Books in Lorimer Sports Stories series

Birch Hill Swim Club has a new coach and the team's star swimmer, eighth-grader Lasha Boyko, couldn't be more excited. Even though the lanky swimmer comes from an immigrant Ukrainian family of modest means, she dreams big. The coach has a track record of producing Olympians and Lasha wants to be her next star. The hitch is that she's one of the fiercest trainers in world. To achieve her lofty goals, Lasha must look within herself to find the strength. Can she be a champion?

Ed Warnicki used to play football in the park with his dad and dream of being a great receiver. Now, at fourteen, Ed secretly wishes he could play for his Calgary High Mustangs team. But he worries that he's too tall, too skinny and too insecure — the exact opposite of star quarterback Tyrone Jackson. Wanting to contribute to the school's football team in some way, Ed accepts the job of waterboy. Tyrone teases Ed about his build, his old bike and his obvious crush on Tyrone's girlfriend and school sports reporter Zara, and one day at practice throws a ball right at Ed's head. Ed's instincts kick in and he makes a decent catch! So when the team's top receiver gets injured, Ed joins the team as back-up receiver. Getting annoyed that Zara seems to prefer Ed's company to his own, Tyrone won't pass to Ed, and even calls a play he knows could get Ed hurt. But the big game against their rival team puts school pride and Ed's confidence on the line. Will Tyrone throw to Ed? Can Ed catch a crucial pass and make his dreams of being a football hero come true?

Matthew Eagletail can't wait until his online friend John Salton flies from San Francisco to Bragg Creek, Alberta for a summer visit. John is almost as big a basketball fan as Matt is, and dreams of being the first coach in the NBA to use a wheelchair. When Matt's sister Jazz tells them about the upcoming Rocky Mountain Summer Basketball League in Calgary, they decide immediately to get a team together. Unfortunately, so does Matt's archrival, John Beal. Soon the Bobcats and the Mean Machine are fighting it out on the court, determined to win by any means necessary. It's too close to call, until Matt and John get some crucial advice from an unexpected source.

Adam loves hockey, and he's good at it. So when his family moves to Vancouver, he's sure he'll impress in the elite hockey league his father signs him up for. The only problem is that he'll have to wait three weeks to find out, and it's tougher than Adam thought to make friends in the big city. But then he meets Rodrigo, a soccer nut whose family is from Uruguay, and finds that his hockey skills can work on the soccer field as well as the rink. He learns to love the new sport, but his close-minded father disapproves.

Fourteen-year-old Griffin Finch attends school on scholarship and is struggling to stay on the basketball team. Griffin spends the summer playing basketball on a street court for the Running Rebels in a hardscrabble neighborhood. But a summer of fast, high-scoring play ends with Griffin running home, frightened by violence in the street. Griffin makes his school team and persuades a Running Rebels teammate to apply for a basketball scholarship. Opposing ideas of how basketball should be played emerge. How can Griffin convince Coach and the rest of his team that they need to play run-and-gun basketball to win? Can he bring together his schoolmates and his friends from Regent Park?

Matthew Eagletail is the star player for the Warriors, his basketball team on the Tsuu T'ina First Nation near Calgary. When his mother remarries, everything in Matthew's life is suddenly different and new: a new school, a new father, five pesky new sisters, a new dog named Precious. Worst of all, he has to quit the Warriors. When he's asked to join his new school's team, the Bandits, he claims he'll never play for the competition. His sister Jazz thinks otherwise, and sets out to prove it.

With no team in her rural town, Zoey tries out for Bantam girl's team the Barrie Sharks. She makes the cut and, knowing that the income from her family's farm won't cover the fees, pushes herself to overcome her shyness and try to raise her own funding. Zoey's talent and eagerness on the ice impress Coach Mikom, team captain Tia, and goalie Anika. But her skills challenge rich Mel for prominence on the team. Teammate Kat makes Zoey embarrassed by her rural background, and Zoey's shame at her father's behavior at a game gives a player on another team the opportunity to bully Zoey, and interfere with her game.

Jake dreams of becoming a golf pro, but can't afford a full set of clubs or a membership to the Royal Pinecrest Golf Club. The only way he can play the course is to sneak on to it. When Jake gets the opportunity to be taught by a pro, he has to learn to trust in himself, and stand up to the rich kids who belittle him, in order to take his game to the next level.

Growing up above his parents' Chinese family restaurant in Sexsmith, Alberta, Warren Chen has always dreamed of being a football star. At 90 pounds and five feet tall, he's not exactly built like a linebacker, but even short kids from tiny towns have big dreams. At first the coach is reluctant to even let him try out, but soon he sees Warren's strengths -- he is small, slippery, and no one can catch him. Warren is named the team's new running back.In their first game of the season, the Sexsmith Shamrocks face their biggest rivals, Grande Prairie. In a breathtaking dash along the sideline, Warren reaches the end zone to score the game-winning touchdown -- almost. But Warren celebrates anyway, and the referee buys it. Sexsmith's losing streak is broken, and Warren has proven himself worthy to be on the team, a genuine football star! But he knows it's not quite the truth, and sooner or later, someone will find out. Warren has to decide whether to come clean and cost his school the victory, or continue living the smalltown football dream.[Fry reading level - 3.5

On the surface, fourteen-year-old Chris is pretty average, playing hockey and having friends. But underneath it all, Chris is depressed, full of self-blame and negative thoughts. He quits his hockey team, feeling he has let them down, but his doctor suggests that he should pick up another sport. Chris starts playing soccer, and the positive benefits of sport start to take effect: he is motivated and has fewer self-doubts. But former hockey teammate Trent is on the team, and his suspicions about Chris and his emotional state threaten Chris's acceptance and recovery. When Chris and Trent are chosen for a team to play in a summer tournament, Chris decides to keep his depression a secret. But will rumour and stigma about his condition make him relapse and turn his own team against him?

Sam's grandfather, Pops, always taught Sam that the most important aspects of rugby are sportsmanship and teamwork. Things are not great at home, with Pops having Alzheimer's and Sam's mother trying to make ends meet, but Sam's struggles really begin when his school is shut down and he transfers to Rosedale Heights. Sam feels like he's alone against the world trying to prove himself — and failing. He has trouble fitting in with the snobby Rosedale team, especially Bittner, who resents Sam's presence. In an act of retaliation, Sam breaks a teammate's nose, and he knows he's lost sight of what rugby is supposed to be about. When Sam scores the winning try in a game, he wonders if it was for his own glory or for the team. All seems lost when, set up by Bittner, Sam gets kicked off the team under suspicion of stealing. Can Sam prove his innocence and get back in play for the highly anticipated England game? And can he play the kind of rugby that will make Pops proud?

Westlock is an hour north of Edmonton, a prairie town with a long baseball history. But registrations are down, and there are only enough kids in town to fill one team. So Mo Montpetit's team is entered into the Baseball Alberta AA league. All the kids registered will be playing rep ball. No tryouts needed.Mo's dad is a baseball legend in Westlock. And that's Mo's problem. Mo isn't very good. He can't hit a rep-level fastball. And as the season starts, the strikeouts and errors mount. The Westlock team loses game after game. How can these kids, not ready for rep ball, compete in a league well above their heads? And how can Mo step out of his dad's long shadow?