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Water Fight!
by Michele Martin BossleyJosie's sister Melissa is too perfect, better than her in everything--except in the pool. Josie dreams of Olympic swimming gold, and works hard with her Calgary swim team to achieve it. So when Melissa decides to join the team too, Josie is outraged and afraid that, once again, her sister will beat her. But as the big invitational swim meet approaches Melissa acts to help make Josie's dream come true, and forces them both to reconsider the value of sisterhood. "Water Fight!" is the story of two sisters who overcome sibling rivalry and learn to be themselves.
Roller Hockey Blues
by Steven Barwin Gabriel David TickMason dreams of spending the summer canoeing and kayaking at a camp up north with his pals from Cabbagetown Junior High. He's stuck in Toronto, though, ready to go crazy with boredom. When hears about tryouts for a local roller hockey team, he sees a way out. But that way seems blocked at every turn: the team captain is tough on him, the coach even tougher, and finding a way to pay the league fees might be toughest of all. To top it off, his mother's new boyfriend arrives on the scene at the worst possible time. But as Mason works hard, moving from the third line to the first, he manages to work it out--with a little help from his friends. Set against a backdrop of fast hockey action, Roller Hockey Blues follows one young man's struggle to overcome personal obstacles and stay in the game.
Taking a Dive
by Michele Martin BossleyJosie is afraid that her record-breaking swim in the 200-metre butterfly at the Alberta provincial championship was a fluke. As her Calgary swim team trains for a big meet she can't come anywhere near her best time, and sees her dreams of national and Olympic glory slipping away. When she participates in her school's Athletic Challenge, however, she's forced to learn the meaning of "personal best" all over again. The insight she gains there spurs her on when she hits the water again. Taking a Dive uses the exciting world of competitive swimming to explore the links between self-confidence and success.
Slam Dunk
by Steven Barwin Gabriel David TickMason's basketball team, the Cabbage town Raptors, is going co-ed after seven successful seasons. He's pretty open-minded about the change, especially after he meets Cindy, a really top-notch player.
Hockey Heat Wave
by C. A. ForsythMitch Stevens is keen to spend July at a hockey camp in Muskoka--half the time on the ice, and the other half drinking in the sun on the lake. But things start to go wrong right away: his best pal Zack is assigned to a different cabin, and then Zack makes friends with Mitch's worst enemy, Eddie. As they all struggle to make the camp select team, Zack faces a crisis that brings the friends back together--closer than ever. Hockey Heat Wave shows how young hockey players' ambitions can strain friendships--and make them stronger.
The Winning Edge
by Michele Martin BossleyJennie loves training at Richmond Skate, her Calgary figure skating club, but her Olympic dreams always seem impossibly far away. When her coach suggests she's got real talent, however, Jennie's ready to do what it takes to make her dreams real--or so she thinks. Soon she's trying again and again and again to land her double Axel, and sacrificing her social life for the rink. As the cost of skating success becomes higher and higher, Jennie starts to wonder if being a star is worth what she's losing along the way. The Winning Edge is an exciting, fast-moving story about a young skater whose ambitions force her to examine what she values most in life.
Courage on the Line
by Cynthia BatesAmelie has nightmares. She's a talented and well-liked player on her basketball team in Ottawa, but as a tournament game against her old school approaches, she seems more and more frightened. Her teammates wonder why she left her last school in the middle of the year, and why she's reluctant to meet her old friends again. Amelie finds she must confront the past, for her own good and for that of the team. "Courage on the Line" shows how sport can provide the courage to face violence, on the court and off.
Alecia's Challenge
by Sandra DierschAlecia's soccer team, the Vancouver Burrards, is the one stable thing in her life. Everything else is new or changing: a new school, a new stepfather. When Anne, Alecia's friend and the Burrards' best player, decides to quit playing, Alecia decides to fight to keep the team together. She soon learns, however, that life's hardest matches are fought off the soccer pitch. Alecia's Challenge shows how the struggles and joys of life and sport are intertwined.
