Out of Our League: 16 Stories of Girls in Sports

Gr 9 Up–The message of this wide-ranging collection—16 short stories, each by a different established author including the editors, Naomi Kanakia, Marieke Nijkamp, and more—is clear: the challenges girl athletes face are real. Popular team sports, such as softball, soccer, basketball, and volleyball, are no less exempt from discrimination than more extreme endeavors, such as sport climbing and powerlifting, for example. Millie, who knows her Title IX rights, earns her right to start a girl’s golf team. Kylie, who grew up playing ice hockey with three brothers and is used to dressing in the locker room broom closet, struggles with self-imposed isolation when she tries out for a new all-girls team. At an elite prep school, Emersyn, a Black three-letter All-American, regularly outperforms her legacy peers just to be seen as their equal. A trans girl, Jackie, is motivated by the simplest of gestures from a nonjudgmental peer. Their victories, outside of pushing themselves and winning scores, are personal and political, and offer an inclusive sense of empowerment that inspires. A few tired dramatic clichés—the forbidden romance, the jealous competitor, a teen proving a parent wrong—slow down these otherwise upbeat and timely short stories about female high school athletes facing discrimination today.