Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

CW: Eating disorder, fatphobic comments, intrusive thoughts, mention of COVID, death of a loved one due ot to COVID-19; homophobia; blackmailing threat; misgoyny; misgendering, deadname on page.


My biggest takeaway from this anthology was the emphasis on team bonding, camaraderie, and finding new sports. Whenever I read YA, I think about the audience - teenagers - and try to put myself in their shoes. While reading Out of Our League, I couldn’t stop thinking about how teens would enjoy this and react to the anthology as a whole. This would be a great read for any graduating high school seniors who have played team sports or are going off to college to play their sport, or incoming freshmen to learn about the options they have. There’s a variety of different sports included in this anthology that aren’t usually mentioned when we talk about sports in the traditional sense. Archery, powerlifting, crew, and sport climbing are a few that come to mind from reading this anthology. I was so glad to see a variety of different sports and I got to learn about them for the first time.

This is an excellent anthology featuring all kinds of girls: girls in wheelchairs, transgirls, brown girls, girls struggling with eating disorders, strong girls, fast girls, and all of them are incredible. These girls also play all kinds of sports: tennis, rock climbing, football, running, cheer, basketball, softball, and more. There is a story for anybody who plays sports, and for people who don't play sports. There is a story in this anthology for anybody who has ever had to overcome any challenge.

I loved this. You don't have to love sports to love this, but I think as there are so few stories about girls and sports for our teens, this is a much-needed book. It was fantastic. Every voice felt authentic, and I wanted to befriend every girl in this book. I can't wait to recommend it to our teens.

Anthologies are always a hit or miss. Most of the stories just weren't for me, but there were some I liked. "#GOALS" by Amparo Ortiz is a nice soccer story about learning not to see other girls as competition for boys. "All For One" by Yamile Saied Méndez is a good cheerleading story that discusses eating disorders. I'm just not a sports person and specifically read this for these two authors. Sports fans will probably enjoy this more than I did

This was a great short story collection, that I think has a tale for everyone!

I received an e-ARC from the publisher.

This is an absolutely delightful read and a love letter not just to female athletes, but teenage girls in general. Too often their voices are lost in the YA sports genre, and this is a perfect addition to every YA-lovers shelf. The diversity in each story- both in the character rep and authors writing them- adds much-needed voices and representation, allowing both those with similar lived experiences and those without a beautiful insight into what it means to be a girl in sports.

As someone who has come to enjoy anthologies, this was not one that had many stories that drew me in. I wanted to love it, but most of these stories and characters felt very 1 dimensional to me. I could tell they tried to fight it, but it did not work.

This is such an empowering anthology. The stories are full of girl power and the friendships and confidence that comes with mastering a skill, being part of a team and having fun. There are always opportunities to learn life lessons if you keep your eyes open. This is a perfect story for the young people in your life. Each story focuses around a different sport and as an avid sports fan, I found these stories to be so enjoyable.

This was way better than I expected. I went into it thinking it was nonfiction so was pleasantly surprised. I really enjoyed the diversity of sports, gender identities, sexuality, abilities and ethnicities represented in this book.

While most of these stories fell into the “just okay” category for me I would still recommend this book and say that on a whole I really liked it. Here’s why:

1) This book covers a wide array of sports instead of the typical sports you might expect
2) There’s obviously lots of discourse on women in sports within these stories but also trans/nonbinary people as well as BIPOC individuals.
3) I loved the way the stories wove together. It was so fun to see other characters referenced within later stories.

I think this book will be exceptionally great for female and nonbinary high schoolers because there are so many road blocks against those individuals in high school sports and representation matters!

A cross country star teaches an unwilling football player what it means to run as part of a team. A boxer reclaims her body and her confidence as she tries to clinch a spot at the Olympics. A wheelchair tennis champion reckons with the choices she’s made to succeed. In Out of Our League, 16 YA authors -- including Sara Farizan, Yamile Saied Méndez, and Aminah Mae Safi – present stories of girls in sports as varied as archery, soccer, and power lifting, highlighting not just the passion and the drive to win involved in athletics, but also the unique challenges and rewards of being a girl in the world of sports. Although the drama and action of the court-, field-, and gym-scenes in Out of Our League will ring true for athletic readers, this anthology isn’t just for sports-obsessed teens; the stories’ focus on the grit, determination, and strength – of mind and character, as well as of the body -- of the athletes make it a go-to for any reader looking to celebrate the power of girls.

This was a unique compilation, and so unlike anything I normally read, that I probably wouldn’t have picked it up on my own, but I’m glad I did!

This book is comprised of many different stories by many different authors. The only commonality being that they’re stories about girls in sports. Honestly, there wasn’t very much to these stories, and several of them read like excerpts of larger stories, but I appreciated the attention to detail, as most of the stories found a way to connect to another, and each author clearly researched or had a personal connection to the sport they wrote about.

