Blue Star Rapture by James Bennett

While attending a high-profile basketball camp, T.J. begins to rethink both his motivations and his actions in guiding his learning-disabled but athletically gifted friend through the college recruitment process.

Tangerine by Edward Bloor

Twelve-year-old Paul, who lives in the shadow of his football hero brother Erik, fights for the right to play soccer despite his near blindness and slowly begins to remember the incident that damaged his eyesight.

Winning by Robet F. Brancato

            Paralyzed as a result of a football accident, a high school student struggles to accept the reality of his condition and the effect it will have on his friendships and his future. his future. his future. his future.

Redhanded by Michael Cadnum

            Since he cannot depend on his father, Stephen feels as though his only chance to make it to the big boxing tournament is to go along with the dangerous plan of a local tough guy to whom he has been introduced by a thrill-seeking friend. friend.

Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher

            A collection of short stories featuring characters from earlier books by Chris Crutcher.

Chinese Handcuffs by Chris Crutcher

            Still troubled by his older brother’s suicide, eighteen-year-old triathlete Dillion becomes deeply involved in the terrible secret of his friend Jennifer, a basketball player who feels she can tell no one what her stepfather is doing to her.

Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes by Chris Crutcher

            The daily class discussions about he nature of man, the existence of God, abortion, organized religion, suicide and other contemporary issues serve as a backdrop for a high-school swimmer’s attempt to answer a friend’s dramatic cry for help.

Stotan! by Chris Crutcher

            A high school coach invites member so of this swimming team to a memorable week of rigorous training that tests their moral fiber as well as their physical stamina.

Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher

            Intellectually and athletically gifted, TJ, a multiracial, adopted, teenager, shuns organized sports and the gung-ho athletes at his high school until he agrees to form a swimming team and recruits some of the school’s less popular students.

Heart of a Champion by Carl Deuker

            Seth faces a strain on his friendship with Jimmy, who is both a baseball champion and something of an irresponsible fool, when Jimmy is kicked off the team.

Night Hoops by Carl Deuker

            While trying to prove that he is good enough on his high school’s varsity basketball team, Nick must also deal with this parents’ divorce and erratic behavior of a troubled classmate who lives across the street.

On Devil’s Court by Carl Deuker

            Struggling with his feelings of inadequacy and his failure to make the basketball team in his new school, seventeen-year-old Joe Faust finds himself willing to trade his soul for one perfect season of basketball.

Running Wild by Thomas Dygard

            When Coach Wilson and Officer Stowell encourage him to join the high school football team, Pete no longer believes that “nobody does anything for nothing”.

Ultimate Sports Stories by Outstanding Writers for Young Adults by Don Gallo

            Sixteen original sports stories featuring young men and women playing basketball and football, running track and cross-country and training for the triathlon, as well as participating in water sports, racquetball, tennis, and other sports.

Safe at Second by Scott Johnson

            Paulie Lockwood’s best friend Todd Bannister is destined d the major leagues until a line drive to the head causes him to lose an eye and they both must find a new future for themselves.

The Boxer by Kathleen Karr

            Having learned how to box while in prison, fifteen-year-old Johnny sets out to discover if he can make a decent living as a fighter in late nineteenth-century New York City.

Danger Zone by David Klass

            When he joins a predominantly black “Teen Dream Team” that will be representing the United States in an international basketball tournament in Rome, Jimmy Doyle make some unexpected discoveries about prejudice, racism, and politics.

The Chief by Robert Lipsyte

            On the verge of having a shot at the heavyweight boxing championship, nineteen-year-old Sonny Bear finds himself with conflicting loyalties when trouble erupts on his reservation over the construction of a new gambling casino. 

Gold Dust by Chris Lynch

            In 1975, twelve-year-old Richard befriends Napolepan, a Caribbean newcomer to his Catholic school, hoping that Napoleon will learn to love baseball and the Red Sox, and will win acceptance in the racially polarized Boston school.

