Customer Reviews

Just Kick It: Tales of an Underdog, Over-Age, Out-of-Place Semi-Pro Football Player

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4 star:		(1)
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"Just Kick It" is an excellent follow-up to Mark St. Amant's first book "Committed". I found myself laughing out loud on the train ride home from work. But it is more than just a funny story of an ex-soccer player becoming a place kicker for a semi-pro football team. Mark St. Amant does a wonderful job bringing the reader close to his teammates, each taking a different path to semi-pro football. In describing their stories, I felt closer to the team. "Just Kick It" is about much more than just a football season. And the members of the Boston Panthers are much more than just football players. It is about decisions, priorities, and looking at life from the perspective of others. Keep writing mark, you have a unique talent.

This is the best book I've read in years. I'm going to give it as a gift to many luck people this holiday. I can't wait to see the movie.

This is a pretty cool book for a couple of reasons. First and foremost for me, it's real. St. Amant's account of becoming a semi-pro field goal kicker with zero experience is genuine, honest, self-effacing and downright funny. You find yourself rooting for him like an over-aged Rudy. The cast of characters (real guys) is another reason why this book rocks. A Hollywood screenwriter couldn't make up guys like these--Insano, Pee Wee, The Twins. In fact "Pee Wee", a defensive end who spent nine years in the slammer is one of the most inspirational guys in the book. The other really interesting aspect of the book reflected in the "Out of Place" part of the title is the fact that Mark St.Amant is a white, middle class guy from Connecticut who plays on an entirely black and hispanic team. This book is like Cool Runnings (Jamaican Bobsled Team) meets Bad News Bears meets Friday Night Lights. If you ever wanted to know what it's like to find yourself out of your league and over your head, St. Amant nails it. Straight through the uprights.

I picked up this book to read while waiting for an oil change, and I laughed out loud. You wouldn't peg me for a person who would get such a "kick" out of a book on football--I'm a female English teacher. But the author does a great job of describing how he felt when he joined a semi-pro team made up of people who don't run in his usual social circles. I have given copies of the book as gifts to a wide range of people (a lawyer, a college coach, my mother, my aunt, and a friend who also played semi-pro football, for example), and all of them have called to tell me how funny the book is. They each recount a scene or two, laughing as they describe events from memory in great detail.

This book would also make a great birthday gift for any guy who fears he's headed over the hill.

This is a funny, inspiring, wonderfully readable book. It's about love, sports, human nature, team, and one person's growth. Highly recommended.

Anyone who enjoyed the movies Rudy, Invicible, The Rookie & Hoosiers will want to read this book by Mark St. Amant. Once again the ordinary guy succeeds when he fufills his dream with hard work & determination. That's how a 37 year old author was able to become a place kicker for a minor league football team, even though he never played a game of organized football on any level. Mark accepted an unexpected invitation to place kick for the Boston Panthers of the EFL. You'll enjoy his journey from a struggling doubting Thomas to a league all-star his second season. His insight to human nature & racial tensions is worth the read as well.

This is just a terric book--exciting, well-written, and smart. It gives hope to all armchair athletes, besides being a really detailed and wise study of human hature with sports as the backdrop. This is the kind of memoir everyone can relate to--an "everyday, normal" person doing something out of the ordinary and writing about it with depth and insight. This book would make a great gift for the thinking sportsperson.