Welcome to SPORTY GIRL BOOKS. At SPORTY GIRL, we want to give all girls the chance to love, watch, play, read, and write about any sport that interests them. We look forward to the day when the words, "You play like a girl," is the biggest compliment anyone can receive.

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Summer Round Up: Beach Style


For our first round up I thought it would be fun to focus on summer and the wonderful pleasure of hitting the beach, so I asked my co-founders two questions on the subject. We'd love to hear your own answers in the comments.

Kristine
1. You head to the beach, what do you do first? Jump in the waves or sun in the sand?I'm not really one for either! I LOVE to go to the beach and then hit the arcade or the shops that usually surround the beach. Shopping! If I could indulge in a carefree afternoon, though, I would totally choose sitting in my beach chair and curling up with a good read. A dog-eared favorite science fiction or fantasy, like Ender's Game or the Last Unicorn would be my first choice! A go-to summer sporty book would be either Catherine Gilbert's DAIRY QUEEN or Liz Fichera's HOOKED.

2. Have you ever tried surfing?
I'm so afraid our readers will think I'm lame...I actually don't know how to swim, so surfing would be terrifying for me. The most I really do is dip my toes in the the edge of the water! But I do love WATCHING people surf...it looks so effortless!
Question back to our readers and other bloggers...Have you tried a land-based summer sport, like, maybe GOLF?



Stacy
1. You head to the beach, what do you do first? Jump in the waves or sun in the sand?
I'm not given a choice in this one. I jump in the waves splashing around after my two kids.


2. Have you ever tried surfing? 
No, I have never tried surfing. The waves at beaches I got to aren't really the surfing kind. But I do like using my kids boogie boards. :-)





Anna
1. You head to the beach, what do you do first? Jump in the waves or sun in the sand?
In my region of Maine, if you want to jump in the surf you have to a) check the tide chart and make sure that there will even be water and b) wear your wet suit. I love swimming but the water is pretty cold here throughout summer. Still there are plenty of kiddos who I see with blue lips skipping happily through the chilly waves. It's sort of a classic, "You just have to get used to it," thing. Once I've gotten my head under the water I'm in for a while. When I dry off, I'm sitting in a beach chair and reading. Right now, I'm totally into the YA, Blood & Starlight but my go to sporty girl book read for the beach is the John Feinstein series. I can't wait for the new Stevie and Susan Carol mystery. In the next one, Susan Carol is a swimming Olympian. Can't wait!

2. Have you ever tried surfing?
Ooo. Yes, I have tried surfing. I took two lessons with my son when we went to the west coast of Puerto Rico. The first day was great. I learned a ton about reading the waves and actually stood up twice. The second day, the ocean was more finicky and unpredictable  (Very windy.) I spent most of my time paddling my board. (Note to other surfer girl newbies: do not wear a top with any plastic embellishments. Ouch!) I'd love to do it again. In fact, I have my eye on a yoga/surf vacation in Costa Rica. First I have to sell a book!


Robin
1. You head to the beach, what do you do first? Jump in the waves or sun in the sand?
When I was younger I ran right into the water, but now I'm more cautious, often playing along the surf with my littlest one or reading a book and letting the sun cook me so I'm hot enough to finally dunk myself in the chilly water. This summer I'm looking forward to reading Sarah Dessen's new summer read THE MOON AND MORE. 

2. Have you ever tried surfing?
I have sat on a surf board and even paddled out and enjoyed the lapping on the waves, but I'm never stood up. When we moved to California my husband and I thought we'd hit the beach often and learn to surf, but as we were a good three hours inland, we didn't make it to the beach often. Also, the Pacific is COLD compared to the Atlantic I'm accustomed to, so my time in the water was brief. I did enjoy boogie boarding and road some nice waves that way. Last month I read THE LIST by Melanie Jacobson. Her main character learns to surf (it's one of her 25 required bucket list items before she gets married) and I wished I put more effort into learning how before we moved away. 

We hope you enjoy your summer fun by hitting some waves and reading some great summer books (preferably not at the same time).

1 comment:

  1. Talking about Surfing and Books for Sporty Girls, you might want to read, for example, "The Tribes of Palos Verdes" (1998) by Joy Nicholson and "Surfer Girl" (2005) by Sanoe Lake. There are many books about Surfing for Girls, many of them are from Australia.

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