First Test | life like a novel

First try, this is the incredible story of Théo, quarterback of the Jean-Eudes College Eagles, and Carl, his father. The action takes place in the fall of 2018, Théo dreams of winning the football championship, the Bol d’or, and Carl, as a supporter father, hopes that his son will achieve this feat. A father-son novel project that took shape during the pandemic. Meet.

Olivia Levy
The Press

This book written with “twice two hands” alternates between the point of view of the son and that of the father. The two narrators immerse us in their passion for football, in a story very inspired by reality. The sport also takes on the appearance of a real tragedy where Theo’s life is at stake during the matches played. Nothing less.

“That fall, in 2018, I felt like I was in a novel! says Carl Leblanc, writer and filmmaker (Lose Mario).

For Théo Leblanc, football, a sport he practiced for eight seasons, requires a lot of resilience, perseverance, physical and mental preparation. But it is above all friendships that have been created, for life. “I learned a lot about interpersonal relationships, the importance of friendship. It is often said that all young people should play a team sport. It’s not just to play sports, but to learn to live together. I had extraordinary teammates and dedicated coaches who bet on team spirit, a determining factor,” says the man who has just celebrated his 20th birthday.

See his son grow up

It was Sophie, Théo’s mother, who had the idea for this book during the pandemic. She simply suggested telling this out-of-the-ordinary story, which was a great writing project and a great first for Théo, a psychology student at the University of Montreal.

“It all happened from the first chapter. Maybe it was a test, because if he hadn’t been promising…”, laughs Theo, addressing his father. “We wrote our chapters on our own, like two narrators. Théo realized that writing a book was quite a job! smiles the father who has already published several novels.

First try, it is also the tender gaze of the father who sees his son grow up and become a man. He is a devoted, worried father who attends every game, his stomach in knots of fear and excitement. “There is something of the farewell ceremony in this story, first for Théo with the end of secondary school, he becomes an adult. And for me too, when I see my son on the pitch managing an attack against the opposing team who wants him dead in the final match. It is as if the parents of young soldiers during the 1939-1945 war had bleachers to see their children in the war. I know that the metaphor of war is present in the book and it should not be abused, but he goes through it all with such composure that I look at him differently! There is this desire to observe this turning point in our lives, beyond sport,” says Carl Leblanc.

Many parents will find themselves in this novel where pride is intertwined with doubt. Will the Jean-Eudes College Eagles really get there? Should we believe in them or give up? Is it possible that they win the Bol d’or when the statistics suggest otherwise?

“We say to ourselves that we must have faith! We are lucky to have experienced such adventures. We can invent stories, but when real life offers us exceptional ones, we have to tell them! We went through a life sequence with multiple emotions, and we want all the parents in the world to have the luxury of being crazy like us in the stands! “, Estimates the father of the quarterback, who specifies that he is also the driver.

This story will remain etched in their memory for the rest of their lives. What did the father learn through all this? “I learned to look up to all these wonderful boys. Obviously, we are proud of our children, we love them unconditionally, but when they are becoming adults and we discover that they assume, it is beautiful and it is admirable. We then say to ourselves that we are in the process of passing into the camp of the old and that the world belongs to them! »

First try

Carl Leblanc and Theo Leblanc

Editions Hurtubise

274 pages