Out of Our League: 16 Stories of Girls in Sports

by Dahlia Adler (Editor), Jennifer Iacopelli (Editor), Carrie S. Allen

A compelling YA anthology from editors Dahlia Adler and Jennifer Iacopelli about the trials and triumphs of girls in sports.

Ambition. Drive. Determination. Talent. Courage. Teamwork.

Every athlete knows what it takes to win. But for teen female players, the stakes are so much higher. In this anthology, the voices of these athletes come alive, highlighting the ferocity of those who are often shunted to the side. From navigating rampant misogyny to forging a sisterhood through sweat or just reveling in the love of the game, the stories in Out of Our League address the phenomenal physical and emotional power of teenage athletes as they compete, persevere, and thrive, on and off the field.

Genres: Sports, Young Adult, Short Stories, Contemporary, Anthologies, LGBT, Realistic Fiction

Unknown Binding

First published January 23, 2024

About the author

Dahlia Adler is the award-winning author of seven young adult novels, editor of five young adult anthologies, and founder of the website LGBTQReads. As a book blogger, her byline has appeared on Buzzfeed, B&N Reads, Reactor, Parents.com, and more. She enjoys ’90s rock, rewatching Grey’s Anatomy, finding great cover songs, crying at commercials, and extremely short walks on the beach. She lives in the New York City suburbs with her family.

Reviews

[Dahlia]

Getting closer and closer to pub and can't wait for everyone to read! (More soon!)

[Jennifer Iacopelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

A dream project with a dream team.

[Raaven💖 · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who has never really played sports or cared anything about them, I was a little worried I’d be indifferent to this book. Surprisingly, it was a very enjoyable read! I liked the different kinds of sports and athletes we had in these stories. From girls who loved the game and made it their entire life to girls who just wanted to play for fun or girls who learned to love the game. We get a little bit of everything here. I also like how this touches on girls that are trans as well as girls with disabilities and how they fit into the sports world. There’s also discussions of eating disorders and how it can affect young athletes. There’s excellent character development and times where I found myself wishing I played a sport so I could be on a team like this.

My favorite stories were:
Better in the Long Run- Cross Country
Woman Land- Powerlifting
Sidelined- Football
Kylie with an I- Ice Hockey
One on One- basketball
Volley Girl- volleyball

The range in these stories was great and I found myself actually very impressed with a lot of them. From a non sport girlie who hasn’t really cared about being a part of a team, this was an excellent read that opened my eyes to what it means to be a team player.

[Alex (Pucksandpaperbacks)]

CW: Eating disorder, fatphobic comments, intrusive thoughts, mention of COVID, death of a loved one due ot to COVID-19; homophobia; blackmailing threat; misgoyny; misgendering, deadname on page.

Full review on Substack!

[Christina Truver Olache · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book attempts to fill a gap in the much needed world of sports literature - more girls/women in sports please!! The first three stories were my favorites (along with Sidelined). Some of the other stories weren’t very well written but this was a cool anthology and hopefully we’ll start to see more girls and women sports stories emerging!

[Mrs_R_Librarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thanks to #NetGalley and Feiwel & Friends publishers for allowing me to read an eARC of this title in exchange for a honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. Each of the 16 stories focuses on a different sport: Softball, Cross Country, Powerlifting, Soccer, Football, Cheerleading, Wrestling, Crew, Golf, Boxing, Wheelchair Tennis, Ice Hockey, Basketball, Sport Climbing, Volleyball and Archery. There is diverse representation throughout the book. Many of the stories are tied together through common locations, schools or character mentions.

I will definitely be purchasing this one for my students.

Content Warnings: language, attempted assault, death of a parent, COVID death, eating disorder, racism, sexism, misogyny, misgendering, toxic relationship, gaslighting, manipulation, blackmail, ableism

No sex. A few kisses

[Gabi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anthologies are always a hit or miss. Most of the stories just weren't for me, but there were some I liked. "#GOALS" by Amparo Ortiz is a nice soccer story about learning not to see other girls as competition for boys. "All For One" by Yamile Saied Méndez is a good cheerleading story that discusses eating disorders. I'm just not a sports person and specifically read this for these two authors. Sports fans will probably enjoy this more than I did

[Phoenix (Books with Wings)]

UPATE:
Okay yes it's about sports, it's a YA ANTHOLOGY ABOUT GIRLS AND SPORTS and oh my gosh I am SO excited.

