Offsides

by Erik E. Esckilsen

To Coach Dempsey, the Warriors teams and their Indian mascot symbolize the honor and glory of the Southwind High School athletic tradition. But soccer star Tom Gray sees little more than a denigrating cultural stereotype in the team’s mascot and the stern, war-painted Indian-head profile. As a Mohawk, Tom knows only too well the hardships Native Americans face in their struggle for respect. So when his father’s tragic death forces him and his mother to move to Southwind, Tom must make the decision of a betray his family and heritage, or boycott Dempsey’s team and abandon the sport he loves. Exciting play-by-plays pepper this tale, vividly capturing soccer strategy and action in a novel exploring the nature of honor and the courage required to stand up for your beliefs.

Genres: Sports

176 pages, Hardcover

First published October 25, 2004

Reviews

[Maya · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was surprisingly very interesting. This book is mainly about an Indian boy who is forced to move because his father died and the book takes the reader threw his transition from his old home to his new home. This novel also tells about the people met and became close friends with. Tom, the protagonist, also discovers between his friends and enemies. This book was really cool becasue I can relate to it in a way because the main sport in this book is soccer and that;s the sport I play. If I was to rate this book I would give it a 3ish.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book surprisingly exciting. In the book Tom was forced to move from an Indian reservation after the death of his father. He has a dispute with the coach of the soccer team in the new town he moves to because of the mascot. Tom finds the mascot highly offensive because the mascot is a Native American. The book mainly orients around this dispute between Tom and coach Dempsey, but it also follows the interesting path that Tom takes finding his footing in a new town. In addition, the book uses foreshadowing. At the beginning of the book it shows Tom and coach Dempsey having a dispute about the school's mascot, I think that this is foreshadowing for the rivalry Tom and coach Dempsey form mainly because of the mascot. In the book it states "And I've heard all the politically correct arguments about why the Warriors' mascot is offensive...". I liked the overall intensity of the book. I wouldn't recommend this book because I found it predictable and I lacked in many other aspects other than the excitement of the story.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty standard and an easy read. But lots of good messages and soccer too!

[Cathleen Ash]

Tom believes he should stick up for his friends. Of course, right now he doesn't have any. He's just moved off of the reservation and is making a new life with his mom in a new town; still close to the reservation though, and his roots. Not that he thinks that highly of the place - the guys tooling around in their beat up old American cars, getting drunk and getting in fights. His team though, that was slick.
Soccer was fun - and he was good at it. Good enough for the coach at the new school to want him on the team. But Tom, Tom didn't think that was a good idea. See - the Warriors might not be a bad name for a team, but the mascot and the Indian drawing left little room for error: it was a snub against the Indians. So Tom did what he believed in - he said no, not unless the team changed its name.
The coach pushed his buttons, made him mad. Tom refused to play on the team - instead he ended up playing soccer in a field with some nerds who built rockets and watched them blow to bits. He followed his friends to their hangout: a hobby store run by a Russian immigrant, with a pretty grand-daughter and a grandson who was rarely seen. Tom began spending more time there, watching the shopkeeper's daughter and staying away from Coach Dempsey - who kept egging him on.

[Dominic Perico · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, this book was great. I am a soccer fan and player and i thought this book was great. The book follows high school soccer player who recently lost his father and also just moved to a new city. At first he spends his time alone at a park practicing until he meets this geek kid there who was shooting rockets.
Soon these two are playing together and the geek takes the main character to a hobbie shop to meet his other friends. There he meets a group of kids who are the outcasts who play soccer each week when they aren't playing with rockets. He soon meets someone that he starts taking a like interest in but he gets respectfully denied. There is also some tension between a rival coach when the coach wants him to play for his team but he doesnt want to because they have had some bad meetings in the past.
This book was really great and I recommend it to soccer fans or players. It is an easy read for a good amount of points.

[LaMarcus · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book Offsides by Erik E. Esckilsen is about a Mohawk Indian boy named Tom Gray who moves to a new school shortly after his father dies in a car crash. Tom has to choose whether to be loyal to his heritage or stick to his own tradition soccer when he finds out that his new high schools logo is a warrior. I would recommend this book to people who love cliff hangers, racial controversies and teen dramas. One weakness in this book is the lack of key aspects of the main characters which don't allow you to see the full outline of the important protagonists and antagonists. Read Offsides to see what Tom does and read a true page turner by Erik E. Esckilsen

[Hailey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Offsides, an Erik Esckilsen novel, was about a soccer star named Tom who's father dies, and that forces him and his mother to move to a new school. That the soccer team is Toms worst enemy, the Warriors. Tom will never put on a Warriors jersey. He must make a decision of a life time: betray his family, or a-band the sport he loves. Will this decision change his whole life? How will he ever get over this, because he has to play the Warriors in a championship game, with his best player that has a deal with the warriors coach to lose the game, will they end up winning or losing? And how will this change his unknown life at school?

[Martha Schwalbe · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am not sure I have ever said this about a book but it was bad. The main character remained flat throughout. Since I didn't notice any character development I decided to read for the plot. I could identify five different stories within the story but other than the final game nothing was resolved. I'm not sure to whom I would recommend this book. I really wanted to like it.

[Tristian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Erik E. Esckilsen very nicely describes what Thomas is trying to do. From his perspective he finds his school mascot highly racist and offensive, where as he coach see's the opposite. This story takes you through what plays out with that kind of setting, and even has some other characters to show you what they think/see.

[Morgan Wolff]

This book was very well written. It had a wonderful ending that kept you wondering what happened. I think that Tom was a very hard working guy and he kept hold to his beliefs. He should teach more people to do that.

[Dorcus Abercrombie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book and recommend it