Shut-Out!
by Camilla Reghelini RiversDavid dreams of soccer glory, and is willing to suffer hours of monotonous practice drills to achieve it. His asthma might slow him down a little, but he works every day to be a better player.
Hit and Run
by Dawn Hunter Karen HunterGlen aims to be the starting pitcher and best player on the East York Eagles baseball team. He works hard achieve this--maybe too hard. None of his teammates seem to measure up to Glen's impossibly high standards. His mother reminds him "there's no 'I' in 'team'," but his bad temper and narrow focus on winning threaten the Eagles' chances and his own future with the team. To avoid disaster, Glen is forced to face the problems that drive him, both on the diamond and off. Hit and Run is the story of a driven young athlete whose ambition finally teaches him the meaning of sportsmanship.
Brothers on Ice
by John DanakasTroy and Trent are brothers who play on the same Winnipeg hockey team, Trent as forward and Troy in goal. When Trent takes a turn in nets he finds out he's a natural, the best goalie on the team. Troy has to fight for ice time, and the brothers' relationship grows colder and colder. Brothers on Ice is a poignant story of the struggle to learn what brings families together, and what drives them apart.
Triple Threat (Sports Stories)
by Jacqueline GuestMatthew Eagletail's good friend, John Salton, has come to visit. Together, the boys form the Bobcats to compete in the Rocky Mountain basketball tournament. A summer of fun stretches out before them. The fun stops when Matt's arch rival, John Beal, enters the tournament with his team, the Mean Machine. Suddenly, Matt finds himself fighting the battle of his life. The Bobcats and the Machine use fair play, foul play -- whatever it takes to win.
Shadow Ride
by Tamara L. WilliamsBronwen Smith trains hard with Olympus, her Hanoveriean-cross gelding, preparing for the most grueling of equestrian events: three-day eventing, including dressage, stadium and cross-country jumping. A member of the Ontario Young Riders' Team, she aims to excel at the North American Young Riders' Championships upcoming in Illinois. She trains so hard, in fact, that she hasn't time to make friends, and recently her secret demon--bulimia--has returned to plague her. A chance encounter with a poet and his wife, however, forces Bronwen to reassess her priorities. Soon she's moving towards the balance needed to truly succeed, in the show ring and in life. Shadow Ride shows how hard it can be for a young woman to set high standards for herself and at the same time accept who she is.
A Leap of Faith
by Michele Martin BossleyWhen Amy trains for the Novice Canadian Figure Skating Championship she knows the stakes are high. If she does well, she's one step closer to the Olympics; if she doesn't, she's convinced her parents will stop paying for her skating lessons. One day in practice she falls, hard. Afraid she'll miss the championship, she doesn't tell her coach about the screaming pain in her right knee. As the day approaches, however, it gets worse and worse until it threatens to end her skating dreams. "Leap of Faith" shows the extremes to which competitive ambition can drive young athletes, and the consequences that follow.
Queen of the Court
by Michele Martin BossleyKallana wears the wildest clothes of anyone at her suburban Calgary junior high school. Still, it seems it's not enough to get the attention of her freelance photographer father or her non-kid-friendly mother. When her dad signs her up for the basketball team after Kallana is sent home from school for wearing "provocative" clothes, she's mortified: she can't dribble, she can't shoot, and the uniforms are just hideous. But as things get worse at home, basketball practice comes to be a welcome relief, and the self-confidence she learns at the free-throw line helps her prepare for the difficult changes she has to face. "Queen of the Court" is the touching story of a young girl whose experience of sport helps her cope with unexpected change.
Heads Up
by Dawn Hunter Karen HunterGlen and Jacob are best friends and line mates until a new hotshot, Danny, joins their Toronto soccer team. Glen thinks Danny is cool, and together they get deeper and deeper in trouble.
Offside!
by Sandra DierschAlecia' s Vancouver soccer team, the Burrards, are a good, hard-fighting squad--her teammates are her friends and her coach is her loving step-dad.When Lexi, a new kid, joins the team, her bad attitude makes things fall apart fast. Alecia decides to find out what makes Lexi so difficult, and to hold the team together, on the field and off."Offside! shows how embracing unexpected change can make teams, and players, stronger.
