Path to Greatness
Path to Greatness
Cole Metallides
Gym Candy
Carl Deuker
Do you want to learn about the experiences of a young fictional football star and see where his hard work and dedication to the game will bring him? In the fictional novel Gym Candy written by Carl Deuker the main character, Mick Johnson wants to achieve his dream of becoming a NFL player. He puts in work everyday to become the best player he can be but makes many mistakes along his path for greatness, some mistakes a little more extreme than others.
I have not yet finished this novel so I will be summarizing the first half of the novel. Throughout the first few chapters of the novel: the author illustrates Mick’s younger years of his life and how he has got to where he is today. Mick is a year older than his classmates because his father kept him back a year to better prepare him for his life in the game of football. Mick’s father was a former NFL player himself and is now trying to help Mick achieve that as well. In middle school Mick learns why he loves football so much after his teacher told him to rewrite an essay of his. Mick loves football because it is hard work. One of Mick’s first football coaches tells Mick, “you have the talent of an all star and the attitude of a punk.” After this practice Mick finds the real truth about his father and decides to stop slacking off and giving attitude to his coach and to start playing like a leader and an all star player. During the middle of the first half of the novel, Mick works day and night to become better than everyone on his new highschool team. Mick targets certain individuals to make himself known more to the coaches. His dad encourages him to keep working harder and harder each and every practice. Once officially on the team Mick works to no end to become a starter and is disappointed by the results. He is the special teams new captain but has yet to start even though the starting half back was injured. After many more practices and games the starting running back and quarterback are caught up in illegal matters and this offers Mick and his best friend Drew the chance to show who they really are as football players. Once the season has ended the team finds out that their coach has quit and has moved to another school. Their new coach has had past experiences as a coach and the team learns to love him. The team finds out that their new coach really knows what he is talking about after their coach insisted that the losing team was going to win in a game they went to watch. Mick is granted many responsibilities that his father believed he was ready to have once he turned 16. Mick does some research on supplements that may help him gain muscle faster suck as protein powder and his father helps him out with this. Mick puts in work everyday to become stronger, faster, and overall a better player. Throughout the last few chapters of this section, the former running back starts giving Mick trouble and harassing him. They get in a scuffle and Mick gets beat up by Drager and his friends and they get away free because it was their last day. Mick meets a new friend who works out with Mick and helps him get stronger. His new friend offers Mick an illegal substance to get stronger but Mick says that he would never do that. Life after this gets stressful for Mick between work, football, and just life in general. A new eighth grade player who is quite good makes Mick worry if he will lose his position. He goes to his new friend Peter for some advice and this advice may have not been what he was actually looking for.
This book so far may be one of the best books I have ever read. One of my favorite qualities of this book is it is quite inspiring at times showing how hard work really does pay off. The way in which the author illustrates Mick’s experiences and career is extremely entertaining and I would definitely love to finish this novel. One of my favorite quotes in this novel is said by Mick Johnson. He says, “I wasn’t doing it because I thought I had a chance to start. I was doing it because I didn’t know how else to play.” What Mick is saying here is that he doesn’t practice as hard as he can because he believes it will give him the starter spot. He does it because it is the only way he has been taught to play the game and I believe if this is taught to kids growing up that want to achieve the goal of becoming a professional athlete, they will really be able to do something with their career. I believe this book could inspire many athletes to continue working hard to achieve their dreams. This book is also very relatable. One of the most relatable quotes in this novel says, “Thinking about working hard in the weight room - that's easy. Actually doing it, that's a whole different thing.” Procrastination plagues us all in different areas of life and if we don’t find a way to overcome this horrible quality we won’t be able to achieve our goals. Seeing Mick overcome this quality has helped me overcome procrastination myself at some points after reading sections of the novel. Carl Deuker does an excellent job of keeping readers entertained at all points in the novel. I’m not one who will always pick a book and just start reading but it was pretty easy to do that with this book.
I believe you don’t have to play sports to enjoy this novel as many of the lessons are relatable throughout all aspects of life and not just sports. I would definitely recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys realistic fiction sports novels and I can’t find any reason for anyone to dislike this novel as I believe it would be appealing to anyone who has the time to read another book. Overall, I would recommend this book to everyone and you will quickly realize if you like the book or not throughout reading the first few chapters.
