Welcome to the Sporting Her Book Club! The Book Club is our new monthly series where we highlight books written about female or gender diverse athletes, administrators, and others involved in women’s sport. Our aim is to promote and create discussions about the many wonderful stories about women’s sport. These stories are plentiful and incredible, but much like the women’s sports industry as a whole, far too few people know they exist. We would love for you to get involved – read along, leave comments, and recommend books.
The first book to feature in the Book Club is Straight Up – the autobiography written by rugby superstar Ruby Tui. Tui is one of the world’s best rugby players. She was named World Rugby Women’s Sevens Player of the Year in 2019 and World Rugby Women’s 15s Breakthrough Player of the Year in 2022. As part of the Black Ferns Sevens, Tui has won multiple Sevens World Series, the Sevens World Cup, and Olympic gold and silver medals. As part of the Black Ferns, she also won the 2021 Rugby World Cup.
Straight Up
Straight Up is exactly what the title suggests – a straight up, raw reflection of a life and career that have made Tui both the outstanding person and rugby player she has become. Ruby Tui doesn’t shy away from the tough conversations in this book. Throughout, she relives periods of her life featuring drug and alcohol use, emotional and physical abuse, and her own mental health struggles including a suicide attempt.
Straight Up takes you on a journey through Tui’s personal and professional development. What becomes clear is Tui views these as inherently intertwined. To be a good rugby player, Ruby Tui strongly believes she must commit to being a good person as well. When the team culture no longer aligned with her values of being open, honest, and authentic, she considered walking away. When the team culture rebounded and adapted to valuing the person as well as the athlete, both Tui and the Black Ferns Sevens thrived.
Ruby Tui’s journey also directly coincides with the journey of Women’s Rugby Sevens as a sport. Tui went from playing for underground, unsanctioned teams representing New Zealand at international tournaments, to being part of the Black Ferns Sevens team for the inaugural World Series. She would eventually represent her country at two different Olympic Games.
Straight Up reads exactly how you’d expect if you’ve ever watched any of Ruby Tui’s interviews, especially that BBC interview from the Tokyo Olympics. The casual tone of the book creates a level of comfort and relatability that makes it hard to put down. Tui’s personality leaps off every page and fills the book with an infectious energy.
Our Verdict
This is a must read for anyone interested in a behind-the-scenes look at the path to becoming a professional athlete. In Straight Up Ruby Tui offers a refreshingly open and courageous introspective on how she came to be who she is today. By the end of the book I felt as if I had been catching up with an old friend over a cup of tea and some biscuits.
Straight Up is available worldwide at bookstores, and on Amazon including Kindle. If you want to join in the discussion, check out our social media platforms below. Search Sporting Her on social media by searching @SportingHer – Instagram // Twitter // TikTok.
The next book in this series is going to be Lioness – My Journey to Glory by Beth Mead. Get reading, and we look forward to seeing you here for the next Sporting Her Book Club.
