Teen Sports

This entertaining history blends anecdote, incident, and analysis as it chronicles the story of our national pastime. Alexander covers the advent of the first professional baseball leagues, the game’s surge in the early 20th century, the Golden 20s and the Gray 30s, the breaking of the color line in the late 40s, and the game’s expansion to its current status as a premier team sport. He describes changing playing styles and outstanding teams and personalities, but also demonstrates the many connections to society.

Farrington High School Junior, Kate Kellner, has her whole future planned and a list of high-priority goals aligned. This season, she’s going to lead the Fighting Falcons to their first ever Midlands Conference title, break all the school pitching records, and impress a boatload of college recruiters so she can pick where she wants to go after she graduates from high school. But then, one day in the middle of a training session, Grady Hughes walks into her multipurpose room.

Evelyn was raised to see field hockey as war. Before she could write her own name, her family’s legacy on the field was already spelled out. Every step Evelyn takes toward glory is within a footprint her mother left behind. And no step matters more than this next one, with Evelyn about to lead her varsity team into their final battle season. Evelyn is beyond ready to score the Nationals title and win the critical scholarship to her mom’s alma mater that comes with it. This year, she’s out for blood, and nothing can stand in her way...except for Rosa Alvarez.

In the year 2166, baseball is just a distant memory, lost to history in the aftermath of a devastating second American Civil War a hundred years earlier. But, when Joe Scott, a curious 12-year-old, stumbles upon a relic from the distant past, from before the war, it sparks a search for its meaning. Little does he know that the wheels of Providence have been unwittingly set in motion which leads him on an epic quest of adventure and discovery.

Who's Better? The Legend or the Rising Star? kid will love these stories of excellence.

When 16-year-old Stan Claxton learns that his neighbor Ginny Forrester is coming home, he isn't sure if he should be happy or scared. Ginny - a 15-year-old nationally-ranked junior tennis player - is having trouble with her game, and her coach thinks Stan can pull her out of this slump. After an awkward beginning, Stan settles in as Ginny's coach, and her play improves with each match in a local tournament.

In Texas, football is life. For Finn Geringer, it’s a ticket to a better future. Transferring to East Pages High, Finn hopes to secure a college scholarship and a chance to provide for his grandmother. In this town where football reigns supreme, East Pages seems perfect. Until it’s not. Finn’s girlfriend, Megan, notices rival players absent from games. As she digs deeper, her life becomes increasingly dangerous: Mysterious cars tail her, strangers issue threats, and she’s sure someone’s been in her bedroom. Is it her imagination, or is East Pages hiding a dark secret?

Global superstar, FIFA Player of the Year and TIME magazine’s Athlete of the Year Lionel Messi’s arrival in the States has brought inspiration, excitement and star power to men’s game. In Messi Mania, discover the seismic effect Leo has had on MLS and global football, woven through with fascinating insights into his family background, childhood, teenage years and career to date.

Darius and Twig are an unlikely pair: Darius is a writer whose only escape is his alter ego, a peregrine falcon named Fury, and Twig is a middle-distance runner striving for athletic success. But they are drawn together in the struggle to overcome the obstacles that Harlem life throws at them. The two friends must face down bullies, an abusive uncle, and the idea that they'll be stuck in the same place forever in this touching and raw new teen novel from Walter Dean Myers.

Lana Torres has always preferred dragons to people. In a few weeks, 16 countries will compete in the Blazewrath World Cup, a tournament where dragons and their riders fight for glory in a dangerous relay. Lana longs to represent her native Puerto Rico in their first-ever World Cup appearance, and when Puerto Rico’s Runner - the only player without a dragon steed - is kicked off the team, she’s given the chance. When she discovers that a former Blazewrath superstar has teamed up with the Sire - a legendary dragon who’s cursed into human form - the safety of the Cup is jeopardized.

