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Sabine Hahn
The Hockey-Kids The Adventure Begins Book 1
Extract
The Author & Illustrator Sabine Hahn, born in 1972, is half German and half French. She first completed her training as an artisan bookbinder before studying art education and French. Her great passion for books and for hockey resulted in the creation of the children’s book series The Hockey-Kids, also illustrated by the author, in collaboration with Chris Faust. Since her first publication in 2014, she has been on the road to readings in sports clubs and schools in her aim to bring children closer to this wonderful sport. With the establishment of her own publishing company MON COQ edition in 2016, The Hockey-Kids and their author have created a new home, and this English translation marks the start of their exciting journey to children around the world.
The Pro Chris(topher) Faust, born in 1968, is an FIH elite coach, certified coach, long-standing Bundesliga, state and national team coach from Frankfurt am Main, Germany. His great commitment to coaching children and to school hockey soon brought the pro and the author together. This resulted in the original idea for a long-overdue joint project with Sabine Hahn - the children’s book series The Hockey-Kids - for which he provides her with advice and support. More about Chris Faust at www.coachchris.de and at www.hockeykiosk.de.
Bibliographical data issued by the German National Library: The German National Library lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographical data can be accessed on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de. Š 2017 MON COQ edition e.K., Frankfurt am Main District Court Frankfurt am Main, Company Register (HRA) 48866 All rights reserved Text, illustrations and cover design: Sabine Hahn English translation from the German original: Hilary Koenig Lectorate: Penelope Southgate Photo/copyright of Marijke Fleuren: Frank Uijlenbroek Photo/copyright of Chris Faust: Michal Krenek Production: BoD – Books on Demand, Norderstedt ISBN book: 978-3-9817970-7-7 / ISBN eBook: 978-3-9817970-8-4 www.facebook.com/DieHockeyKids www.moncoq-edition.com www.sabinehahn.net
Contents Foreword The Noticeboard Signing Up for the Project The Surprise The First Training Session Hockey Practice at Last Preparations The First Game Secrets Decisions A Good Solution The Hockey Kids The Big Match All’s Well That Ends Well Thank you! Epilogue
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Foreword “You know what, Chris, I have an idea! We should work together to make a children’s book about hockey … I’ll write it, you give me expert advice and we can both contribute our ideas towards a story…” There she stood, Sabine, the mother of one of our hockey kids at a school in Frankfurt. Now she plays parents’ hockey as well. Totally bitten by the bug! Cool, I thought, a children’s book about hockey. There’s nothing like that on the market yet, and I’m pretty familiar with this great sport… I’m also infected, together with many wonderful people all over the world, by the “bug” of this extremely demanding team sport. It’s the most successful team sport in Germany, apart from football, and definitely one of the “poorest” where sponsoring in most countries is concerned. BUT: that’s what makes the difference – we are amateurs and that’s fine with me... Why hockey?! In this case, I can only speak for myself. Everything I have is more or less 11
thanks to hockey. Every day I am eager to get out onto the hockey field, whether with my bambini or school hockey teams, my Bundesliga players or one of my national teams. Hockey is hockey – I love it and can never get enough of it. The bug... well, hockey is ideal for all children to learn to be part of a team, to fight and win together, or even to lose as a team, all that needs to be learned... A children’s book on the subject – and it surely won’t be the only one - is great “added value” and definitely wonderful motivation for children, their parents and families to read together, or to have read to them as a bedtime story. Even if you have little or no relationship to this sport, go and watch a match and get bitten by the bug … like our author did. With this in mind, keep up the hockey and enjoy the first adventure with The Hockey-Kids. Your Chris
Frankfurt am Main, November 2014
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The Noticeboard “Ouch! Not so hard!” Max rubs his arm. “Why don’t you watch out?” But Lars is enjoying himself, “What for? That’s part of the game when you play tag at break. I caught you and now it’s your turn. You’ll just have to do better next time! What were you looking at anyway?” Max points towards the steps leading to the school entrance. The two boys watch curiously. The school secretary, Miss Bloom, is standing in front of the display case taking down all the notices hanging in it. She hesitates, the papers she has removed in one hand and the colourful new ones in the other. “What’s she doing?” wonders Max. Lars shrugs his shoulders, “If she’s putting up the results of the read-aloud contest, I don’t even want to know!” But Max insists, “Come on, let’s go over and find out.” And off he runs across the schoolyard with Lars trotting reluctantly behind him. By the time they arrive at the noticeboard, 14