---
Honestly I don't know what this book is yet because there's no summary or anything, but the title *kind of* reminds me of sports, it definitely looks like an anthology given the number of authors it's by, and some authors whose books I've enjoyed wrote part of it, so I'm marking it as to-read!

[b · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was really really cute and I loved all the stories, even though some of them were a bit juvenile. I loved all the different sports and angles and appreciated. I also really liked how they all intertwined and there were little cameos it was positively adorable

[Steph L · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall,, this was really fun. Great characters, great rep, great stories, and great writing. Stats are for all of the stories in general. 8.43/10 or 4.5/5

Characters:9

Atmosphere:8

Writing-9

Plot:8

Intrigue-8

Logic:9

Enojyment-8

[Sarah Bennett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dahlia Adler does it again! I swear that she only writes/edits/contributes to books that I needed as a kid and that I am so glad kids will have now. Plus, I am truly a sucker for a short story anthology…and then you add in that it is about girls in sports? I am IN! All of the main characters are faced with different obstacles but they are very relatable. The mix of sports by all of the contributing authors was really great, too. (Of course, this swimmer would have loved a story about a swimmer, but I loved the stories I got!) I had not read works by all of the authors (shoutout to Sara Farizan for being my reigning short story anthology queen) before but will definitely be on the lookout for their writing in the future. The diversity of the authors and the stories they tell is a breath of fresh air. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Safe at Home (Jennifer Iacopelli): loved it, exactly what I'd expect from this author.
Better in the Long Run (Sarah Henning): also amazing, also exactly what I wanted to see.
Woman Land (Miranda Kenneally): I've actually never read one of her books, so I didn't really know what to expect. Honestly, it was fine. I enjoyed the story, but not really so much that I'd want to read a full novel by her.
#GOALS (Amparo Ortiz): Another new author to me. Again, it was fine, the story was nice, just not something I would personally read a full novel of.
Sidelined (Maggie Hall): I've also never read anything by her, but I actually really enjoyed this one! I could feel the passion through the pages, which I loved. Now I'm gonna go read some of her other books I think!
All for One(Yamile Saied Mendez): I read Furia and absolutely loved it, however this story fell a little flat to me. While the message was great, I think Mendez's kind of poetic and figurative writing style didn't mesh well with the short story format. Or maybe it was just me, either way it was still a great story and she's still an amazing author in my mind.
Two Girls Walk into a Wrestling Match (Naomi Kanakia): It was fine, not my favorite, though. The writing felt a little choppy and certain things could have made more sense, but the overall message was great.
Power Ten in Two (Leah Henderson): Again, just fine, not my favorite but I can appreciate the message.
Bunker Buddies (Sara Farizan): Also, fine. A pretty easy read, nice message, wouldn't want to necessarily read a whole novel like this.
Three Minutes (Aminah Mae Safi): This one was great. Probably not my favorite in the whole anthology (others were more my style) but I really enjoyed it!
No Love Lost (Kayla Whaley): Kind of choppy, not my favorite, but it was alright.
Kylie With an / (Carrie S. Allen): This one was great! I'm a sucker for these kinds of stories and this one did not disappoint!
One on One (Juliana Goodman): Fine, again, not really my thing but it was nice.
Save the Lead (Cam Montgomery): Love, love, love! Always great to hear about less mainstream sports, and the romance was super sweet.
Volley Girl (Dahlia Adler): It seemed like a great setup, but the conflict fell a little flat for me. Great writing, though!
Anchor Points (Marieke Nijkamp): It was good, not my favorite. The friendship was really nice, just would have liked more/clearer conflict!
Also, please keep in mind in this whole thing, especially for authors who I haven't read before, it could just be that short stories don't suit their voice and style as much which is totally fine. I'm sure all of these authors are incredibly talented. Also, that these are all personal opinions and everyone is entitled to their own."

[SJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

🏳️‍🌈✊🏾♿Rep: some POC rep, some trans/queer rep, one with disability rep

📝Tropes/Themes: short story anthology, girls in sports, young adult

This anthology was not quite what I was expecting. There were a number of stories that I enjoyed, some I thought were okay and a couple that I just didn’t care for much. I think I was hoping more for stories of empowerment and encouragement. But some of the stories focused so much more on all the negative things like eating disorders, misogyny, racism, ableism, etc. And some of the stories ended in a way where I was left wondering what message I was supposed to glean from that story.

