Author: Andrew Zincke

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These resources will all support your reading and exploration of the topic of girls and women in sport.

The Female Athlete Project

Chloe Dalton, basketball, rugby and AFLW star, and author of one of the books in this guide, created this organisation to get equal and equitable recognition for girls and women’s sport. Since 2020 her podcast has been showcasing the best of female sport, profiling and interviewing amazing women in sport and providing takes on and summaries of all the key developments in female sport. You can also find links to sign up for a weekly email newsletter and follow and support the project on Instagram.

Jenny Tough’s YouTube channel

Jenny Tough’s videos are inspiring regardless of whether you’re a fan of extreme running and biking or not. Each video is beautifully and professionally presented but also short enough to enjoy when you have a few spare minutes. Don’t be surprised if you start dreaming of mountains too! Jenny’s book about other female adventurers and extreme sports icons is also featured in this guide. Under her YouTube profile you’ll also find links to her social media accounts where she often shouts out to other leaders in female sport that you may want to follow.

Towards a level playing field: Women in sport panel discussion

This is a 2023 panel discussion, hosted by The National Library of Australia, with female athletes sharing their experiences in Australian sport. It’s a mature but welcoming discussion from women that have been there and are still involved. You’ll listen to Holly Ferling (cricket), Michelle Heyman (soccer) and Vanessa Low (Paralympics) share their challenges and successes, how women’s sport has changed and what’s needed next. The conversation is facilitated by ABC’s Anthea Moodie whose sports reports you can also follow here.

Lessons in Badassery

This blog has several years of posts covering a wide variety of ‘badass’ women in sport, adventure and fitness. There are interviews, videos and advice for readers, with both shorter and longer reads or watches. Plus, you can easily use the tags to explore all the posts on topics that most interest you. But you may even find those women outside your own sports just as inspiring!

A Good Reads list of Teen Sport books

Rather than being female-authored or girl-focused, this is a list of sports books aimed at teens, generally. Not every title listed will suit your tastes but it’s a good sample of what’s out there and you may be surprised just how much there is. By clicking on a title you can read a short description but also click on the ‘genre’ tags that may lead to other books of interest and see the ‘readers also enjoyed’ recommendations. The Good Reads community provide heaps of reviews on each book that prove sports books have a passionate following. You can favourite lists and follow other sports readers with tastes like yours and see what they recommend.

 

Jenny Tough Picture: Kelvin Trautman

Jenny Tough Picture: Kelvin Trautman

Furia

Furia coverFuria

By Yamile Saied Méndez

17-year-old, Argentinian Camila is from a multi-ethnic background and secretly soccer-obsessed. To achieve her dreams, Camila must step out of the shadows and become ‘La Furia’, an unstoppable force for change that refuses to let men and context define her.

This exciting, action-packed audiobook is dramatically and passionately read. As well as a sports story, you’ll hear about the real-life disappearances of young women in Argentina.

The local detail, language and culture references are rich, but the struggle for recognition, patriarchal oppression and toxic masculinity will be familiar to girls playing or following sport anywhere. Despite the gritty issues, Furia is a positive story.

You’ll be gripped as Camila battles on and off the pitch, making time fly whenever and wherever you’re listening.

 

Bibliographic data
Publisher & imprint Hachette Audio
Publication date 15 September 2020
Length 532 minutes
Format Audiobook
Read by Sol Madariaga
Subjects Sport, Relationships
ISBN 9781649040114

A Map to the Sun

A Map to the Sun coverA Map to the Sun

By Sloane Leong

This gorgeous graphic novel presents a diverse group of friends forming a basketball team in a school dismissive of girls’ sports and as a positive alternative to their difficult home and personal lives.

Themes of friendship and teamwork are realistically portrayed with all the arguments, communication breakdowns, and make-ups that are common in true friendship and team sports.

Overall, you’ll get a respectful engagement with painful topics like body image, family issues, sexism, and inappropriate relationships but also a heart warming message of friendship, understanding, and respect.

Throughout, the opportunities sport provides for self-determination and growth are strongly represented. Plus, if you’re into art, you’ll love how Leong uses colour to create mood and how she portrays dynamic and dramatic movement in the sports scenes.

