Girl, Get in the Game! YA Lit About Girls in Sports by Amanda Stearns-Pfeiffer
YA Lit About Girls in Sports: Sportlerromance, Competition, and Gender Representation
| Amanda Stearns-Pfeiffer is an Associate Professor of English in the Department of English at Oakland University (Rochester, Michigan) where she has taught English methods, Young Adult Literature, Grammar, and Contemporary Literature courses since 2013. Dr. Stearns-Pfeiffer’s research interests include practice-based English education, the ways preservice teachers learn to lead discussions, and the role young adult literature can play in the English Language Arts methods classroom - especially in conjunction with practice-based methodology. Her upcoming research focuses on the ways incorporating Young Adult Literature in a methods classroom can influence preservice teachers’ pedagogy once they become classroom teachers, and the representation of girls in sports in young adult literature. |  |
The Allure of a Bouncing Basketball and Other Siren Songs
Growing up, I loved basketball. At the 2023 Sports-Themed YA Lit roundtable at NCTE, I listened to Mindy McGinnis (author of 2019 sports-themed YA novel Heroine) talk about the siren song of a basketball bouncing, and this resonated with me. As a kid, as soon as I heard the bounce bounce, I was out the door and playing in the neighbor’s driveway. I also loved to watch the Fab Four play for U of M in the 90s. In middle school, I devoured the one book I came across about the Fab Four, written by Mitch Albom. This was a story of athletes playing the game they loved, and all the drama that went with collegiate sports; it was a world that intrigued me, but it was a world where I also didn’t see myself, a female athlete, reflected or represented. There didn’t yet exist a Caitlin Clark – or, more accurately, the world had not yet decided to embrace the existence of the female athlete and her stories. I wish more stories would have been told of girls playing hard and competing, winning and gritting, failing and trying again; I know the athletes and their stories were out there. But they didn’t get the airtime and attention that we are finally starting to see with female athletes.
Growing up, I loved basketball. At the 2023 Sports-Themed YA Lit roundtable at NCTE, I listened to Mindy McGinnis (author of 2019 sports-themed YA novel Heroine) talk about the siren song of a basketball bouncing, and this resonated with me. As a kid, as soon as I heard the bounce bounce, I was out the door and playing in the neighbor’s driveway. I also loved to watch the Fab Four play for U of M in the 90s. In middle school, I devoured the one book I came across about the Fab Four, written by Mitch Albom. This was a story of athletes playing the game they loved, and all the drama that went with collegiate sports; it was a world that intrigued me, but it was a world where I also didn’t see myself, a female athlete, reflected or represented. There didn’t yet exist a Caitlin Clark – or, more accurately, the world had not yet decided to embrace the existence of the female athlete and her stories. I wish more stories would have been told of girls playing hard and competing, winning and gritting, failing and trying again; I know the athletes and their stories were out there. But they didn’t get the airtime and attention that we are finally starting to see with female athletes.
Sportlerroman: Representation and Inclusion for Female Athletes
A parallel story can be told in the YA publishing world. In 2003, YA Lit scholar Chris Crowe coined the term “sportlerroman,”or a coming-of-age story where “the protagonist is an athlete struggling to maturity...” (p. 21). The early 2000s proved an important era for sports-themed YAL; however, it was primarily the inclusion of boys in these sports stories - and the exclusion of girls. A 2017 TeenVogue essay captured this moment: “More than 3.3 million girls played high school sports last year, […] So if there are so many girls playing sports, and we know that representation is so important and valuable, why aren’t there more YA books about athletic girls?” (Felicien, 2017).
Perhaps in an effort to reclaim what wasn’t available to me when I was an adolescent, but was desperately missing, I have been lining my bookshelf and TBR list with all the girl sportlerroman I can find. Recent YAL publications featuring female athletes has produced a list of inspiring, award-winning tales (including Furia [2020] and Heroine [2019], which have been previously highlighted on this blog). Stories of girls in sport can provide important (and currently still underrepresented) mirrors and windows for all students (not only female athletes). Themes of empowerment, grit, determination, ambition, friendship, expectation, pressure, resilience, failure, and family are present in girl sportlerroman stories and are universally relatable.
The books I will highlight in this post include stories of basketball, ice skating, soccer, and romance. Wait, romance? Yes, that’s right. If you’re new to the girl sportlerroman genre, you will soon learn that sports and romance tend to go together like peas and carrots. In fact, the female athlete who is afflicted with heartache, boyfriend blues, and/or crushing lust is quite typical in these stories; “sportlerromance” seems an apt genre-blending title.