Iceman by Chris Lynch

            When overweight thirteen-year-old Elvin Bishop is sent to camp at St. Paul’s Seminary Retreat Center, he and his two best friends are forced to try out various sports in order to find out where they belong.

Shadow Boxer by Chris Lynch

            After their father dies of boxing injuries, George is determined to prevent his younger brother, who sees boxing as his legacy, form pursuing a career in the sport.

Slot Machine by Chris Lynch

            Fourteen-year-old Eric, a ruthless hockey player prone to violence on the ice, tries to reconcile his own needs with those of his parents.

Slam! by Walter Dean Myers

            Sixteen-year-old “Slam” Harris is counting on his noteworthy basketball talents to get him out of the inner city and give him a chance to succeed in live, but his coach sees things differently.

Peeling the Onion by Wendy Orr

            Following an automobile accident in which her neck is broken, a teenage karate champion begins a long and painful recover with the help of her family.

Extra Innings by Robert Newton Peck

            After a tragic airplane crash that claims the lives of most of his family, sixteen-year-old Tate goes to live with his wealthy great-grandfather and his adopted Black great-aunt Vidalia and he finds unexpected solace in the stories of her childhood spent traveling with a Depression-ear Negro baseball team.

Duffy by Randy Powell

            Eighteen-year-old Dean, a former high school baseball star whose future has been ruined by a batting slump and a bad arm, is offered a college baseball scholarship and finds himself uncertain of where to take it.

Rough Waters by S.L. Rottman

            After the their parent’s death in an automobile accident, two teenage brothers are sent to Colorado to live with an estranged uncle, owner of a white water rafting outfit.

Beware of Kissing Lizard Lips by Phyllis Shalant

            Zach is small for a s9xth-grader and the girls at school make fun of him, but when one girl in his class starts showing him some tae kwon do moves and teaching him about martial arts, things begin to change.

Ghost Host by Marilyn Singer

            Sixteen-year-old football star Bart Hawkins seeks a way to rid his house of a nasty poltergeist without losing the nine friendly ghosts also haunting it, in return for which they agree to help him with the championship game.

Crash by Jerry Spinellie

            Seventh-grade football player John “Crash” Coogan has always been comfortable with his tough, aggressive behavior, until his relationship with an unusual Quaker boy and his grandfather’s stroke make him consider the meaning of friendship and the importance of family.

Players by Joyce Sweeney

            Eighteen-year-old Corey sees a threat to his dream of wining the basketball championship when he discovers that the new player on the team is a girl-stealing, friends-framing, team-destroying force of evil.

Playing Without the Ball by Rich Wallace

            Feeling abandoned by his parents, who have gone their separate ways and left him behind in a small Pennsylvania town, seventeen-year-old Jay finds hope for the future in a church-sponsored basketball team and a female friend.

Shots on Goal by Rich Wallace

            While pursuing his goal of helping his soccer team win the league championship, fifteen-ear-old Bones tries to deal with his resentment of his best friends, on whose girlfriend he has a crush.

Wrestling by Rich Wallace

            Stuck in a small town where no one ever leaves and relegated by his wrestling coach to sit on the bench whiled his best friends becomes state champion, Ben decides he can’t let his last high school wrestling season slip by without challenging his friends and the future.

Farm Team by Will Weaver

            With his father in jail and his mother working full-time, fourteen-year-old Billy Baggs finds himself in charge of running the family from in northern Minnesota and having to give up the thing he loves most—baseball.

Lockie Leonard, Scumbuster by Tim Winton

            When Lockie Leonard wipes out the on a huge wave, he is thrown into a friendship with the weird, but extremely intelligent “Metal Head”, Geoff “Egg” Egglesotn, who joins Lockie in his crusade to clean up the pollution in his coastal Australian town’s harbor.

Created by Plymouth District Library, Plymouth, MI