The Extraordinary Life of a Mediocre Jock

"For me, a formerly pudgy junior high athlete who was a professing Christian and avid reader, this book is a total flashback replete with Oklahoma drills, screaming coaches, awkward crushes, and much embarrassment. Even the descriptions of church youth groups and friends' basements is pitch perfect. Reading it now as an adult and a parent, though, made it even more real because I can see the story from both sides. This is a wonderful combination of fun, humor, nostalgia, and what Christian faith can look like in real, normal life."
—Barnabas Piper, author and podcaster

"Authentic, relatable, hilarious—those were a few of the words that came to mind as I read about Flex and his early adolescent experiences. Ted Kluck has created a world kids will recognize instantly. They'll feel Flex's anxieties and longings and triumphs and, hopefully, follow him down the same uneven path toward God."
—Drew Dyck, contributing editor to CTPastors.com, author of Yawning at Tigers: You Can't Tame God, So Stop Trying

"If anyone asks who my favorite memoirist is, I don't have to think about my answer: It's Ted Kluck. And in The Extraordinary Life of a Mediocre Jock, Kluck's gift seems to translate effortlessly into a semi-fictionalized version of his tween experience in the form of a middle-grade novel that is simultaneously hilarious, charming, and true-to-life, without ever talking down to the reader. I laughed out loud reading it and handed it off to my ten-year-old, who laughed even louder."
—Zachary Bartels, author of Playing Saint and The Last Con