Cole Metallides
Gym Candy
Carl Deuker
Do you want to learn about the experiences of a young fictional football star and see where his hard work and dedication to the game will bring him? In the fictional novel Gym Candy written by Carl Deuker the main character, Mick Johnson wants to achieve his dream of becoming a NFL player. He puts in work everyday to become the best player he can be but makes many mistakes along his path for greatness, some mistakes a little more extreme than others.
I have not yet finished this novel so I will be summarizing the first half of the novel. Throughout the first few chapters of the novel: the author illustrates Mick’s younger years of his life and how he has got to where he is today. Mick is a year older than his classmates because his father kept him back a year to better prepare him for his life in the game of football. Mick’s father was a former NFL player himself and is now trying to help Mick achieve that as well. In middle school Mick learns why he loves football so much after his teacher told him to rewrite an essay of his. Mick loves football because it is hard work. One of Mick’s first football coaches tells Mick, “you have the talent of an all star and the attitude of a punk.” After this practice Mick finds the real truth about his father and decides to stop slacking off and giving attitude to his coach and to start playing like a leader and an all star player. During the middle of the first half of the novel, Mick works day and night to become better than everyone on his new highschool team. Mick targets certain individuals to make himself known more to the coaches. His dad encourages him to keep working harder and harder each and every practice. Once officially on the team Mick works to no end to become a starter and is disappointed by the results. He is the special teams new captain but has yet to start even though the starting half back was injured. After many more practices and games the starting running back and quarterback are caught up in illegal matters and this offers Mick and his best friend Drew the chance to show who they really are as football players. Once the season has ended the team finds out that their coach has quit and has moved to another school. Their new coach has had past experiences as a coach and the team learns to love him. The team finds out that their new coach really knows what he is talking about after their coach insisted that the losing team was going to win in a game they went to watch. Mick is granted many responsibilities that his father believed he was ready to have once he turned 16. Mick does some research on supplements that may help him gain muscle faster suck as protein powder and his father helps him out with this. Mick puts in work everyday to become stronger, faster, and overall a better player. Throughout the last few chapters of this section, the former running back starts giving Mick trouble and harassing him. They get in a scuffle and Mick gets beat up by Drager and his friends and they get away free because it was their last day. Mick meets a new friend who works out with Mick and helps him get stronger. His new friend offers Mick an illegal substance to get stronger but Mick says that he would never do that. Life after this gets stressful for Mick between work, football, and just life in general. A new eighth grade player who is quite good makes Mick worry if he will lose his position. He goes to his new friend Peter for some advice and this advice may have not been what he was actually looking for.
This book so far may be one of the best books I have ever read. One of my favorite qualities of this book is it is quite inspiring at times showing how hard work really does pay off. The way in which the author illustrates Mick’s experiences and career is extremely entertaining and I would definitely love to finish this novel. One of my favorite quotes in this novel is said by Mick Johnson. He says, “I wasn’t doing it because I thought I had a chance to start. I was doing it because I didn’t know how else to play.” What Mick is saying here is that he doesn’t practice as hard as he can because he believes it will give him the starter spot. He does it because it is the only way he has been taught to play the game and I believe if this is taught to kids growing up that want to achieve the goal of becoming a professional athlete, they will really be able to do something with their career. I believe this book could inspire many athletes to continue working hard to achieve their dreams. This book is also very relatable. One of the most relatable quotes in this novel says, “Thinking about working hard in the weight room - that's easy. Actually doing it, that's a whole different thing.” Procrastination plagues us all in different areas of life and if we don’t find a way to overcome this horrible quality we won’t be able to achieve our goals. Seeing Mick overcome this quality has helped me overcome procrastination myself at some points after reading sections of the novel. Carl Deuker does an excellent job of keeping readers entertained at all points in the novel. I’m not one who will always pick a book and just start reading but it was pretty easy to do that with this book.
I believe you don’t have to play sports to enjoy this novel as many of the lessons are relatable throughout all aspects of life and not just sports. I would definitely recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys realistic fiction sports novels and I can’t find any reason for anyone to dislike this novel as I believe it would be appealing to anyone who has the time to read another book. Overall, I would recommend this book to everyone and you will quickly realize if you like the book or not throughout reading the first few chapters.
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