Book Review By Hamza Naeem, Age 13yr
You Are A Champion by Marcus Rashford, is a book where Rashford wants to show YOU how to achieve YOUR dreams. The reason I chose this book is because while I was at school, I heard a teacher talking about a new Marcus Rashford book that we had in the school library. As a big fan of football and supporter of Man United, I was intrigued. I went to the library and borrowed the book.
First Impressions
As soon as I opened the book, I was pleasantly surprised. This book wasn’t an ordinary football book which talks about a player’s life, it is a book about you. A book that helps you bring the best out of yourself.
What Does the Book Cover?
Inside the book, Marcus splits the book into different sections like confidence, your team, your dream, your voice, being comfortable with who you are, navigating adversity, your ability to never stop learning and practising like a champion. While he discusses these topics, he also adds stories from his own life like when he was a kid, he played football with his older siblings, but when they played with other older kids, he wasn’t allowed to play as he could get hurt. Marcus also shows the positives in his stories even though they seemed negative at the time. For instance, when he wasn’t allowed to play with his brothers since they played with rough, older kids, he practised different skills that later helped him become the amazing footballer he is now.
What was my Favourite Part?
My most favourite part would probably be one of the amazing stories that Marcus shares in the book. It’s the story about friends. Your friends are really important. They are the people that will affect you and influence you the most. If they do something, you’ll want to copy them and do the same thing as them. Marcus shares a story in the book that really affected me in the most positive way. He says that he wasn’t always the best behaved kid. Nothing too naughty, just mostly cheeky if anything. Every now and again, he and his mates would go and play a game called ‘Knock a Door and Run’. If it’s not obvious yet, it’s where you knock on a door, and run before they answer. There was one house in the area that belonged to a really serious man who didn’t like practical jokes very much. He wasn’t someone you messed with. All of Marcus’ mates were too scared to knock on his door as they didn’t want him finding out and calling their parents. But one night, they were feeling extra cheeky for some reason and they made a plan. They spent a long time planning and had created an escape route. Marcus would be the one to knock as he was the fastest in the group. They plucked up the courage and got into position. Marcus knocks on the door three times and revs up his feet, getting ready to run as soon as he hears footsteps. As he turns and runs, he falls flat on his face. Marcus was about to get done. The man would open the door and would see Marcus on the floor. His parents would be told and he would be in for a world of beating with his parents. Marcus’ mind was racing. Instead of running, one of his mates grabbed him and hauled him up. Turns out, they saw him fall and instead of running away, they grabbed him and ran away together.
My Favourite Quote
There was one saying that had a massive impact on me. It goes like this: “If you want to go fast, go alone, but if you want to go far, go together.” In today’s society, our mates would probably leave us for dust in that situation. Friends now and friends back in the day are so different. Your friends back in the day were your everything. You’d do everything together. Now, friends would leave you if they saw you fall after playing knock a door and run. It is really important who you choose as your friends. You really need to have some friends who you can trust. The quality of your friends and everyone close to you is directly related to your success in life.
The Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Verily, the parable of good and bad company is that of a seller of musk and a blacksmith. The seller of musk will gives you perfume, you will buy some, or you will notice a pleasant smell. As for the blacksmith, he will burn your clothes, or you will notice a bad smell.” (Source: Sahih al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim)
