Out of His League Pat Flynn

Out of His League by Pat Flynn. If you've visited my site before you know I love sports and good sports book. Now I must confess my love of Australian YA authors. It all began with Melin Marchetta then there was Jaclyn Moriarty, then Scott Westerfeld. In the beginning I didn't seek out Australian authors. I'd finish a book,read the bio, and I'd think oh another Aussie author how nice. It kept on happening, after reading a Markus Zusak novel, I thought its not a coincidence that all these books are so good. Aussie authors can write, so now I actively seek them out.
At work the other day has I was shelving YA, I came across Out of His League. It's the best of both worlds for me a sports book by an Aussie authors. It got a high octave squeal and came home with me that night.

Ozzie is an 18yr old Australian country boy who plays Rugby league (which is not the same as Rugby). He gets an opportunity to do his senior year of high school in Texas. Though once we arrives in Texas, no one understands his accent, so now Ozzie is Austin. An Australian and Southern accent are probably two of the strongest, so it makes for some interesting missed communication.

Ozzie joins the Shooters the high school football team. He learns the rules by playing football on a portable game system. This book was a whole lot of fun. I laughed out loud, a few times while reading in public.
The Graham's are Ozzie's Hope,Texas family. Dave and Nancy, the kids David Jr and Alison. Ozzie quickly learns how popular football is in the United States especially in the south

Ozzie's about the pep rally

"The whole town showing up to watch us walk into a hall? People here must be footy crazy."

The Shooters have a problem scoring and blocking making winning hard. So the coach decides to allow Ozzie to introduce some Rugby League plays to the offense, lateral ball movement. Flynn does a great job of describing the games. I don't think I will be the only one to Google the rules of Ruby League after reading this book. In the first chapter Ozzie plays a Rugby League game, though the only Rugby game I've ever watched was that episode of Friends when Ross was trying to impress his girlfriend, I was still able to follow the action. At first I wondered why the author didn't include a Rugby League glossary. When Ozzie started learning football, I realized it wasn't needed. Ozzie didn't get a football glossary when he got to Texas.

A funny part, though I've edited some. Ozzie has just been put into the game as quarterback

"What play we running? Ask Curtis Riley in the huddle. Well, said Ozzie, you blokes stop those bastards from tackling us." He then turned to the Shooters receivers "And you two run any way you want." What's the blocking formation? Just do whatever you want." Curtis let out a stifled laugh. "Good luck, dude."

Overall I really enjoyed Out of His League. The ending was a little weak, it felt like the author gave up and decided to wrap it up. The beginning and middle had me laughing so hard that I still highly recommend Out of His League. Thanks to Pat Flynn, if I ever get to Australia, I can go to a pub an say "Where can a girl see some real footy, and not that wanker Rugby Football Union stuff but a hard hitting Ruby League game." If I say it right maybe I'll get a free beer.