In her new novel, “Play you for it,” Portland author Sam Saldivar shares a romance about finding your place on and off the court.

The book follows two Oregon women as they grapple with their feelings for each other, along with challenges in their careers: Jordan, who just got named as the first-ever female head coach for a Division I men’s college basketball team in Eugene, and Beck, a Portland-based reporter trying to land the big interview she needs to secure an anchor seat.

Saldivar herself worked as a broadcast journalist for 5 years before writing this book.

OPB Morning Edition host Jess Hazel met Saldivar at the Portland women’s sports bar ‘Sports Bra’ to chat about the book.

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Jess Hazel: One of the main driving tensions in this romance here is the conflict of interest. [How] did you approach that idea of balancing your work life with personal life and the passion for both? Did that come up for you a lot in the writing process?

Sam Saldivar: I think just [with] my background as a journalist, that’s always existing in your work. I mean, this is kind of a much smaller example, but when you’re a beat reporter covering, let’s say, the Oregon Ducks and you’re a student there and you’re a fan. But you can’t really be a fan. You have to be objective.

Obviously this was a more extreme example because there’s a relationship there and there’s love there and that’s a driving force of the book. Where is that line? How can you respect yourself and your values and what you love and still do your job and be effective that way?

Hazel: In this book, because there’s multiple queer characters, is this idea of coming out and what that looks like for different people. What is the importance of a coming out story? Do they still hold the same importance that they did maybe like 10-20 years ago, when coming out was almost guaranteed to be a fairly painful experience?

Saldivar: I think it still holds weight. I think we’re starting to get to a point where it’s not as surprising anymore. In this book especially it’s more about people in public facing roles where being out isn’t as common. For instance, in this book there’s a male player who has a coming out story, and we don’t really see that as much at the college level or from professional athletes all the time. Then with Jordan being a visible coach at a very high level and being out. Fortunately, [it’s] something people still feel compelled to do sometimes, but I think it can also be powerful and inspire others as well.

Hazel: Another element here is this divide between the more metropolitan areas in Oregon, specifically with your book Portland and then Eugene, as well as rural places that have sometimes very contrasting values. Was that intentional? Or did it just kind of come up as using Oregon as a setting — this is gonna happen?

Saldivar: Yeah, I think it was a bit of using Oregon, but I did want to take it further. There’s some contrast. We see them get out of even the Eugene area and go to an even more rural area to recruit a player. It was again inspired just from living here and also creating some tension for Jordan as well, of maybe not being received as well as a woman or someone who’s out and queer.

At least for me living in Portland, you’re kind of like ‘there’s the city.’ I feel like Eugene’s sort of an in-between and then you have even more rural and out there. So it was fun to get to explore all three and kind of have them all foil each other as well. We didn’t get to spend as much time in Portland in this book, but it was still there for sure.

Hazel: We are here at the Portland Sports Bra, and this is kind of on the leading edge of making women’s sports really popular and well recognized. What does it mean for the city to have places like this?

Saldivar: One, it’s awesome. I love coming here. There is an interest in women’s sports and seeing women on the court. And I think this is also a really good example of women not just playing but also women being part of the infrastructure of sports, which this book is definitely about as well having Jordan be a coach. We are seeing more women coach whether it’s as assistants on the men’s side, whether it’s coaching on the women’s side. A place like The Sports Bra is another great example of women creating their own space to support other women on the court and having a place for the fans. There’s a lot of a lot to say for having women building their own infrastructure and economy around the sports world.

Hazel: Yes, and Portland will soon have many more fans coming to The Sports Bra with the Portland Fire starting play next year. Is there gonna be a future book featuring the Fire in it somewhere?

Saldivar: That’s a good idea. I don’t know if it’ll be a book, but I think I will definitely be in the stands at some point. I’m really excited to see the WNBA come to Portland in general and hopefully we see that spill into not just basketball but other sports as well. I think soccer kind of kicked it off. They’re expanding with more teams and the NWSL getting such a warm reception in Portland — it seems like it’s just a natural fit to have a WNBA team come here.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/10/24/opb-morning-edition-sam-saldivar-play-you-for-it-book-sapphic-lgbtq/