personally really liked this book it is action packed! I really am not a huge fan of reading books I normally get bored, but this book kept me interested from the beginning. I thought this was a great book and that author John Feinstein did a good job. I am currently reading his next book in the series and like that book too.