Breakaway: Beyond the Goal

Get inspired to be your best—in sports and in life—with this uplifting memoir from star soccer player, Olympic gold medalist, and FIFA World Cup champion Alex Morgan that includes eight pages of full-color photos!

As a talented and successful female athlete, Alex Morgan is a role model to thousands of girls who want to be their best, not just in soccer, but in life. The story of her path to success—from playing in the 2011 Women’s World Cup, to winning gold in the 2012 London Olympics, to ranking as one of the National Team’s top scorers—will inspire everyone who reads it.

From her beginnings with the American Youth Soccer Organization to the role she played in winning the 2015 Women’s World Cup, Alex shares the details that made her who she is today: a fantastic role model and athlete who proudly rocks a pink headband.

Alex Morgan became the youngest member of the US women’s national soccer team in 2009 and competed in the 2011 FIFA World Cup. She was the first overall pick in the 2011 Women’s Professional Soccer draft and landed a spot on the US Olympic women’s soccer team in 2012. At the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, held in London, Morgan won her first Olympic medal, a gold, with the American team. In 2015, she achieved her lifelong goal of winning a World Cup trophy, in the most-watched soccer match in US history. She now plays for the Orlando Pride in Orlando, Florida.

ISBN: 9781481451086
Format: Paperback
Pages: 320
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Published: June 06, 2017

"This inspirational memoir from a soccer champion and Olympic gold medalist will appeal to sports fans and nonathletes alike. . . A great addition to memoir and sports collections in public and high school libraries.""[A] natural role model for teens. . . tween and teen soccer fans, particularly those who watched the recent U.S. women’s victory in the World Cup, will be eager to get their hands on anything with Morgan’s name on the cover.""Author of a best-selling middle-grade sports series, the Kicks, the Olympic gold-medal-winning soccer star Morgan shares her own life story in this YA memoir. Morgan experiences challenges—unanticipated changes in coaching staff, balancing academics and sports, and riding out injuries—but she does so with a positive attitude in a way that makes her a natural role model for teens, particularly teen athletes."