I was given an ARC by NetGalley and Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group. All opinions are my own.

Oh my goodness I loved this sports anthology! My favorite was the stories about hockey and volleyball. Dahlia Adler never fails to amaze me!

I absolutely adored these short stories. I wish I had women in sports rep like these when I was younger. These stories are so important to tell and share so that the next generation knows they aren’t alone. Dahlia and Jennifer kill it

🏳️‍🌈✊🏾♿Rep: some POC rep, some trans/queer rep, one with disability rep

📝Tropes/Themes: short story anthology, girls in sports, young adult

This anthology was not quite what I was expecting. There were a number of stories that I enjoyed, some I thought were okay and a couple that I just didn’t care for much. I think I was hoping more for stories of empowerment and encouragement. But some of the stories focused so much more on all the negative things like eating disorders, misogyny, racism, ableism, etc. And some of the stories ended in a way where I was left wondering what message I was supposed to glean from that story.

I did really enjoy a few of the stories. Volley Girl by Dahlia Adler, Anchor Points by Marieke Nijkamp, Three Minutes by Aminah Mae Safi, and One on One by Juliana Goodman were probably my favorites.

I did not at all care for the wheelchair tennis story which was unfortunate. It wasn’t the story, it was just the format of the story - written more like the transcript of a documentary - and I found it hard to get into/follow. I wasn’t a huge fan of the ice hockey one either - I really didn’t like the whole premise of that one.

Sports included in the anthology: Softball, Cross Country, Powerlifting, Soccer, Football, Cheerleading, Wrestling, Crew, Golf, Boxing, Wheelchair Tennis, Ice Hockey, Basketball, Sport Climbing, Volleyball and Archery.

All in all, I thought it was a good anthology, and I found some enjoyment in most of the stories. It was just a lot different than what I was expecting. If you like stories about girls in sports, then I recommend picking it up. Not every story was for me, but that doesn’t mean you won’t enjoy them! Please note the trigger/content warnings below.

⚠️TW/CW: racism, sexism, misogyny, bullying, misgendering, eating disorder, ableism, vomit, toxic relationship/gaslighting, references to death of parent, COVID death, blackmail

I’ve been looking forward to this anthology since one of the editors, Dahlia Adler first announced it, and it was a fun read! While there was some differentiation between each of the stories, I think that all of them were pretty good and managed to work well as individual stories in an anthology instead of a short story that seems like a pitch for a longer book. As a whole, it does a good job of tackling a lot of different issues and themes that we see in YA stories, toxic environments, teenage love, racism and misogyny, as well as several queer stories, There were also several sports that you don’t typically see a lot of in YA fiction, especially with girls as the main characters! If you like anthologies, girls in sports, or a variety of classic storylines in YA told in several different formats, this is definitely a book to check out!

I usually enjoy anthologies, although I’ve read several where it seems like a chunk of a larger story was cut out and plopped into the book, but I think OUT OF OUR LEAGUE and all of its authors did a good job of crafting fully formed stories in the few pages they were allocated. As a bonus, the stories were almost all at least somewhat interconnected, which was fun! I can’t say that many of the stories particularly stuck out to me, although as a former golf player and a current hockey lover, I definitely enjoyed the two about those sports. I also really appreciated the various ways it pushed back against various ideas of girls against girls or ‘not like the other girls’, with several of our MC’s growing throughout their stories.

Going into an anthology where I hadn’t previously read most of the authors, I was definitely pleasantly surprised by what I found. If it sounds like something that might interest you, I’d definitely recommend it!

I loved how there was a variety of sports- from basketball to crew to boxing- many of which I've never played or didn't know much about. It was neat to see similar themes of falling back in love with a sport, learning a new sport, or becoming a better team show up throughout the stories. I also loved seeing characters from one story pop up in another, even if only as a spectator in the crowd or a throwaway reference. It's a fun way that made the world feel a little more real.

I really wanted to love this book since women in sports is one of my favourite things to read about. With 16 authors contributing stories all centred around this theme, this one has an incredible range of sports from hockey to archery and has some wonderful diversity. That said, none of the stories felt memorable to me, and I found myself bored while reading many of them. Some stories also felt messy. While I was disappointed with this one, I still appreciate what it is trying to accomplish and I would still recommend it to those looking for a sports-related read.

OUT OF OUR LEAGUE is an entertaining anthology following 16 girls in sports ranging from hockey to archery to boxing, and more. All of these stories were quick reads with glimpses of these girls' pasts, presents, and futures in sports. I liked the wide variety covered, and that each story was different. Some of the girls were new to their sports, while others were Olympic-level competitors. If you're looking for a quick, enjoyable collection of stories, I recommend this one!

This was a really wonderful sports YA anthology! Some of my favorite YA authors today exploring being a girl in sports—every story was a home run!