Rookie Season (Sports Stories #42)
by Jacqueline GuestLeigh Aberdeen is determined to win the hockey championship with a new, all-girls team, the Chinooks. So when the coach adds a know-it-all boy to the mix, Leigh is furious. To make matters worse, the team goalie -- Leigh's best friend -- starts mysteriously dropping out from practices just as the Chinooks show they can win. With humour, action, and suspense, Jacqueline Guest weaves these threads together to their surprising conclusion.
Shooting Star
by Cynthia BatesQuyen is a basketball star at her Ottawa school until a fight with her coach forces her to find another team. Her new teammates are hard to get along with and one of them goes out of her way to pick on Quyen. Then, when her parents start acting strangely, Quyen is forced to confront her family's past in Vietnam in order to face the challenges of the present. Shooting Star is a touching story of how past tragedy affects future generations, for good and ill.
Pool Princess
by Michele Martin BossleyWhen Gracie is suddenly moved from the life she loves in Cochrane, Alberta, to the big city of Calgary, she feels lost. She leaves behind her school, her friends, and worst of all her synchronized swimming team. So things start to look up when she finds a new team in the city: she's excited to be training with some of the best swimmers in the province. When Rosalyn, the star of the Calgary team, starts driving Gracie to shape up fast or quit, she's relieved to see the familiar face of Christy Aldredge, the top swimmer at her Cochrane synchro club. Talking with Christy, Gracie finds allies in her stand against Rosalyn's unfair bullying. Pool Princess is a story about the pressures of competitive amateur sport, and about how friendship can help overcome them.
Power Hitter
by C. A. ForsythConnor Wells is looking forward to spending the whole summer parked on the couch with his video games, at home in Burlington, Ontario. Then something bad happens to his mother. Something really bad. When he's sent to stay with relatives in Winnipeg, he finds they play baseball--all day, every day--and he doesn't play at all. Soon, however, he discovers a hidden talent that helps him both on the diamond and off. Power Hitter shows how sport can help us understand even life's hardest experiences.
Rink Rivals (Sports Stories #69)
by Jacqueline GuestWhen twin brothers Evan and Brynley Selkirk move with their family from the remote Cree community of Whapmagoostui to bustling Calgary, their worlds turn upside-down. In place of the grey, frigid waters of Hudson Bay, they see the downtown canyons of a modern city. Bryn, a musical prodigy, trades piano practice for hockey practice to impress a new girlfriend; Evan, the family hockey hero, starts running with a bad crowd and neglecting the game. As the brothers' lies get them in deeper and deeper trouble with their parents, they have to rely on each other to gain the courage to do what's right.
Power Play
by Michele Martin BossleyPower Play is a dramatic and fast-paced story about a boy who who wants to play hockey but not get hurt.
Home Court Advantage
by Sandra DierschWhen Debbie is on the basketball court she feels free and alive. But while she's a good player she's also an aggressive one, and rough tactics get her in trouble more than once. Off the court she's different from other girls, a foster child without "real" parents of her own. When Debbie learns she's going to be adopted, her world is turned upside down. Until, that is, she's accused of stealing from a teammate. From then on, it's an uphill battle to prove herself to her new parents and her team. "Home Court Advantage" shows how young players' behavior on the court and their lives off it are inextricably linked.
Off the Wall
by Camilla Reghelini RiversIndoor soccer is what Lizzie does best. At school other kids bug her and her teacher thinks she' s a troublemaker, but during a game she feels focused, free. Lately, however, her younger sister Shelby has taken up the game. Shelby' s a nice kid, but she leads a charmed life--she copies everything Lizzie does, then does it better. Soon Shelby is a soccer star and her team is challenging Lizzie' s in tournament play. When the girls are pitted against each other on the field, hurt feelings fuel a brutal competition, with dangerous results. "Off the Wall" shows the difficulty of acknowledging the best qualities in those we love, and in ourselves.