Power Play (14 page)

ERIC WALTERS’
books for children and teens have won numerous prizes, including the Snow Willow Award, the Manitoba Young Readers’ Choice Award, the Rocky Mountain Book Award, and the Ruth & Sylvia Schwartz Award. He is the only three-time winner of both the Silver Birch and the Red Maple, and he has been honoured by the UNESCO Prize for Children’s and Young People’s Literature in the Service of Tolerance. Eric lives in Mississauga, Ontario. Visit him at
www.ericwalters.net
.

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P
ower Play
, although a work of fiction, took me back to a time in my life that was very REAL—when I was sexually abused as a young hockey player by my coach. It is a book about the unbelievable fear and chaos that a young person experiences when they are hurt by a trusted adult. It’s about the invisible trauma that abuse victims carry around, day in and day out. I have spent the last fifteen years trying to prevent any young person from having to write a story like this about their own life.

The damage caused by all forms of abuse, bullying, and harassment is hidden. You feel guilt, shame, self-hate, depression, anger, and helplessness—and you feel completely alone. Other injuries, like a broken leg, are easy
to see, understand, and treat, but abuse victims suffer in total isolation. What makes it even worse is that abusers are often trusted adults in your community, school, or family. You don’t think that anyone will ever believe that this “respected person” could be doing something so monstrous. As kids, we look up to the adults in our lives; we trust them and want to please them. That’s why the abuse of power, as portrayed in
Power Play
, is so scary and unforgiveable.

When my sexual abuse became public in 1997, it was the first time that the media really paid attention to the issue as it relates to the athlete-coach relationship. Two years later, I took the opportunity to in-line skate across Canada to raise further awareness of this invisible trauma. What I learned, as did many other Canadians, was that the problem was more common than anyone had ever imagined. My goal, since then, through my work at Respect Group, has been to educate all adults working in schools, sport, and youth-serving organizations about the prevention of abuse, bullying, and harassment. If we empower our adults to be watchful for the signs of abuse and sensitive to the young people they work with, we have a better chance of preventing child sexual abuse from happening—or at a minimum, from happening over and over again.

My advice to any young person experiencing any form of abuse or bullying is to report it to a trusted adult. Just like Cody did in
Power Play
. Tell your teacher, a family
member, or your coach. The sooner the better. You will not be alone, and you will be assured that it’s not your fault. Because
it is not your fault
! If that seems too tough, reach out to the Kids Help Phone at
1-800-668-6868
or visit
www.kidshelpphone.ca
. They can assist you anonymously and give you the support you need.

Sheldon Kennedy skated for the Detroit Red Wings, the Calgary Flames, and the Boston Bruins during his NHL career and played for Canada’s gold medal–winning team in the 1988 World Junior Hockey Championship. He is the author of
Why I Didn’t Say Anything,
an account of the abuse he suffered for five years at the hands of his Major Junior Hockey League coach. He continues to carry his message through Respect Group Inc., the company he co-founded
.

M
y background is in teaching and social work. As a social worker, I was employed at both the Children’s Aid Society and the emergency department of a hospital, and in these capacities I was involved with children who had suffered abuse. I saw situations that were terrible and tragic and real.

I drew upon my experiences and training in portraying the situations and characters in this book. I hope Cody’s story will provide readers with a greater understanding of what victims of abuse go through and help victims realize that they are neither alone nor responsible—that there are people out there to help them. The first step is the hardest; it takes great courage and bravery to reach out and break free.

I am very thankful for and appreciative of the courage and dedication of Sheldon Kennedy. It is an honour to have a person of such integrity write the afterword for my book. He is a true hero.

Eric Walters

Power Play

Copyright © 2013 by Eric Walters.

Afterword © 2013 by Sheldon Kennedy.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

EPub Edition © DECEMBER 2012 ISBN: 978-1-443-40763-2

Published by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

First edition.

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

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ISBN 978-1-44340-761-8

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