A parallel story can be told in the YA publishing world. In 2003, YA Lit scholar Chris Crowe coined the term “sportlerroman,”or a coming-of-age story where “the protagonist is an athlete struggling to maturity...” (p. 21). The early 2000s proved an important era for sports-themed YAL; however, it was primarily the inclusion of boys in these sports stories - and the exclusion of girls. A 2017 TeenVogue essay captured this moment: “More than 3.3 million girls played high school sports last year, […] So if there are so many girls playing sports, and we know that representation is so important and valuable, why aren’t there more YA books about athletic girls?” (Felicien, 2017).
Perhaps in an effort to reclaim what wasn’t available to me when I was an adolescent, but was desperately missing, I have been lining my bookshelf and TBR list with all the girl sportlerroman I can find. Recent YAL publications featuring female athletes has produced a list of inspiring, award-winning tales (including Furia [2020] and Heroine [2019], which have been previously highlighted on this blog). Stories of girls in sport can provide important (and currently still underrepresented) mirrors and windows for all students (not only female athletes). Themes of empowerment, grit, determination, ambition, friendship, expectation, pressure, resilience, failure, and family are present in girl sportlerroman stories and are universally relatable.
The books I will highlight in this post include stories of basketball, ice skating, soccer, and romance. Wait, romance? Yes, that’s right. If you’re new to the girl sportlerroman genre, you will soon learn that sports and romance tend to go together like peas and carrots. In fact, the female athlete who is afflicted with heartache, boyfriend blues, and/or crushing lust is quite typical in these stories; “sportlerromance” seems an apt genre-blending title.
Sportlerromance: Broken Beautiful Hearts
Broken Beautiful Hearts (2018) by New York Times best-selling author Kami Garcia tells the story of soccer player Peyton Rios whose sole focus in life has been on earning a soccer scholarship to University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. When, in the opening pages of the novel, that dream is realized, it seems her senior year of high school is shaping up just as she’d planned. She describes her sport with a devoted reverence:
“After school, I’m the first person on the field for soccer practice. The letter makes me want to get out here and earn it. I stand in the center of the field, passing the ball from knee to knee. This is the place where I feel most at home – the most like me.” (p. 19)
She goes on to explain that in the chaos of uncontrollable factors in life, “the way I play and the effort I put in – that part is my choice” (p. 19). And, true to this chaos theory, when a series of unpredictable events happen, Peyton finds herself moving to a new town with new characters to complicate her soccer-focused life. This is where the feel of the story takes shape, and somewhat one-dimensional soccer-focused Peyton questions everything she has believed to be true in the world, including who she can trust, the importance of truth, and what love looks like. While her future as a collegiate soccer player continues to primarily steer her decisions, Peyton must confront the conflict that surrounds her, and this includes letting go of people from her past in order to move into a future with genuine, supportive relationships.
Broken Beautiful Hearts (2018) by New York Times best-selling author Kami Garcia tells the story of soccer player Peyton Rios whose sole focus in life has been on earning a soccer scholarship to University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. When, in the opening pages of the novel, that dream is realized, it seems her senior year of high school is shaping up just as she’d planned. She describes her sport with a devoted reverence:
“After school, I’m the first person on the field for soccer practice. The letter makes me want to get out here and earn it. I stand in the center of the field, passing the ball from knee to knee. This is the place where I feel most at home – the most like me.” (p. 19)
She goes on to explain that in the chaos of uncontrollable factors in life, “the way I play and the effort I put in – that part is my choice” (p. 19). And, true to this chaos theory, when a series of unpredictable events happen, Peyton finds herself moving to a new town with new characters to complicate her soccer-focused life. This is where the feel of the story takes shape, and somewhat one-dimensional soccer-focused Peyton questions everything she has believed to be true in the world, including who she can trust, the importance of truth, and what love looks like. While her future as a collegiate soccer player continues to primarily steer her decisions, Peyton must confront the conflict that surrounds her, and this includes letting go of people from her past in order to move into a future with genuine, supportive relationships.
Garcia crafts a cautionary tale against performance-enhancing drugs and the damage – bodily, emotionally, and interpersonally – that can alter lives forever. The cautionary tale aspect of Broken Beautiful Hearts is expertly balanced with the steamy love story that unfolds in this sportlerromance (my favorite of a handful I’ve read this spring). The depiction of the relationship that unfolds is tender, careful, and intentional; Peyton and her love interest have both been, as the title suggests, broken by life events, and they have every intention of not breaking one another. One gets the sense that this maturity in both characters stems from the dedication, endurance, and grit they have developed from playing their respective sports (soccer and martial arts). Ultimately, when Peyton is pushed to the edge in the novel’s climax scene, she relies on her deceased father’s soccer advice in order to escape a life-threatening moment:
“I look up at the sky, and for the first time since my father died, I talk to him. To the sky and the darkness and the heavens and the constellations – all the places I imagine his spirit roaming free.