Miss Bloom has thought of a way to stop the bunch of pages from flying away in the wind: she is using her hands to attach the slips of coloured paper to the noticeboard while holding the old notices clamped between her teeth. “What are the coloured sheets, Miss Bloom?” Max asks her directly. Slightly irritated, the secretary nods towards the noticeboard, “De new projectsh for de new shkool year”, she replies, still with the pages between her teeth. Max helps her to cut off strips of sticky tape to fix the papers advertising the school projects in place. Relieved that the sheets are not the results of the reading contest, Lars moves a bit closer and reads, “Dressmaking for beginners, relaxing with yoga, cookery for kids, … Just great, it all sounds super-interesting! But only for girls!” Miss Bloom has fixed the last notice to the board. “Thank you, young man!” she smiles at Max. “By the way, the sports projects are over here on the right. There’s sure to be something for you boys as well. You’ll get the registration forms from your class teacher very soon. Bye now!” She hurries back into the school building. “Let’s have a look, then”, mutters Lars and joins 15
Max, who has already detected the sports projects. Together, they read everything through: “Table tennis, team handball, football, …”. More and more boys and girls stop in front of the noticeboard to see what the fuss is about. Some of them try to jostle their way forward to get a better look. Lena does the same: “Max! Lars! What’s new on the noticeboard? Have the winners of the reading contest been announced?” She elbows past her two classmates. “No”, says Max, “the new projects have been put up, but it’s the same stuff as usual”. “Really?” retorts Lena. “Perhaps we should have a closer look. Maybe there’s something really interesting there!” Together, the three of them look through the projects one by one, while the crowd of excited kids around them gets bigger and noisier. “I’m doing football, that’s clear for a start!” says Tom behind them, “I’m in the football club. They need someone like me here!” Satisfied with himself, he pushes Max to one side. “What about you? Have you found anything?” But before Lars and Max can say anything, Lena answers the show-off: “Well, we are defi16
nitely not going to the football project. Anyone can do that!” “Cool!” they suddenly hear excited voices from the crowd behind them. “There’s an ice rink at the school! That’s what I want to do! I’m going to join the ice hockey project!” Surprised, Lars, Max and Lena turn back to the noticeboard. “Ice hockey? Where did you see that? Team handball, soccer, rope skipping… ah, here it is, hockey.” Lena rolls her eyes. “That’s not ice hockey, it’s field hockey! Not on ice, on artificial grass!” she explains to the others. “That’s brill”, she says, “that’s what we’ll sign up for!” Lars and Max look at each other a bit doubtfully. Hockey? That’s only for girls. Like in the film they saw at the cinema where all the girls had short skirts on and pink plastic gum shields in their mouths. “You’re joking! That’s nothing for us”, they both exclaim at once, “you can do that on your own!” “Hockey?” mocks Tom, “what nonsense!” Then the school bell rings and break is over.
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Signing Up for the Project Excited from chasing around the schoolyard and still thinking of the new projects on the noticeboard, the boys and girls return to their classrooms. Just as Miss Bloom had said, Lena’s class teacher, Mrs Otto, hands out the registration forms for the new projects the same afternoon. While the teacher goes slowly from one desk to the next placing a form in front of each child, Lena looks behind her at Max and Lars. They are both staring at their registration forms looking slightly at a loss, obviously not sure what to choose. Max has at least entered his name at the top. “Oh no”, he suddenly groans, “I’ve written my first name in the wrong space! How daft is that!” He crosses everything out with his pencil. “Oh, and now everything is all smudged!” Annoyed, he starts again: first his surname, then his Christian name and after that his class. “These spaces are really stupid! I’ve written my name in the space for NAME! And my name is Max!” he explains and continues writing. 19
Later in the afternoon he wants to talk to Lars and decide which project to select. Once Mrs Otto has been through all the rows of desks, she explains that everyone has time until the weekend to hand in their forms: “But don’t forget to write down your second choice as well”, she tells the class. “Sometimes courses get very full and can’t take any more people. So it’s a good idea to write down more than one project, just to be on the safe side.” With this advice, she dismisses the class for the day. All the children quickly put their schoolbooks into their schoolbags and hurry outside. As usual, Max and Lars are the last ones to leave the classroom. First, Lars wants to drink something and then Max has to tie his right shoelace. “You two always take ages!” complains Lena, waiting for the boys at the classroom door. But they have already set off, darting past Lena and pulling the hood of her pink jumper over her head, just for fun. Soon, the three children are on their way home together, laughing happily. Lena, Lars and Max have known each other since kindergarten. At first, Lena found the two 20
boys a bit of a pain; they were always throwing sand at her or wouldn’t let her use the slide, or they missed when they used the toilet in the kindergarten. But because their mothers were good friends, the children often met at the playground in the afternoons as well and later they were even in the same class at school. As a result, they became something like best friends, and that hasn’t changed to this day. “Well? Have you decided which project you want to do?” Lena asks her two friends as they stand waiting for a red light to change. “I still don’t know”, thinks Lars aloud. He keeps pressing the button on the pedestrian crossing lights to make them switch to green. Max is busy tying his left shoelace and replies from below: “Well, I wouldn’t mind tabletennis. That’s what my granddad always plays with me in the summer. You don’t have to run around the whole gym when you play tabletennis.” Lars pulls a face: “Ah no, that’s really nothing for me! If your grandfather plays it, then it’s probably only for old people.”
