Sit back and enjoy – it’s “the beautiful game!” Soccer is the world’s most popular sport, and women are taking center stage. After years on the sidelines, women burst onto the scene in the 1970s and 1980s. Stars such as Mia Hamm brought the game to the masses in the ‘90s. Now it’s your turn. Grab a ball and get on a field. After all, the whole world is doing it! The history, the rules, and the heroines: these nonfiction accounts of women's sports relate the interesting insights of each sport, including the rules, game play, and standout athletes. Girls looking for role models as well as the "hows and whys" of their favorite game will find the answers in these fresh, accessible titles. Part history, part biography, and part instruction, Girls Play to Win allows readers to access "everything they want to know" about the game. More than an introduction, this series takes what is likely an existing interest and allows the reader to delve deeper. Content consultants are real-world experts that include Olympic athletes and coaches. Library Media Connection's Editor's Choice

Step to the plate and swing for the fences! Softball has grown from a spontaneous game to serious business. What began as an indoor ballgame is now one of the most popular women’s sports. Stars like Joan Joyce and Jennie Finch helped it get there. Now players such as Cat Osterman and Monica Abbott are leading the charge. Grab a ball, bat, and glove and get ready to join them! The history, the rules, and the heroines: these nonfiction accounts of women's sports relate the interesting insights of each sport, including the rules, game play, and standout athletes. Girls looking for role models as well as the "hows and whys" of their favorite game will find the answers in these fresh, accessible titles. Part history, part biography, and part instruction, Girls Play to Win allows readers to access "everything they want to know" about the game. More than an introduction, this series takes what is likely an existing interest and allows the reader to delve deeper. Content consultants are real-world experts that include Olympic athletes and coaches. Library Media Connection's Editor's Choice

Life lessons from the soccer field, from the bestselling author of Strong is the New Pretty. A bruised shin, a bloody nose. Racing across the field into the arms of your teammates. Leaping high to save a goal. Getting up at dawn to kick ball after ball into the net. Making friends for life. Teaching your younger sister how to dribble. Sharing cupcakes at practice on your birthday. Going to sleep in your jersey. That’s what it means to be fearless, dedicated, confident, resilient, proud, persistent. It doesn’t matter whether you’re 3 or 63––that’s what it means to play like a girl. “Kate T. Parker is my hero. She moves me. The whole world she has created moves me.”––Drew Barrymore

From star soccer player and Olympic gold medalist Alex Morgan comes the New York Times bestselling first book in an empowering, fun-filled middle grade series about believing in yourself and working as a team. Twelve-year-old Devin loves to play soccer. If she hadn’t just left Connecticut to move across the country, she would have been named seventh-grade captain on her school soccer team. But now that Devin is starting seventh grade in Kentville, California, all bets are off. After all, some of the best players on the US national team come from California. She’s sure to have stiff competition. Or so she thinks. When Devin shows up for tryouts, she discovers that the Kentville Kangaroos—otherwise known as the Kicks—are an absolute mess. Their coach couldn’t care less whether the girls win or lose. And Devin is easily one of the most talented players. The good news is, Devin quickly makes friends with funny, outgoing Jessi; shy but sweet Zoe; and klutzy Emma. Can Devin and her newfound friends pull together and save the team from itself?

New York Times bestseller Rachel Ignotofsky's Women in Sports comes to the youngest readers in board format! Highlighting the pioneering efforts of women athletes, this board book edition of the original bestseller features simpler text and Rachel Ignotofsky's signature beautiful illustrations reimagined for younger readers to introduce the perfect role models for inspiring a love of sports. The collection includes diverse women across various sports, time periods, and geographic location. The perfect gift for every future athlete!

Lily James is a Soccer Sister. With the Brookville Bombers, her super competitive-and super skilled- soccer team, 13-year-old Lily plays hard and wins big. She and her teammates, including best friend Vee Merino, have hit the top of the league by running fast, passing straight, and following the Soccer Sisters Code, a list of ten unbreakable rules that keep the game clean and the victories sweet. But when Colby Wrangle joins the Bombers, everything changes. Colby's got crazy soccer skills, dyed hair, fake tattoos, and tons of attitude. She's the coolest thing Lily's ever seen-and on the field, she'll do anything to win. Off it, she'll do anything to have fun. Soon Lily is sneaking out, lying-and trying to remember what made soccer so beautiful to begin with. With a huge tournament in Montreal looming, she's got tough choices ahead. They'll affect her family, her friends, the game she loves...and the future of the Soccer Sisters Code.Lily Out of Bounds includes a special message from soccer icon Brandi Chastain, the Official Spokesperson of the Soccer Sisters Series.

"Many parents work more hours outside of the home and their lives are crowded with more obligations than ever before; many children spend their evenings and weekends trying out for all-star teams, traveling to regional and national tournaments, and eating dinner in the car while being shuttled between activities. In this vivid ethnography, based on almost 200 interviews with parents, children, coaches and teachers, Hilary Levey probes the increase in children's participation in activities outside of the home, structured and monitored by their parents, when family time is so scarce. As the parental "second shift" continues to grow, alongside it a second shift for children has emerged--especially among the middle- and upper-middle classes--which is suffused with competition rather than mere participation. What motivates these particular parents to get their children involved in competitive activities? Parents' primary concern is their children's access to high quality educational credentials--the biggest bottleneck standing in the way of, or facilitating entry into, membership in the upper-middle class. Competitive activities, like sports and the arts, are seen as the essential proving ground that will clear their children's paths to the Ivy League or other similar institutions by helping them to develop a competitive habitus. This belief, motivated both by reality and by perception, and shaped by gender and class, affects how parents envision their children's futures; it also shapes the structure of children's daily lives, what the children themselves think about their lives, and the competitive landscapes of the activities themselves"--

Free Mia Hamm photo inside! Mia loves playing soccer. That is, until she has trouble scoring a goal when her team is about to lose. Before she can lose, she quits. Fed up with her attitude, Mia's brothers and sisters will not let her play with them anymore. Will Mia learn that beinga team player is more important than winning or losing the game? This wonderful and motivating story from America's soccer champion shows kids that: Winners Never Quit!

This guide to coaching female athletes of all ages shows how to build a team and provides invaluable advice on the differences between coaching males and females. The authors include exercises that foster teamwork and develop essential skills. They also answer parents' most common questions, such as how to tell if the coach is doing a good job and what to do if a child wants to quit. Filled with stories about the Olympic and World Cup championship teams, this useful handbook is infused throughout with DiCicco's philosophy that at every level playing soccer (or any sport) is about "playing hard, playing fair, playing to win, and having fun."