Writer, teacher and sports fan Trevor Kew, 32, pedals and kicks his way through culture shock. He uses sports to help him adapt to unfamiliar cultures or new places when traveling, trusting his bike or a soccer ball to bridge the gap with locals.
Kew's sports and teaching worlds also neatly connect to his published writing. He has authored four soccer-themed novels for middle school students, combining his love of literature with soccer. "I have daily access to the characters I write about as a teacher, so constructing characters or knowing about teenagers was not a difficult thing."
Currently teaching high school literature and coaching boys soccer teams at Yokohama International School, Kew also travels frequently to promote his novels in schools around the world or to take part in international conferences on education. He's been invited to speak with children in classrooms from Egypt to Cambodia, and on all his travels, he carries his soccer kit, a habit that began when the native Canadian lived in England for five years.