Booktalking "Gold Medal Summer" by Donna Freitas

gym

Joey Jordan is in love with gymnastics. The sport is her hope, her soul and her life. She cannot quite understand why her sister, Julia, quit or why her friend, Alex, is contemplating doing so. Her parents would like Jordan to be less into gymnastics and more into boys like Tanner. 

Joey does not appreciate the palm rips and the other chronic and acute injuries that plague all gymnasts. And Coach Angelo is relentless; the girls support each other in dealing with him. It is also difficult for her to sacrifice everything else in life for the sport, such as the temptation that Tanner presents.

Joey throws herself into competition. She strives to ignore the boy drama and drama with the other girls at the gym. She focuses on her backsprings, the floor music and the dreaded vault. In gymnastics, it is vital to stick it. 

Gold Medal Summer by Donna Freitas, 2012

I liked the window that this book provided into the competitive sport of gymastics for teen girls.