Walk on: From Pee Wee Dropout to the NFL Sidelines--My Unlikely Story of Football, Purpose, and Following an Amazing God by Ben Malcolmsom Book Review

In Walk On, Ben Malcolmsom opens up about how he discovered his purpose and how God used him in unexpected ways. Ben was a journalist for the USC school newspaper, The Daily Trojan. He decided to secretly join the walk on try out for the Southern California Trojans football team to get a firsthand story about the experience of trying out. He hasn’t played football since he was ten years old. He was determined to never to play football again because he hated it. He also weighed only about 165 pounds at the time and wasn’t a big guy. He was only going to be trying out just for the story. But God had other plans. He was picked to be on the team partly because he was a fast runner and he believed that Coach Peter Carroll was playing a prank on him by selecting him to be a walk on player. It wasn’t a prank he did make the team and he made the roster for wide receiver. He was picked on and laughed at by a few of his teammates when they discovered he was a reporter. Throughout the book, he shared about how he loved to be a counselor at Deerfoot which was a wilderness camp for boys. He opened up about how his faith became real for him when he was a freshman. His faith helped him to be a witness for Christ on the football team even while encountering setbacks and challenges. He injured his shoulder again and was kicked off of the team. He had to choose to preserve and fight for his spot back on the team. Readers will strongly be encouraged and their faith will be strength by reading about how Ben found his purpose and how God used him. 

I would recommend this amazing book to anyone who enjoys reading a story about adversity and overcoming the odds despite the fact that the odds are against you. I haven’t ever heard of Ben’s story prior to reading this book. I connected with the fact that he was a new reporter and was considered to be unqualified to be a football player. But he found his way amazing placed on a football team. I loved how he included special thoughts and scriptures at the end of all the chapters. He had great takeaways about being on the sidelines and still believing that God has a hope and a future for you. I really enjoyed reading this book about his journey through his news writing career and how everything lined up the way it was supposed to. If you’re a looking for a great summer read, then read this book!

“I received an advance book copy free from the Waterbrook Multnomah and was a member of the Walk on Launch team.”         

If you would like to purchase a copy of Walk On, check it out on Amazon.com: 

https://www.amazon.com/Walk-Sidelines-My-Unlikely-Football-Following/dp/0735291276