‘Help me, Dad,’ I whisper. ‘Please.’ I touch the dog tags around my neck. Mom’s right. He is still with us. I can hear his voice as clearly as if he were standing in front of me.
Aim, kick, release.
I can’t remember how old I was the first time he said it, but I remember the hundreds and hundreds of times he said it after that first day. Aim, kick, release. For every shot, those were the steps, and we practiced them over and over, passing the ball back and forth in the backyard.
‘You can’t focus on winning the game or scoring goals,’ he’d said. ‘You have to focus on that one kick in front of you. Whether it’s a pass or you’re taking a shot, that one kick has to be the most important one you make, and you do it every time. That’s how you win.’” (p. 375).
‘Help me, Dad,’ I whisper. ‘Please.’ I touch the dog tags around my neck. Mom’s right. He is still with us. I can hear his voice as clearly as if he were standing in front of me.
Aim, kick, release.
I can’t remember how old I was the first time he said it, but I remember the hundreds and hundreds of times he said it after that first day. Aim, kick, release. For every shot, those were the steps, and we practiced them over and over, passing the ball back and forth in the backyard.
‘You can’t focus on winning the game or scoring goals,’ he’d said. ‘You have to focus on that one kick in front of you. Whether it’s a pass or you’re taking a shot, that one kick has to be the most important one you make, and you do it every time. That’s how you win.’” (p. 375).
And this the attraction of sports, and by extension, sports stories: the lessons learned on the field and court never stay on the field and court.
The Heart of Competition: Skating on Mars
When I set out to read sportlerroman featuring female athletes, I expected to read primarily stories of competitive situations on the field or court. While this is sometimes the case, many of the sports stories I’ve read instead focus on relationships (familiar and romantic), overcoming mental health challenges (i.e. addiction and OCD), and even quitting the sport altogether in order to find a healthier balance in life. In her recent publication on YA sports literature, Wendy Glenn highlights the importance of counter-narratives in the sports stories told about female athletes due to the exclusionary climate female athletes often report experiencing in competitive sports (Glenn, 2023). Many factors including the inequities, pressures, and bias that girls face in sports result in lower rates of participation and higher rates of quitting as compared to boys (womenssportsfoundation.org). Stories that reflect this reality, and that provide another way of seeing oneself in the sports world (not only in the high-stakes competitive environment) are important in working toward gender inclusivity and equity.
When I set out to read sportlerroman featuring female athletes, I expected to read primarily stories of competitive situations on the field or court. While this is sometimes the case, many of the sports stories I’ve read instead focus on relationships (familiar and romantic), overcoming mental health challenges (i.e. addiction and OCD), and even quitting the sport altogether in order to find a healthier balance in life. In her recent publication on YA sports literature, Wendy Glenn highlights the importance of counter-narratives in the sports stories told about female athletes due to the exclusionary climate female athletes often report experiencing in competitive sports (Glenn, 2023). Many factors including the inequities, pressures, and bias that girls face in sports result in lower rates of participation and higher rates of quitting as compared to boys (womenssportsfoundation.org). Stories that reflect this reality, and that provide another way of seeing oneself in the sports world (not only in the high-stakes competitive environment) are important in working toward gender inclusivity and equity.
Skating on Mars (2023) by Caroline Huntoon is, on the one hand, a counter-narrative because it pushes on the strict gender binary that separates all sports, including the binary my own research constructs as I consider YA sportlerroman literature about girls. On the other hand, Huntoon’s depiction of Mars, a non-binary (a.k.a. an “enby”) seventh grade ice skater, showcases the hard-core competitiveness that might be anticipated in a traditional sports narrative – in this case it’s in the world of ice-skating. The descriptions of Mars preparing for competitions and training on the ice are epic in their images of the physicality of this sport, and Mars’s competitive drive toward the skaters they come across is palpable. This scene captures the moment when Mars meets the skater (Xander) who will become their nemesis:
“”Mars, huh?’ Xander asks as he reaches a hand out.
I put my hand in his and give it a squeeze. He squeezes back. A little harder than he needs to. “Yeah.” I shrug and drop his hand.
“Xander was just saying that he’s working on a triple.”
Oh yeah?” I say. I’m going for aloof, but my blood is starting to sing in my veins. I love competing. And I love winning. And there’s a part of me that would really love to do a triple right here, right now.” (p. 26)
I put my hand in his and give it a squeeze. He squeezes back. A little harder than he needs to. “Yeah.” I shrug and drop his hand.
