Go The Distance – Sapphire Lake Series

By Tim Conrad
Thistle Productions – 2010 – USA – ISBN: None 
Reviewed by Dr. Greg Linville

Conrad “connects from long range” in his second Sapphire Lake Novel: Go the Distance. This delightfully written basketball novel is highly recommended…. 

“Go the Distance” is a sequel to the much heralded “Game Plan.” It reunites the hard luck Wyatt, and his emerging star and friend, Anthony with all their Sapphire Lake teammates on a road trip to compete in a national basketball tournament. “Go the Distance” combines an excitement and intrigue geared to pre-adolescents who will be riveted by the adventures and dilemmas of the young athletes who compete for coach Calhoun on the Sapphire Lake Tigers team. The fictional southern town of Sapphire Lake is where the Tigers hail from but the journey to Miami and the National Tourney is where most of the action takes place. Any kid who has played for a traveling team will identify with the twists and turns of a “road trip.” Themes of dealing with a grandparent’s death, injuries, the homeless and how to cope with referees, overzealous fans and “huge” opponents will resonate with the pre-high school crowd. Once again, Conrad superbly connects the “echo boomer” generation to issues of faith through a story based upon a sports experience. Once again, this Sapphire Lake story is geared for children (highly recommended for the 10-14 aged crowd), but may have more impact on the parents, coaches and league directors who will read it to their children or team. 

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Catch Phrases Worth Remembering
Go The Distance is coach Calhoun’s new theme for helping his team deal with the highs and lows of traveling to, and competing in, a national tourney. It provides a great model as it demonstrates how youth coaches can mold their teams in positive and memorable ways. 

Points of Contention

• The issue of co-ed sports remains a carry over concern from the first book. There are theological problems with this including gender confusion and modesty issues. It would be great if these issues were exposed in these novels. Co-ed competition may be accepted in our secular culture and the novel is certainly representative of society at large but it is hoped the problems associated with mixed gender competition would be brought out in future episodes.
• This would have been a perfect story line to address Lord’s Day competition issues. Although a great sub-plot demonstrates how team players can winsomely reach out to and invite co-competitors from other teams to attend a church service with them, an opportunity was missed on how to deal with the collision of a secular world view that treats the Lord’s Day the same as any other day and a Christian World View which holds it as a High Holy Day. Simply attending a church service doesn’t adequately deal with this issue.

Recommendations for a Second Edition

• A couple of twists in the plot were left undeveloped: how to deal with the death of a grandparent; how to deal with parents who are separated and how to deal with the ever present glorification of pro athletes – to name a few. It may well be these will continue to be developed in future editions.
• I’d still like to see the novel’s church leadership embrace and implement a local church sports outreach ministry.

How to use this book

• It is highly recommended for each church to purchase enough copies to give each participant in your youth leagues this book, rather than a trinket or trophy. It would also be a great giveaway for Vacation Bible Schools or year-end Sunday School gifts to children. This book will pay spiritual dividends in each home where it is read.
• An even more strategic way to use it would be to use the book as the basis for a season long discussion with a local church youth league. Each child/family would receive a book at the beginning of the season and a certain amount of chapters would be read by the parents/kids each week in preparation for team huddle/discussions and all league devotionals. This would have multiple impact points: a) communicate all the Christian ethics the book alludes to; b) demonstrates positive youth coaching techniques; c) encourages families to read to each other; d) enables parents to interact with their children about the themes and discussion points.
• Buy it as a Christmas gift for young people in your church, family or team
• Uncharted Waters has an on-line companion discussion guide which can greatly enhance a local church’s use of this book.

Thanks Tim for your continued gift to the sports ministry world. This is cutting edge Youth Literature which really understands sport, and mission oriented sports outreach ministry. 

Disclaimer
Uncharted Waters is a Preferred Partner of CSRM. In addition, my daughter and many of my Sports Ministry students have served for a summer in the ministry of Uncharted Waters. I also currently serve on the Uncharted Waters Board and Tim and I are collaborating on new projects, including writing projects.