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At last! The pedestrian lights switch to green and the three friends cross the road. “I still think hockey would be great”, Lena tries to convince Lars and Max. “It’s definitely not just for girls! Only last year I watched hockey on TV and there were lots of big men playing for medals. I think it was the world cup or Olympics or something like that. Anyway, my Dad thought it was great!” Proud of her knowledge of sports, Lena decides that it would be better not to mention that she saw the last girls’ film at the cinema three times. Since then, she hasn’t been able to get hockey off her mind. But Max and Lars actually don’t seem to find the idea so awful any more. “You know what,” Lars murmurs to his friend, “perhaps the idea isn’t so bad after all. We’ll let that silly show-off Tom go to the soccer project. Then we’ll be rid of him and can also see what hockey is like.” Turning to Lena, he says: “But if it does turn out to be a girly thing, then we boys will choose the next project and you’ll have to join in too!” Lena is thrilled. “That’s ace! It’s a deal!” she laughs.
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When they get to her house, she skips happily up the steps to the hall door. Max and Lars both live on the same street, so don’t have far to go. With a loud “Bye! See you!” the three children go their different ways. Lena has hardly put her key into the lock when the hall door opens. Frederik, Lena’s younger brother, greets her cheerfully. “Hello Lena! Come in, quick!” He is so excited that he hops from one foot to the other and grasps her hand. “You’ll never guess what. Today the first-year pupils got coloured slips of paper and could put a tick beside a project they want to do! What about your class?” Lena enters the house nodding. “Yes, the older classes were also given forms to fill in.” An uneasy feeling comes over her. “And? Did you tick a project as well?” she asks cautiously. “Yes, of course”, replies Frederik with a broad smile, showing the huge gap in his front teeth. “I’m going to play hockey!” “Oh, no!” thinks Lena, taking her schoolbag to her room. Having to play hockey with her cheeky little brother from Year One! That’s bound to be embarrassing! 24
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End of extract
But in the wonderful epilogue written by Marijke Fleuren, President European Hockey Federation, you can continue reading how great Hockey is and visit the Hockey-Kids on the pages given ‌
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Epilogue Written by Marijke Fleuren President European Hockey Federation
Dear Hockey Kids, After reading this book, I am sure that you all want to be friends with Max, Lena and Lars. Even with Tom! You can imagine now that hockey can bring great excitement to your life. Hockey is a fast, modern sport with all kinds of tricks and skills. One thing is sure: hockey will change your life! Hockey will also bring something else into your life: respect. You will get used to taking care of each other. This feeling of respect (sorry for the difficult word!) will help you at school and when you are grown up, in your working life. When I was a kid, say at Lena’s age, every time that a match was postponed my mother had to console me. I was so disappointed! 27
Hockey was and still is my life and I am sure that you will feel exactly the same! Go, go, go and enjoy your life full of hockey!
Cheers, Marijke
President European Hockey Federation
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What a pity! This is where the extract from the Hockey-Kids ends. Are you already curious to know what adventures the three friends Lena, Max and Lars will encounter next? Then get this colourful book all about friendship, school and the greatest sport in the world: Hockey! Now available from selected shops worldwide and also as a vibrant e-book! The following links will show you exactly where. Visit us now at MON COQ edition and discover other books by Sabine Hahn on her author pages: www.sabinehahn.net www.moncoq-edition.com www.facebook.com/DieHockeyKids www.facebook.com/AutorinSabineHahn
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