Last Friday (March 8th), I was lucky enough to visit two Grade 4 classes at Canadian Academy in Kobe during some downtime in a soccer tournament.

The students were incredibly enthusiastic and asked some great questions such as:

• Do you always write about your childhood?
• What does soccer mean to you?
• Do you like to put famous soccer players like Cristiano Ronaldo into your soccer books?

While a large proportion of students were very interested in soccer (especially the dude in the full Real Madrid kit, including boots), it was also good to hear about some of the students other passions and interests, which ranged from video games and skateboarding to singing, drawing and dance.  This was very important, because although my books focus on soccer, I hope they are really about following your passion in life, whatever that may be.

Oh, and yes I do like to mention famous soccer players in my novels, though I never use them as characters.  I’m more interested in not-famous soccer players!