• Age: 9 to 12
• Grade: 4

Not everyone can be an athlete, but that doesn’t stop thousands of others from participating in world-class sporting events.

When Patrick Reynolds realized that he couldn’t be a race car driver, he turned his love of cars into a successful career as a NASCAR mechanic.

A passion for grass and baseball lead Nicole Sherry to become the groundskeeper at Camden Yards in Baltimore, Maryland.

Author Kevin Sylvester tells the stories of 20 talented and dedicated behind-the-scenes stars of the sports world. In this new book, the glamour of the frontline athletes takes a backseat to the hard-working people whose jobs are critical to the success of their sport but often go unacknowledged.

Readers will discover some very special people who have devoted their lives to supporting the sports they love, including the eagle-eyed baseball scout for the Chicago White Sox, the members of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders and the doctor who treats injured players on the Canadian Olympic soccer team.

With its real-life stories and lively photographs, GAME DAYwill delight any young sports fan or wannabe athlete.

 

KEVIN SYLVESTER est auteur laure´at, illustrateur, journaliste, animateur de radio, re´alisateur et documentariste. Il a e´crit les livres de la se´rie MiNRS et Neil Flambe´, ainsi que les livres documentaires Gold Medal for Weird et Sports Hall of Weird. Kevin est reconnu pour son habilete´ de faire un souper dernie're minute avec ce qui est moindrement consommable dans son frigo. Il peut aussi transformer des cercles en chats et des cornets de cre'me glace´e en dragons. Kevin habite a' Toronto.

 

KEVIN SYLVESTER is an award-winning writer, illustrator, reporter, radio sports host, producer and documentary maker. His books include the MiNRS and Neil Flambé series. Kevin's claims his superpower is that he can take a puck off the head and STILL finish a hockey game. He's also known for his ability to be able to make a last-second dinner from whatever smells reasonably edible in the fridge. And he can instantly turn circles into cats and ice cream cones into dragons. Well, cat and dragon cartoons anyway. He lives in Toronto, Ontario. Visit him online at www.kevinsylvester.online.

 

Kevin Sylvester's profile page

• Short-listed, Silver Birch Award nomination, OLA

“Even the most avid sports enthusiasts will find something new in this nifty collection devoted to the unsung heroes behind the game.”

VOYA, 12/10

Game Day: Meet the People Who Make It Happen

Triple-threat author, illustrator and broadcaster Kevin Sylvester takes his love of sport behind the scenes with profiles of people who support the famous athletes we know and love. Baseball groundskeeper Nicole Sherry, with a degree in agronomy (grass science), makes sure the grass is not too wet and not too dry for the next game. Rick Curran is a hockey agent, Patrick Reynolds is a race-car mechanic, Jimmy MacNeil is a Zamboni driver and Mary Ormsby is one of the rare female sports journalists. They all work to ensure that the big game will go on and the fans will not be disappointed.

For each person, the author tells a little something about him or her then includes a quote from the subject. Sylvester creates a wellcrafted dialogue of sorts and is skilled at choosing interesting and informative quotes. The book is nicely designed, with Sylvester’s comments in black and the quotes in blue italics. There are colour photos throughout and a few sidebars to fill in relevant information about the sport.

Only five of the twenty people profiled here are based in Canada. I would have preferred to see more Canadians, but having most of the subjects American should guarantee a well-deserved US audience. It is a good book that hasn’t been done before and will be useful for sports projects and casual reading for sports-mad kids.

Game Day: Meet the People Who Make it Happen

Read about 20 inspirational people whose behind-the-scenes jobs make the sports we see the best they can be. Meet Jimmy MacNeil, the “Greatest Zamboni driver in the world”; Lynn Welch, a tennis chair umpire who has worked all four Grand Slams and three Olympics; and Bobby Freeman who outran bullies and became the organist for Major League Baseball’s Arizona Diamondbacks! Learn how a team is more than just the athletes!