National Girls & Women in Sports Day

 


February 1st is the 36th annual National Girls and Women in Sports Day! Originally observed in 1987 as a day to remember Flo Hyman, an Olympic volleyball player who tragically passed away in 1986, it has grown to recognize and celebrate the achievements of all women in sports on a national level.


Your library card grants you access to a wide range of books and movies about women athletes, from biographies to fiction titles. Listed below is a small sample of what you can check out!


Adult Nonfiction:


Good for a Girl: A Woman Running in a Man's World by Lauren Fleshman

Part memoir, part manifesto, Good for a Girl is Fleshman's story of falling in love with running as a girl, being pushed to her limits and succumbing to devastating injuries, and daring to fight for a better way for female athletes.


State: A Team, a Triumph, a Transformation by Melissa Isaacson

The unlikely story of a Chicago high school basketball team that became one of their state’s first-ever girls' basketball champions after the passage of Title IX, which banned gender discrimination in school athletics.


Adult Fiction:


Carrie Soto is Back: A Novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Carrie Soto is fierce, and her determination to win at any cost has not made her popular. But by the time she retires from tennis, she is the best player the world has ever seen. She has shattered every record and claimed twenty Grand Slam titles--and if you ask Carrie, she is entitled to every one. She sacrificed nearly everything to become the best, with her father, Javier, as her coach ... But six years after her retirement, Carrie finds herself sitting in the stands of the 1994 US Open, watching her record be taken from her by a brutal, stunning player named Nicki Chan. At thirty-seven years old, Carrie makes the monumental decision to come out of retirement and be coached by her father for one last year in an attempt to reclaim her record.


Fast Girls: A Novel of the 1936 Women's Olympic Team by Elise Hooper

This novel explores the real life history of female athletes, members of the first integrated women's Olympic team, and their journeys to the 1936 summer games in Berlin, Nazi Germany. It is a chronicle of three athletes who defied society's expectations of what women could achieve.


Youth Fiction:


The Fifth Quarter by Mike Dawson

Lori Block and her best friend Sophia are dedicated to their fourth-grade travel basketball team, despite being relegated to the 5th quarter, an extra period before the real game starts, where the not-so-good kids play, and the points don't count. That doesn't matter to Lori though, because basketball is a place where working hard and getting better gives her hints of self-confidence.


Key Player by Kelly Yang

The Women's World Cup is coming to Anaheim, and everyone has soccer fever--especially Mia! The US team is playing China in the finals, and Mia feels like her two identities are finally coming together. But when her PE teacher gives her a C, Mia tries to pull up her grade by scoring interviews with the championship teams.


Youth Nonfiction:


She Persisted in Sports: American Olympians Who Changed the Game by Chelsea Clinton

Stories of American woman Olympians who persisted and succeeded against the odds.


Florence Griffith Joyner by Rita Williams-Garcia

Considered the fastest woman of all time, Florence Griffith Joyner, also known as Flo-Jo, set two world records in 1988 that still stand today. But getting there wasn't easy, and Flo-Jo had to overcome many challenges along the way. She succeeded in achieving her dreams, and inspired creative self-expression and a new generation of athletes as she did.


On Hoopla:


Women in Sports by Rachel Ignotofsky

Women in Sports highlights the achievements and stories of fifty notable women athletes from the 1800s to today, including trailblazers, Olympians, and record-breakers in more than forty sports.


Women in Sports Collection


On Kanopy:


Women in Sports Collection


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