 

Bibliographic data
Publisher & imprint First Second
Publication date 16 October 2020
Pages 368
Format Paperback graphic novel
Subjects Sport, Relationships, Coming of Age, Comics
ISBN 9781250146687

Run, Rebel

Run, Rebel coverRun, Rebel

By Manjeet Mann

In this audiobook, Manjeet Mann narrates her own verse novel, making it feel like a live poetry reading and emphasising the power of spoken language.

Run, Rebel is the story of Amber finding her voice on the running track. Her parents are poor, illiterate, and still carrying the wounds of their own childhoods. It falls to Amber to break cycles of oppression and stage her own personal ‘revolution’ to achieve her sporting dreams.

Mann’s portrayal of school life, crushes, and the impacts of bullying will strike a chord with most listeners. But Amber’s Indian, immigrant story also brings intercultural insight for listeners from other backgrounds. You’ll also hear from other female characters, enriching your understanding through multiple perspectives.

The language is always clear and easy to understand. Additionally, the audio format includes some clever tricks when voices overlap, which really makes the text come alive in your headphones.

 

Bibliographic data
Publisher & imprint Penguin
Publication date 5 March 2020
Length 334 minutes
Format Audiobook
Read by Manjeet Mann
Subjects Sport, Poetry, Relationships
ISBN 9780241442784

My Spare Heart

My Spare Heart coverMy Spare Heart

By Jared Thomas

When seventeen-year-old Aboriginal basketball loving Phoebe moves to a new town she initially struggles to find her place. The hipster hippies and ‘progressive’ school are alien. What’s more she suddenly finds she is no longer the best basketball player, something many players face when stepping up a level.

Phoebe’s development isn’t helped by the aggressive attention of boys and the shame of her non-Aboriginal alcoholic mother. Eventually, she turns these challenges into opportunities for growth, both personally and in her sport.

Teen readers will recognise the conflict between wanting to hide and needing to speak up, between wanting to fit in and being authentically yourself. As an Aboriginal Australian writer, Thomas also presents positive examples of how culture and identity can be a resource for strength.

 

Bibliographic data
Publisher & imprint A&U Children’s
Publication date 31 May 2022
Pages 384
Format Paperback novel
Subjects Sport, Relationships, Aboriginal Australians
ISBN 9781760631833

I Kick and I Fly

I Kick and I Fly coverI Kick and I Fly

By Ruchira Gupta

Activist Ruchira Gupta has fought at the highest levels for women’s rights and against international sex trafficking. Here, she turns these experiences into an inspiring and exciting novel about escape and redefining what’s possible for yourself and those you love.

You follow fourteen-year-old Heera as she discovers a talent for martial arts that can break her out of the cage others have put around her. Gupta’s story makes it clear that sex trafficking and patriarchal control are international issues that affect us all. Additionally all readers who struggle at school or home but find self-confidence through any sport will also relate to Heera’s journey.

Heera’s own progress is also wrapped in gripping adventure story, as she investigates the mystery of other girls’ disappearances, turning this deeply felt novel into a real page-turner.

 

Bibliographic data
Publisher & imprint One World Publications
Publication date 4 July 2023
Pages 352
Format Paperback novel
Subjects Sport, Social Justice
ISBN 9780861546947

Hockey Girl Loves Drama Boy

Hockey Girl Loves Drama Boy coverHockey Girl Loves Drama Boy

By Faith Erin Hicks

Alix is a talented ice hockey player with anger issues, a mother who doesn’t even like sport, and a bullying, jealous teammate. Could Ezra the popular, queer, drama kid be just the friend, even boyfriend, that she needs?

Hicks’ graphic novel is both a feel-good romance and sensitive exploration of serious issues, including family violence. Topics of gender and sexuality are also foregrounded as both Alix and Ezra refuse to be labelled and tied to a single, defining identity.

The art can be cute when it suits but also powerful bringing both the sports action to life and and making the more emotional scenes hit harder.

Sports players will appreciate how Alix’s focus on her game at first isolates her but later becomes the way to build bridges with her parents and her new friends. It’s especially gratifying to see the mother character come to understand Alix’s passion for sport.

 

Bibliographic data
Publisher & imprint Pan Macmillan Australia
Publication date 3 October 2023
Pages 304
Format Paperback graphic novel
Subjects Sport, Romance, Relationships, Coming of Age, Comics
ISBN 9781761560576
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