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    Kicking Goals
    Kicking Goals
    Kicking Goals
    Ebook102 pages1 hour

    Kicking Goals

    By Shirley Deuchrass

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Jack lives on a farm in southern New Zealand. He’s the youngest of five children, is shy and doesn’t like school. When there’s time between chores, he plays rugby with his three brothers in the paddock in front of the house. One day, he has a dream which changes his life forever.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAustin Macauley
    Release dateMay 14, 2018
    ISBN9780463882689
    Kicking Goals
    Author

    Shirley Deuchrass

    Shirley Deuchrass was born in Dunedin, New Zealand, and grew up on a farm in South Otago. She was educated in Dunedin, where she developed a love for writing. Although her first career path was nursing, she gained a BA in English at Otago University in 2003 and began writing in earnest. Many of her poems grace the pages of Blackmail Press, PoetryNZ and Takahe magazines. A collection of poems was published in a book in 2010 titled River Calls Me Home. Shirley’s writing history includes a self-published children’s novel called Isabella’s Diary in 2005 and several biographical titles. She is married, with four children and seven grandchildren and currently lives in Wanaka, New Zealand.

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      Book preview

      Kicking Goals - Shirley Deuchrass

      About the Author

      Shirley Deuchrass was born in Dunedin, New Zealand and grew up on a farm in South Otago. She was educated in Dunedin where she developed a love forof writing. Although her first career path was nursing, she gained her LTCL in speech and drama when allher four of her children were small. She went to Otago University as an adult student and completeding her B.A in English in 2003.

      ***

      ***

      Dedications

      For my grandchildren— – may they achieve their goals with confidence.

      ***

      ***

      ***

      Kicking Goals

      Published by Austin Macauley at Smashwords

      Copyright 2018, Shirley Deuchrass

      The right of Shirley Deuchrass Irving to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the

      Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All Rights Reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with the written permission of the publisher, or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended). Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      ***

      A CIP catalogue record for this title is

      Available from the British Library.

      ***

      µwww.austinmacauley.com

      ***

      Kicking Goals, 2018

      Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd.

      ISBN 978-1-78710-787-8 (Paperback)

      ISBN 978-1-78710-788-5 (Kindle E-Book)

      ***

      First Published in 2018

      Austin Macauley Publishers.LTD/

      CGC-33-01, 25 Canada Square

      Canary Wharf, London E14 5LQ

      ***

      Shirley Deuchrass

      Kicking Goals

      Copyright © Shirley Deuchrass (2017)

      The right of Shirley Deuchrass to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

      All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

      Any person who commits any unauthoriszed act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

      A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

      ISBN ????????????? (Paperback)

      ISBN ????????????? (Hardback)

      ISBN ????????????? (E-Book)

      www.austinmacauley.com

      First Published (2017)

      Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd.

      25 Canada Square

      Canary Wharf

      London

      E14 5LQ

      ***

      ***

      Acknowledgements

      My writer’s group in Dunedin for their continued support and friendship.

      ***

      Forewoard

      It isn’t often in the world of fiction that we are given insights into the forces that shape the lives and personalities of the adolescent male. It is one of the

      most under-researched issues in human development. Boys have always been under pressure— - from parents, particularly fathers— - who so often feel a compulsion to impose the same harsh physical and mental strictures on their sons that they grew up with. Emotions are suppressed. Feelings, not least those about his own place in a family or school or, ultimately, in the wider society in which he must live, are often subject to forces he can’t understand. It is exceptionally hard for a boy to find his way toward self- assurance and many grow up with an acute confidence problem. That problem is all too evident in the personal despair and sometimes suicidal responses of so many teenagers who can see no other prospects ahead of them.

      This book is an exploration of that awful dilemma. It is also a celebration of personal achievement by one boy through the medium of rugby. In ‘Kicking Goals’ Shirley Deuchrass has skilfully reimagined a family story that ends in self- realisation for a brother who has suffered under the weight of under-achievement, the austere regimes of farm and school life, where the twin evils of repression and bullying reign supreme. The prospect emerging from this is one of never being really good at anything. It is a syndrome that many readers will easily recognise and it persists to this day. ‘Kicking Goals"’ is a universal story and yet it is a deeply personal and local one, full of the details and foibles of family and school life. It shows, above all, that self-belief can be attained in unusual ways and that when confidence comes, it can be a revelation.

      Chris Laidlaw

      New Zealand Broadcaster, columnist, author, Regional Councillor, sports commentator and former Rhodes Scholar, Ambassador, All Black and MP

      ***

      Author’s Note

      My aim in writing this story is to encourage young people to follow their dreams. The importance of self-confidence is paramount and often under-estimated in life.

      Many of the people in this book are based on real people; Jack McCulloch on Jack McNab. The account of events are as accurate as I can make them; although, not necessarily in the correct order.

      However, I have tried to portray the language and attitudes of the time as a good comparison from today.

      Historical Fact

      Jack McNab was a New Zealand All Black in 1949 and 1950. He was a hardworking farmer, a modest man with strong principles who could be determined when he had a mind too. While still at school, playing for the senior school team when he was a junior was an epiphany for him; a realisation that he was good at something and it encouraged him to go further. It was a very big deal for a shy country boy in those days and Jack was determined to do and be the best for his country. Who knows how long he could have played for the All Blacks had it not been for family commitments. When the selectors knocked at his door in 1953 asking him to join the NZ team to Britain, he didn’t accept the invitation, something that never sat well with him for the rest of his life.

      In 1949, it took three and a half weeks for the ship to reach South Africa where they were to play the Springboks. The Tamaroa left Auckland on 15th April and the team returned home on the Dominion Monarch in October.

      Two good Maori players were excluded from the side due to the South African rules on apartheid.

      In Africa, the New Zealand team used

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