I did really enjoy a few of the stories. Volley Girl by Dahlia Adler, Anchor Points by Marieke Nijkamp, Three Minutes by Aminah Mae Safi, and One on One by Juliana Goodman were probably my favorites.

I did not at all care for the wheelchair tennis story which was unfortunate. It wasn’t the story, it was just the format of the story - written more like the transcript of a documentary - and I found it hard to get into/follow. I wasn’t a huge fan of the ice hockey one either - I really didn’t like the whole premise of that one.

Sports included in the anthology: Softball, Cross Country, Powerlifting, Soccer, Football, Cheerleading, Wrestling, Crew, Golf, Boxing, Wheelchair Tennis, Ice Hockey, Basketball, Sport Climbing, Volleyball and Archery.

All in all, I thought it was a good anthology, and I found some enjoyment in most of the stories. It was just a lot different than what I was expecting. If you like stories about girls in sports, then I recommend picking it up. Not every story was for me, but that doesn’t mean you won’t enjoy them! Please note the trigger/content warnings below.

I received an ARC through NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group.

⚠️TW/CW: racism, sexism, misogyny, bullying, misgendering, eating disorder, ableism, vomit, toxic relationship/gaslighting, references to death of parent, COVID death, blackmail

[Kassie Rankin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this YA and sports focused anthology. I enjoyed that there were a wide variety of main characters with varying backgrounds and identities, as well as you get a good look at multiple sports.

The narrators did a great job with each story. I loved listening to each, then referencing the ebook if I needed anything.

I put a * on my favorite stories!

Thank you to NetGalley and RBmedia for an ALC of this book!

Safe at Home*:
- Softball
- Sisterhood

Better in the Long Run*:
- Cross Country
- Dual POV

Woman Land:
- Powerlifting
- Sexual Assault

#Goals*:
- Soccer
- Would be very cute as a movie or full length novel

Sidelined*:
- Football

All for One*:
- Cheerleading
- Eating Disorder
- Covid

Two Girls Walk into a Wrestling Match*:
- Wrestling
- Trans Woman main character

Power Ten in Two:
- Crew

Bunker Buddies:
- Golf
- Non-Binary main character

Three Minutes:
- Boxing

No Love Lost:
- Tennis

Kylie with an I*:
- Ice Hockey

One on One:
- Basketball

Save the Lead:
- Sport Climbing

Volley Girl*:
- Volleyball

Anchor Points:
- Archery

Content Warnings: language, attempted assault, death of a parent, COVID death, eating disorder, racism, sexism, misogyny, misgendering, toxic relationship, gaslighting, manipulation, blackmail, ableism

I recommend this book for any teen that enjoys sports. Or if you enjoy YA and sports!

[Madison · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book I have been waiting for for a very long time. An anthology of YA stories about girls and sport.

Out of Our League combines 16 stories about girls and people who identify as female in a wide variety of sports, from golf and archery to wrestling and ice hockey. The characters are just as diverse as the sport choices, and we even get disabled athlete rep, which can often be overlooked.

Some of the stories centred around falling in love with a sport, others were about winning. Some were about finding the family you can only have in teammates, while others addressed issues of racism and misogyny in sport, eating disorders and toxic relationships.

There were so many stand-out stories in this collection that I can’t name them all. I had many favourites and loved the mix of tones, themes and voices.

Edited by Dahlia Adler and Jennifer Iacopelli, this anthology has something for every reader and I can’t wait to add Out of Our League to our school library sport fiction collection.

The publishers provided an advanced readers copy of this book for reviewing purposes. All opinions are my own.

Find more reviews, reading age guides, content advisory, and recommendations on my blog Madison's Library

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Out of Our League just wasn't quite for me. Started out with not including the main sport I've participated in (seriously, why no swimming?), and throughout the stories, only reinforced my perception that competitive teen sports are overwhelmingly built for non-disabled cisgender people, and the "coaching" tends toward abuse thinly disguised as "character building". Plus a lot of not-particularly-believable dialogue and just generally not the strongest writing/plotting.

