Sakamoto's Swim Club
How a Teacher Led an Unlikely Team to Victory
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- €1.99
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- €1.99
Publisher Description
Lyrically told true story of the teacher who coached Hawaiian swimmers to Olympic glory. When the children of workers on a 1930s Maui sugar plantation were chased away from playing in the nearby irrigation ditches, local science teacher Soichi Sakamoto had an idea. He would take responsibility for the children and train them to swim. Using his science background, Sakamoto developed a strict practice regime for the kids, honing their skills and building their strength and endurance. They formed a team and began to dominate events, first nationally and then internationally — until they made it all the way to Olympic gold! Told in simple rhyme, Sakamoto’s story will inspire athletes, coaches — and everyone who believes impossible dreams can come true.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"Run!/ Policeman's on his beat/ Children scatter/ in the heat." The children of Hawaiian sugar cane workers swim in irrigation ditches when it gets hot; a school science teacher, Soichi Sakamoto, says he'll supervise the swimmers if the police leave them alone. He sets about forming them into a team and aims for the highest possible goal: the Olympics. The games are canceled due to WWII, but Coach Sakamoto gets to see one of his swimmers take a gold medal in 1948. Abery tells the story in tight, driving verse that doesn't bog down in descriptions. Instead, Sasaki supplies detail in gracefully composed spreads: in one, a split view shows the children's heads above the blue-green water and their bodies below it. Back matter supplies contextualizing information and photographs. Ages 5–8.