Gravity "Doomsday" Delgado is good at breaking things. Maybe she learned it from her broken home. But since she started boxing with a legendary coach at a gym in Brooklyn, Gravity is finding her talent for breaking things has an upside. Lately, she's been breaking records, breaking her competitors, and breaking down the walls inside her. Boxing is taking her places, and if she just stays focused, she knows she'll have a shot at the Olympics. Life outside the ring is heating up, too. Suddenly, she's flirting (and more) with a cute boxer at her gym - much to her coach's disapproval.

Last year, I had it all: two jumpers on the show circuit, a lot of wins, and a lot of attention - the good kind. But now I have nothing. My life is circling the drain. The only spark of light that exists for me is my new, forbidden passion. If my stepfather finds out, he will kill me. My twin brother, my only blood relative in the world, has already begged me not to. But I can't help myself. If it can't be horses, it has to be this.

Grace lives and breathes gymnastics - but no matter how hard she pushes herself, she can never be perfect enough. Leigh, Grace's best friend, has it all: a gymnastics career, a normal high-school life...and a secret that could ruin everything. Camille wants to please her mom, wants to please her boyfriend, and, most of all, wants to walk away.

Tomorrow, the Wildcat varsity field hockey squad will play the first game of their new season. But at tonight’s team sleepover, the girls are all about forging the bonds of trust, loyalty, and friendship necessary to win. Everything hinges on the midnight initiation ceremony - a beloved tradition and the only facet of being a Wildcat that the girls control. Until now. Coach - a handsome former college player revered and feared in equal measure - changes the plan and spins his team on a new adventure.

For 14-year-old Krissy, her new life maxim is pretty sad: First choices out. Second choices in. It's been that way since dialysis left her disabled. Her limitations went from none to a ton, and now they stand in the way of her dream - to compete in dog agility with her runty Sheltie pup, Aslan. Krissy has seen videos of agility handlers sprinting, spinning, and twisting as they race with their dogs through the intricate obstacle courses. It's a beautiful sport. Like dance. Like art. And surely impossible for someone like her.

Zoe Alamandar has one goal: Win the State Field Hockey Championships and earn a scholarship that will get her the hell out of Central New York. She and her co-captain, Ava Cervantes, have assembled a fierce team of dedicated girls who will work hard and play by the rules. But after Zoe is sexually assaulted at a party, she finds a new goal: Make sure no girl feels unsafe again. Zoe and her teammates decide to stop playing by the rules and take justice into their own hands.

Willow Covington has conquered every obstacle thrown at her to become one of the best figure skaters in the nation until a devastating injury shatters her Olympic dreams. She’ll do anything to get back on the ice, though, and if that means rehabbing while blocking shots and slapping a puck around, so be it. Coach says no dating, but that’s A-Okay with her anyway - she’s singularly focused on her goal. If only the team captain, Brodie Windom, wasn’t so infuriatingly hot as he shows her the ropes.

From the slightly fantastical to the utterly real, light, and sweet romance to tales tinged with horror and thrills, Game On is an anthology that spans genre and style. But beneath each story is a loving ode to competition and games perfect for anyone who has ever played a sport or a board game, picked up a video game controller, or rolled a twenty-sided die.

Running is so not her thing, but she has to finish what her boyfriend started - before he died. Annie feels guilt that she's still alive and blames herself for his death; she has to do this to honor him. Plus training gives her something to do, it's a distraction. So is Jeremiah Brown. He's an adrenaline junky who runs marathons backwards. He flirts with Annie on the trails and it makes Annie feel alive and happy and guilty all at the same time.

As a professional surfer, 17-year-old Iris has travelled the sun-kissed beaches of the globe. But after a tumultuous week in Miami leaves her heartbroken, Iris returns to her hometown on the south coast of England. Putting her promising career on hold. Leaving behind Zeke, the boy who changed her world. Iris is desperate to get back to her old life, to the family and friends she grew up with. She wants to rediscover her passion for surfing. She needs to move on. But Iris soon realises it won't be that simple.