Christina Soontornvat - All Thirteen: The Incredible Cave Rescue of the Thai Boys Soccer Team (Newbery Honor Book)

A soccer field at Mae Sai Prasitsart School, Mae Sai, Thailand

ON THE SOCCER FIELDS of Mae Sai, Thailand, it sounds like a typical Saturday morning:

The tap-tap of soccer balls passing cleat to cleat across the grass.

The twee! of the coachs whistle and shouts of Mark up! and Make some space!

The hard thump of a well-placed foot, followed by the best sound of all: silence as the ball flies past the goalies fingertips, then a soft swish as it lands at the back of the net.

Its only practice for the Wild Boars, a local boys team for players ages eleven to seventeen, but if they can keep sinking shots like that in their next game, they cant lose.

In Thailand, as in most of the world, soccer is not just a sport; its a total obsession. The scuffle and shouts of pickup matches can be heard at all hours of the day, whether in an urban metropolis like Bangkok or here, in the small town of Mae Sai.

Practice finishes, and the boys huddle together, drinking water and wiping the sweat off their faces. Its a hot day, but at least there are clouds to shield them from the brutal sun. Talk shifts from World Cup rivalries to what theyre going to do next. Everyones eyes turn to twenty-five-year-old assistant coach Ekkapol Chantawong, whom everyone calls Coach Ek. Hes been promising to take the team on an excursion to a local cave, and all the boys want to know if their outing is still on.

Being a Wild Boar means more than just getting together to play soccer a couple of times a week. The team is tight-knit, even though they go to different schools. The kids on the team have a reputation for being adventurous and outdoorsy, never sitting still for long, always ready to hop on their bikes to go exploring together. Coach Ek encourages the boys to be athletes beyond the soccer field, and he organizes regular hiking and bicycling expeditions for them. They often go swimming after practice, either at the neighborhood activity center or at local swimming holes. On the teams last outing a strenuous bike ride to the top of a nearby mountain, Doi Tung they discussed what their next trip would be. This area of Thailand is well known for its caves, the most famous of which is Tham Luang Nang Non the Cave of the Sleeping Lady and they had agreed to go there together.

Some teammates have to back out of the fun. They have too much homework, or their parents have made them promise to come home for this reason or that. But twelve of the boys are still up for the adventure.

Night reminds the team that its his birthday. His parents are having a party that evening, complete with food, a big cake, and lots of friends and family. The team is invited, too, but they cant show up late, and they definitely cant show up covered in cave mud.

Coach Ek tells them, We have to be out by five oclock.

Everyone agrees. Theyll go for only an hour or so, and then theyll head back.

The boys buy snacks to top up their energy before the bike ride to the cave. They go for the good stuff: junk food, like chips, soda, and their favorite candy bar, called Beng-Beng. And they scarf it down before setting out.

They laugh and call out to each other as they cycle along. The oldest boys Thi, Night, and Nights cousin Nick are good friends with the coach. Fourteen-year-old Adul is quite close to Coach Ek, too. Adul is the only non-Buddhist in the group, and he is devoted to the Christian church he attends in Mae Sai, where he sings and plays guitar. The other parishioners raised money to send him to a good local school, where he is at the top of all his classes.

The Boys of the Wild Boars

In Thailand, everyone has a formal first name and last name that are usually reserved for official occasions. Friends and family tend to call one another by a short one- or two-syllable nickname. People also address each other with a word that describes how they are related. For example, brothers and sisters call each other Pi (for older siblings) or Nong (for younger siblings). But even people who are not related by blood will use these terms as a sign of respect and affection. The Wild Boars all call each other Brother, and they refer to their coach as Coach Ek or Big Brother Ek.

Members of the Wild Boars soccer team. Boys nicknames and ages at the time of entering the cave (left to right, back row): Note (14), Night (16), Thi (16), Tern (14), former Manchester United Football Team player Gary Pallister, Mix (13), Coach Ek (25), Nick (15). (Left to right, front row): Adul (14), Titan (11), Mark (13), Pong (13), Dom (13), Bew (14).

Pedaling with him are fellow eighth-graders Note and Tern. Bew weaves among his friends, driving his moped. Next come the inseparable thirteen-year-olds, who go to school together: Dom, who is the team captain; Mix; and Pong, a jokester who isnt as serious about class as the other boys. The little boys work to keep up: thirteen-year-old Mark, who is the smallest member on the team, and eleven-year-old, chubby-cheeked Titan, the youngest player, who begged his parents to let him join the Wild Boars. Despite the differences in their ages, these twelve boys are very good friends. They hardly ever get into arguments, though they do love to tease little Titan, who usually takes it all in stride with his big smile.

This Is Mae Sai

The boys home base of Mae Sai is a small but bustling town on Thailands northern border. Market carts display all sorts of wares from Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, China, and beyond. Goods flow back and forth across the border. People too. Mae Sai is as diverse as youd expect a border town to be. In the markets, you hear Thai spoken alongside Lao, Mandarin, Cantonese, Burmese (the official language of Myanmar), and local indigenous languages. Tourists come here from all over the world, but especially from China, Europe, and the United States. Most people in Mae Sai are Buddhist, but Muslims and Christians also call the town home. Its a vibrant, busy place, where women balance baskets of coffee beans on their shoulders as motorbikes zip in and out of the lanes of traffic, waiting their turn to cross the border.

In this region, most families are farmers or members of the working class. The Wild Boars know that getting a good education is vital. They hope that if they study hard and get a good job someday, they can earn enough money to help support their families. Maybe then they can give something back to their parents, who work tirelessly so their children can focus on school and soccer.

As the boys cycle on, paved roads give way to dirt, and neighborhood dogs trot out to greet them. The Nang Non mountain range rises up behind them, a blurry dark green, as they ride past homes and apartments, repair shops, and open-front stores selling furniture, restaurant equipment, and plastic toys.