Football High by Patrick Loughlin

Young Gun series bk 1. Random House, 2016. ISBN 9781925324501
(Age: 8-12) Recommended. Themes: Soccer, Teamwork, Friendship, School Life. Sports fiction is an extremely popular genre, and currently cricketers, footballers and soccer players are writing novels for the fans filled to the brim with tactics, strategies, and game moves.
Twelve-year old Nick Young is a passionate soccer player with big goals; he wants to play for the A-League and the Socceroos. To set the scene the junior novel quickly segues from applying for a scholarship to the National School of Football to the first day of campus life. Nick has a lot to live up to; his father Shane Young is the current striker for Arsenal. Nick finds the comparison of his abilities to his father difficult; he calls it My Life in the Shadows.
His friends Bazzo, Lexi, Grace support him especially when his fiercest rival Kane Kruger teases him. Nick's dad lives in England with his new wife and baby son while Nick lives half a world away in Australia with his mum. He has a hidden scrapbook with clippings of his father's career; however, when the newspaper reports on Shane Young and the birth of his first baby boy, Nick is very upset.
The play-by-play descriptions, match tactics and teamwork provide plenty of football action for the fans and the characters' experience real-life dilemmas, first crushes, bullying, difficulty with school subjects and fun off the field.
Patrick Loughlin's Football High is another exciting sports based series from the author of Billy Slater - Rugby league and the Glenn Maxwell cricket series.
Rhyllis Bignell