Dagmar Jacisinova was born in a country that does not exist anymore and moved to the USA as wide-eyed, barely English-speaking "youth" at age of 25. She "perfected" her English by watching soap operas (yeah, no kidding) and talking to two-year-olds while babysitting. Dagmar never spent a day without reading and she started to read kids' and YA literature while trying to force the love of books on her twin sons. That twisted path also led her to writing Tournament, as she felt that most of the middle grade books out there were for "chicks." Dagmar still spends her "free" time watching her teenage kids dishing out and receiving punishments on various soccer fields, carpooling six "sweaty Neanderthals" to and from soccer games,while listening to them with her ears "wide open."