--Here's the list of stories included, in book order as I didn't have much in the way of favorites (I guess this is technically a connected-stories type of anthology, but the connections were mainly limited to names of characters from some stories being briefly dropped into other stories, not anything that actually affected the plots):
Safe at Home
Better in the Long Run
Woman Land
#GOALS
Sidelined
All for One
Two Girls Walk Into a Wrestling Match
Power Ten in Two
Bunker Buddies
Three Minutes
No Love Lost
Kylie with an I
One on One
Save the Lead
Volley Girl
Anchor Points

[Cory · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Out of Our League," a captivating YA anthology edited by Dahlia Adler and Jennifer Iacopelli, delves into the trials and triumphs of young female athletes in a wide range of sports, from golf to wrestling. The anthology showcases the resilience, determination, and camaraderie of these teenage athletes, shedding light on their struggles against misogyny, racism, eating disorders, and toxic relationships. With diverse characters and compelling themes, this collection offers a powerful and long-awaited exploration of girls and sports, making it a must-read for all. The anthology features significant content warnings, including racism, misgendering, sexism, misogyny, eating disorders, toxic relationships, and more, while providing representation of POC, queer, and disabled athletes. "Out of Our League" is a valuable addition to any school library's sport fiction collection; however, I'd caution it for middle school readers and suggest high school and older.

#outofourleague
#netgalley

[Jessie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really loved that this covers girls in all different sports and at all different kinds of levels, playing in different ways and for different reasons.

Some favorites:
*Iacopelli's "Safe at Home" - we don't have enough softball YA stories, and this one is so explicitly for the A League of Their Own (movie) fans
*Sarah Henning's "Better in the Long Run" - the reflections on running as love vs punishment here are so good! And people becoming teammates!
*Maggie Hall's "Sidelined" - I really like stories of people finding different places than they expected in activities they love. Also figuring out if they actually like something!
*"Volley Girl" by Adler - all the growing up feelings.

The one where I knew enough about the sport to have quibbles and *did* have them was the sport climbing story. The portrayal of climbing itself is fine, but the Olympic qualification process for 2020 is so thoroughly not even remotely how it worked!

[Brittany]

disclaimer: I don’t really give starred reviews. I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not. Find me here: https://linktr.ee/bookishmillennial

I zoomed through this anthology so quickly and in one sitting! It was adorable, full of short stories about jealousy, heartbreak, competition, hope, friendship, sisterhood, and more coming-of-age themes.

My favorite stories were Three Minutes by Aminah Mae Safi (boxing), Safe at Home by Jennifer Iacopelli (softball), and Anchor Points by Marieke Nijkamp (archery). Every story was so lovely though! I found plenty of new-to-me authors & I can’t wait to read more from them.

I highly recommend this anthology & I will be buying a physical copy when it publishes!

Content Warnings: Fatphobia, Body shaming, Sexism, Bullying, Transphobia, Homophobia, and Eating disorder

[Beth for BPL Teens · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent anthology featuring all kinds of girls: girls in wheelchairs, transgirls, brown girls, girls struggling with eating disorders, strong girls, fast girls, and all of them are incredible. These girls also play all kinds of sports: tennis, rock climbing, football, running, cheer, basketball, softball, and more. There is a story for anybody who plays sports, and for people who don't play sports. There is a story in this anthology for anybody who has ever had to overcome any challenge.

I loved this. You don't have to love sports to love this, but I think as there are so few stories about girls and sports for our teens, this is a much-needed book. It was fantastic. Every voice felt authentic, and I wanted to befriend every girl in this book. I can't wait to recommend it to our teens.

[Isla · Rating 3 out of 5]

'Out of Our League' is a YA anthology of sports stories focused on amplifying the female voice in sport. Like all anthologies some of the short stories were great and some were really lacking in depth. I found that the stories in the beginning were the most original and stood apart from the rest, and I don't know if it was because the stories tended to be repetitive but by the end of the I thought I would hear the same stories repeated.

Just like the stories some narrators were better than others but it was greatly appreciated having a different narrator for every story and made the storylines stand out from each other.

Overall, the book was great for it's target audience and I actually really enjoyed the read. I would recommend to young women as I thought it had an empowering narrative for young women.

3.5/5

thanks to #netgalley for this audio ARC.

[maddie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Edelweiss for the arc!

Overall, I loved this anthology. My favorites have to be the ice hockey story (obligatory, I love all of Allen's work), softball, and the closing archery story. My least favorite would the boxing one.

As a whole, I liked that the stories had different tones, but they didn't always transition well enough. You'd have an inspiring football story followed by graphic depictions of bulimia one story later. I also wish we didn't have dual pov stories with men when the purpose of the anthology was girls and NBs in sports.

