Gang Tackle

by Eric Howling

Sometimes it takes a whole team to bring down an offside coach.

After budget cuts force the Southside Saints football team to disband, Jamal and his friends are crushed. Then the president of a sporting-goods company offers to donate $20,000 worth of equipment to the team. There’s just one catch: he wants to coach. Thrilled to have a real team together, the players turn a blind eye to Coach Fort’s racism, bullying and discrimination. Until he takes it too far. Now it’s up to Jamal and his teammates to take back their team and show what they’re made of.

Genres: Sports

176 pages, Paperback

First published August 30, 2016

About the author

ERIC HOWLING is an advertising creative director living in Calgary. His novels in the Sports Stories series have been shortlisted for the Hackmatack Children's Choice Book Award, selected as a Resource Links' Year's Best, and selected as Canadian Children's Book Centre Best Books for Kids & Teens.

Reviews

[Bonham Dockery · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read Gang Tackle by Eric Howling. Its about a kid named Jamal who loves football more than anybody and is working on a video game he made by himself. But he very quickly finds out that his football team will disbanded. The school is making budget cuts and the football team was too expensive to keep going. Jamal and his friends were heartbroken. Well a few days later a man calls and says he will donate $20,000 to get the team back going again. On one condition though, hes the coach. The only coach. That man is Coach Fort. Owner of Fort sporting Goods. Skeptical at first not having their favorite coach, Coach Kemp out there, they all decide that if that's the only way to play, there gonna do it. On the first day of practice the star players from last year, Jamal and Darnell who are both African-American are stripped of their starting positions and replaced by not as good White kids. Well they quickly realize whats going on but they cant do anything about. Before the first game cameras swarmed the buildings and Coach Fort loved it. When they ask him why he donated to help the team, he responds claiming to be helping these "unfortunate" kids. When the first game comes up, the team does really bad with Jamal and Darnell on the bench. When Coach realizes it, he puts Jamal and Darnell in and they win the game. After the game, when the cameras come he puts on a different face. He says that it was all part of his "game-plan". After all the racism and constant mental abuse by the coach, the kids decide to do something. They all write one letter on their jersey and when they come together it says "SACK THE COACH". Well he gets really mad and embarrassed on TV and takes back everything. Wondering how their gonna get funds, Jamal finishes up his game and it goes viral! They all take what Coach Fort said on how they were gonna be nobodies just like their parents and used it as fuel to their fire. They all ended up doing the right things because of it. I really enjoyed this book and would 10/10 recommend it to any athletes.

[Walton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting it really signifies the racial divide in America today, this is a must-read.

[Ms. Yingling · Rating 3 out of 5]

Library copy

Jamal is a senior at an economically struggling school in urban Toronto. Football has been cut, so he won't be able to play. Luckily, a local business man, Mr. Fort, offers to provide $20,000 and equipment from his company, Fort Sports. The catch? He wants to coach. The team is glad to be able to reassemble and have great new equipment, but they realize early on that Fort has his own agenda. A sports channel follows their team, and Coach Fort is constantly prattling on about how disadvantaged the players are and how he is saving them from a life of flipping burgers and stocking shelves by helping out the team. Behind the scenes, Fort is ill-equipped to coach, makes racist comments, and is anything but helpful to boys who have other concerns on their minds. Jamal works at a McDonald's while his mother is a clerk at Best Buy, and when their car's brakes need repair, he tries to find a way to get money. Unfortunately, he takes a local gang up on their offer and gets arrested while trying to rob the store at which his mother works. Fort steps in to save him, but the boys on the team decide that playing football is not a pleasant experience when they have to deal with their self-centered coach. They publicly state that they want to "sack the coach", and Fort pulls his support. Trying to find a way to fund the team, Jamal puts his computer programming skills to use and comes up with a football game app. When the news cover it, he manages to sell enough copies to continue the football season.
Strengths: Orca Sports books are consistently good, even if they aren't great. They are set in high schools, which middle school students LOVE, they cover social problems as well as lots of sports details, and they are short and easy to read. The covers (with the exception of my personal favorite, Crack Coach) are simple photo illustrations that age well. The characters are diverse. Why don't I have every single title they have published? I know some librarians have made comments that their students don't read football books, but I cannot keep enough titles on my shelves!
Weaknesses: I wish these were a bit larger. The Canadian paperbacks have especially small margins, so when I buy these in a prebind format, there is very little white space on the page. I'm sure this is a measure to keep costs down, but I would love to see these titles in a nice dust jacketed hard cover.
What I really think: Putting this in the collection immediately and putting it on hold for one of my students who reads three football books a week and has literally run out of books to read. He's had to resort to humorous books that have no sports. He's not pleased, and since he's an 8th grade boy, there's a LOT of eye rolling and sighing when I ask him to try other types of books!

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jamal lives for football; so do most of his friends. When their school's budget cuts mean they won't get to play this year, they are heart-broken. Then a donor steps up with the necessary funds and equipment, but also with a catch: he gets to be the coach for the team. The problem is, he's a horrible coach, not to mention a racist, discriminating bully. Jamal and his friends are in a big quandary.

A good hi-lo for football fans. Not the best writing but the problem and the characters will engage a true sports fan. They will love to hate the horrible coach.

[Kc · Rating 5 out of 5]

you got it right on the pages this time but you dont always

[Colby · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think that Gang Tackle was a very well put together book and I liked how it showed the life/perspective of some that was less fortunate than others. I think the author showed how someone can overcome hardships and obstacles very well. I also liked how the book showed the hardships of racism in a real world example. It was a very inspiring and motivational book. It made me believe that I can overcome obstacles in my own life.

[Antonio]

it was a good book i would recommend it to college football fans because its about a group of friends trying to kick there coach out because they don't like him and they succeed then he takes all over their equipment then they make a app for one dollar and earn 20000 dollars and buys new equipment for the team

[Star Tyson]

Great book for the start of fall and football season.

[Kyle Cross]

The book overall was a good book. Th book had a lot of key moments and for sure kept you on the edge of your seat. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys sports and likes the underdogs.