Grace off the court by Maddy Proud

241p. Grace off the Court is the third title in Maddy Proud’s Netball series. Given her previous books are,  Grace on the Court and Grace Back on the Court, it's not hard to predict Grace's new dilemma. Grace is still in Year 9  and determined to make Netball her thing. A star player for the Lions, she is thrilled to be invited to try out for the Australian U15 team at the AIS in Canberra with Daisy - that is when not chilling with her family and Lions teamates plus her brothers and boyfriend Seb, who play in a local rockband together.  

The AIS is everything Grace imagined it would be. She thrives on the deep dive into the professional life of an athlete, rigorous training sessions and mountains of food to fuel her physical and mental performances.  Both Grace and Daisy impress the selectors. Tragically only Daisy is accepted because Grace is rushed to hospital for surgery on her knee, injured during tryout sessions. It's bad news and Grace is out of the running, facing weeks of rehab on crutches, which means she may not even return to play in the finals for her own club.

Her 'village' including team mates Stella, Mia, Amber and Daisy gather round to support Grace as she heals. How will she manage to be inactive and miss weeks of school, which also necessitates extra study to catch up on her missed school work. Mum and Dad, Ethan and Angus all empathize with her disappointment and restrictions, but she reverts to being overwhelmed and sends Seb mixed signals causing Grace to become jealous and the two simply break up in anger. Is the whole world against Grace?  Hardly, she leads a full balanced life and her happiness is not dependent on one single part. Her family and friends provide necessary support, pushing her to attend netball practice if only to participate in assisting Coach Peters with canny strategy and team insights. Will Grace have time to feel sorry for herself? Will rehab give her time to re-evaluate so everything works out better in the end.

Like all of Maddy Proud’s books, being herself a co-captain of the NSW Swifts and in the Australian Netball squad 2022-23, the on-court commentary is authentic and high action. Her themes of loyaty, sportmanship and perseverance foster growth mindset in all Netball loving tweens.  However the disproportionate boy talk amongst the girls, while never improper, is more age appropriate to 13+ readers in high school.    

Themes: Sport, Netball,Friends, School, Family, Relationships.

Deborah Robins