“Xander was just saying that he’s working on a triple.”
Oh yeah?” I say. I’m going for aloof, but my blood is starting to sing in my veins. I love competing. And I love winning. And there’s a part of me that would really love to do a triple right here, right now.” (p. 26)
From the opening pages, it is impossible not to cheer on Mars in all they want to accomplish – on and off the ice. Landing triples and perfecting “twizzles” may involve intricate footwork on the ice, but creating a space where Mars, as an enby athlete, can compete becomes the most important challenge they have faced:
“Unfortunately, realizing I’m nonbinary also changed how I see the world. Made me see how split things are. Like public bathrooms. Those plastic signs always feel a little hostile now. Stamped with those little block people with legs or a triangle: boy or girl. And look, no one gives me side-eye or shoves me against the tiled wall and tells me to get out… I just… I kind of do that to myself. I look at the two doors leading into two different bathrooms and think, Huh, there isn’t really space for me. Not in the way there’s space for girls and boys.
And then there’s skating. Which is separated into men’s and women’s divisions. No room for someone who might be both and neither.” (p. 5)
And then there’s skating. Which is separated into men’s and women’s divisions. No room for someone who might be both and neither.” (p. 5)
Mars is someone who knows what they want (a space to compete), isn’t afraid to work hard for it, and ultimately enlists the help of those around them to build the world they envision. And, similar to the certainty that we saw Peyton exhibit when life put her to the test, Mars demonstrates a similar confidence that seems to stem from the hours of training and trust they’ve built in themselves:
“Every win at a competition, I know I’ve earned. I’m not surprised that I do well. It’s like Dmitri said in practice – or like he made me say: I practice enough so I am absolutely sure that I can perform. No matter what. And yes, some of my placement relies on how others do, but I am never in doubt of my own ability.” (p. 84).
Mars and Peyton both exhibit a conviction that, while not unique only to athletes, the self-assuredness they possess is something that has been enhanced by their participation in their respective sport (ice-skating and soccer). These stories of triumph, defeat, empowerment, and grit have universal themes of interest for all students, regardless of gender or athletic identity – and the accessibility of these titles on our bookshelves is fundamental to our understanding of what it truly means to have gender equality, representation, and inclusion.
| More Titles to Consider If you, like me, are making up for a lifetime without having had access to stories of girls in sports, then this is the TBR list for you. These are 10 recent YA novels I’ve read in this genre, and all are amazing for different reasons: |  |
Nikki on the Line (2019) by Barbara Carroll Roberts
Gravity (2019) by Sarah Deming
A Season of Daring Greatly (2017) by Ellen Emerson White
All the Things We Never Knew (2020) by Liara Tamani
Breath Like Water (2020) by Anna Jarzab
Catalyst (2002) by Laurie Halse Anderson
Heroine (2019) by Mindy McGinnis
Fast Pitch (2021) by Nic Stone
Furia (2020) by Yamile Saied Méndez
How to Breathe Underwater (2018) by Vicky Skinner
Gravity (2019) by Sarah Deming
A Season of Daring Greatly (2017) by Ellen Emerson White
All the Things We Never Knew (2020) by Liara Tamani
Breath Like Water (2020) by Anna Jarzab
Catalyst (2002) by Laurie Halse Anderson
Heroine (2019) by Mindy McGinnis
Fast Pitch (2021) by Nic Stone
Furia (2020) by Yamile Saied Méndez
How to Breathe Underwater (2018) by Vicky Skinner
And, finally, the book that I cannot wait to read next: A Map to the Sun (2020) by Sloane Leong. This book excites me 1) it’s about basketball, one of my favorite sports, and 2) it is a graphic novel that is breathtakingly beautiful at first glance (see photos below for proof).
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Works Cited
50 Years of Title IX. womenssportsfoundation.org
Crowe, Chris. More Than a Game, Sports Literature for Young Adults. Scarecrow Press, 2003.
Felicien, Bria. “Three Reasons We Need More YA Books About Girls Who Play Sports". Teen Vogue. 2017.
Glenn, Wendy. “Fictional Girls Who Play to Play: Pushing on Narratives of Competition in Young Adult Sports Literature.” Sport, Education and Society", 2023.
Crowe, Chris. More Than a Game, Sports Literature for Young Adults. Scarecrow Press, 2003.
Felicien, Bria. “Three Reasons We Need More YA Books About Girls Who Play Sports". Teen Vogue. 2017.
Glenn, Wendy. “Fictional Girls Who Play to Play: Pushing on Narratives of Competition in Young Adult Sports Literature.” Sport, Education and Society", 2023.
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