More importantly, I loved the diversity. I loved trans women finding sports that worked where they didn't have to play a gendered side. I loved adaptive sports. And I loved the call outs between stories.

[Stacy! · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a unique compilation, and so unlike anything I normally read, that I probably wouldn’t have picked it up on my own, but I’m glad I did!

This book is comprised of many different stories by many different authors. The only commonality being that they’re stories about girls in sports. Honestly, there wasn’t very much to these stories, and several of them read like excerpts of larger stories, but I appreciated the attention to detail, as most of the stories found a way to connect to another, and each author clearly researched or had a personal connection to the sport they wrote about.

I was given an ARC by NetGalley and Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group. All opinions are my own.

[Yapha · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a phenomenal collection of short stories! I am often frustrated with short stories, since I want more. I could easily have read an entire novel for each one of these, but they were so incredibly complete I didn't need to. There was a fantastic variety of sports represented, including wheelchair tennis. I also loved that the writers refer to each other's characters -- there are cross-story mentions, which ties them together so nicely and makes it feel more real. If i had to pick my favorites, I would say the golf story (since I was on the girls' golf team in high school and I was awful), the hockey story, and the archery story which was the perfect ending. Highly recommended for grades 8 & up, especially high school athletes.

eARC provided by publisher via Edelweiss

[Star · Rating 2 out of 5]

Content warnings: (across the whole anthology): racism, misgendering, sexism, misogyny, eating disorder, vomit, toxic relationship/gaslighting, references to death of parent, references to death of someone by covid, manipulation, blackmail, ableism. And probably more but I can’t recall them all.

Rep: some POC stories, some queer stories, some of both. Disabled story rep, too.


There were only 2 stories out of 16 in this that I liked.

I was expecting a lot more from this anthology and it just fell really flat for me.



More like 1.5 stars because I really did not like this one at all.

[Stacy! · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a unique compilation, and so unlike anything I normally read, that I probably wouldn’t have picked it up on my own, but I’m glad I did!

This book is comprised of many different stories by many different authors. The only commonality being that they’re stories about girls in sports. Honestly, there wasn’t very much to these stories, and several of them read like excerpts of larger stories, but I appreciated the attention to detail, as most of the stories found a way to connect to another, and each author clearly researched or had a personal connection to the sport they wrote about.

I was given an ARC by NetGalley and Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group. All opinions are my own.

[Bonnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this compilation of stories. There was so much representation for different sports, different kinds of girls, different passions and issues and characters -- honestly, every time I said "just one more chapter," I kept reading for the next story and the next one.

A few of the short stories stayed in my head and heart longer than others. More than once, I hoped the author would revisit the short story and write a full length novel about the character. It was truly amazing how distinct and full the young women in each of these short stories was, given how few pages a short story really is.

I would recommend this for anyone, regardless of whether or not they like sports.

[Mim_Who _Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was pretty good. I think it's a good fit for young adults looking for rep in the sports genre. I think it can be for anyone even if you're not into sports. The different stories do a good job showing how different young athletes relate to competition, identity, and belonging in very different ways, and it doesn’t shy away from difficult topics that affect young people in these spaces. Some entries stood out more than others, but overall the writing was pretty good, and the characters were easy to care about. I had an audio ARC thanks to NetGalley and the narrator did a great job even as they transition to each story.

Thanks to NetGalley and RBmedia, Recorded Books for the ALC.

[Roberta Godoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've always loved sports, I've never played any, but I watch everything that's on TV, whether it's summer or winter sports, and that's why I loved seeing the girls' stories in all sports and all the relationships they have, whether with themselves, family, friends, or partners.

I liked seeing that although the stories are written by different people, some stories intertwine and characters are mentioned in different stories, generally with the goal of uplifting the girls.

Long live girls in sports!!

The audiobook has several narrators, and this gives the stories their own rhythms, making them interesting and giving them more personality.

[The Candid Cover (Olivia & Lori) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to love this book since women in sports is one of my favourite things to read about. With 16 authors contributing stories all centred around this theme, this one has an incredible range of sports from hockey to archery and has some wonderful diversity. That said, none of the stories felt memorable to me, and I found myself bored while reading many of them. Some stories also felt messy. While I was disappointed with this one, I still appreciate what it is trying to accomplish and I would still recommend it to those looking for a sports-related read.