IR Day 5 - Next day

Everything is perfect when you wake up. Ingrid's soft body is nestled in your arms, and this is probably the high point of your whole life. You would like to stay this way, but the Lodge is waking up, and the noise from the other girls in the hallway wakes up Ingrid. You control your disappointment.

At breakfast, everyone quiets down at the coaches gather at the front of the room. Everyone stops eating and talking to listen. Something is going on.

Michelle steps forward, apparently the spokesperson.

"So, announcement time. Everyone listening?" she asks.

"Yes," everyone says together.

"OK. Remember how you have all been gossiping about a new league? And how that's our fault, kind of?" She gestures at the other coaches.

"Yes," everyone says.

"About that. There's no new league," she says.

The room explodes with shock and from some girls, outrage.

"What?" You can't believe it. It's all anyone could talk about yesterday...

"Shut up and listen," Michelle says impatiently. "It's not a league. It's a TV show."

She has to wait again while you all freak out.

"But! But! It's not getting produced yet," she goes on. "Seriously, guys. Let me finish. The producers are here to do a trial run. Your coaches and supervising coaches all have the contract, and you will get your chance to look at it and make your decision."

You want to laugh... like anyone is going to NOT want to be on a TV show about soccer. Everyone will sign.

"For this show, we are going to do a scaled down league, which means teams. But it's a show, not a league. That means these people want to see drama. They want rivalries and things like that. You're sorted into teams, and you *stay* with your team. Your team is like your family," Michelle says.

Wait a minute. What are the teams? Who is on which team? You and lots of the other girls start demanding to know, but Michelle shushes everyone.

"We'll post them in a minute. And I know! I know there's romance here at this camp where we are supposed to be concentrating on training," she says, kind of irritatingly. "So this is how it works. On Mondays you train. On Tuesdays, you have a half-day of training and a practice match. On Wednesdays, you do strategy and light training. On Thursdays, a half-day of training and match prep. On Friday, you have a real match against another team. There will be six teams. Three matches. The winning teams get to spend the weekend here at the lodge. The losers have to stay at camp. What happens at the lodge stays at the lodge. This is the only place where you can mingle with other teams. So if you want to mingle, you have to win. If you don't care about mingling and you just care about soccer, you still have to win, because only winners get interviews. That's how this is going to work."

Whoa. That's a lot. But wait... there are a lot of girls at camp, but not enough for six teams.

"Are these just very small teams, then?" Beth pipes up.

"No. Full teams. More girls arrive tomorrow, and a few of the girls from the Swim Camp are going to come up and join. We..." she says, pointing at herself and the other coaches. "Are your subs if there are injuries. Yes, we know there are some girls here who don't have to sit down to pee. Those girls don't have to hide that. No secrets. Any other questions?"

Wow! You can shower with everyone else now? And share a changing room? And yes, there are lots of questions, but you just want to know what team you are on... but you don't get to see that until after you sign a contract, and none of the coaches will let anyone sign a contract that they have not read yet.

Going over the contracts takes most of the morning. You finally get yours signed, and are handed a sheet with the teams on it. You are officially a contestant in the pilot shoot for Football Ultimate Television Association, or FUTA for short.

You check out your team.

PINK TEAM:

1. Riley (USA) Captain, Striker COACH: Tiff

2. ATT Aki (JAP)

3. ATT Lara (UK)

4. MID Sun (KOR)

5. MID Sam (UK)

6. MID Elena (KEN)

7. DEF Rebecca (USA)

8. DEF Sheva (SEN)

9. DEF Lili (MON)

10. DEF Max (USA)

11. GOAL Viti (IND)

Your team... Aki has little presence at the camp, but you know her stats are good. Lara is extremely good. Sun, you aren't sure about. You odn't know Sam, Elena, Rebecca, Sheva, or Lili. You have heard of Rebecca, but not met her. Max, you met once, but she is definitely not a star... and Viti, you know. Viti is a solid goalkeeper.

No subs. Well, the coaches are your subs.

What about Ingrid? You check the sheet. She's on Adella's team.

BLUE TEAM:

Adella (SPN) Captain, Striker - COACH: Motoko

ATT Hana (KOR)

ATT Olga (RUS)

MID Beth (UK)

MID Feng (CHI)

MID Duni (KEN)

DEF Ingrid (SWE)

DEF Riona (IRE)

DEF Jill (USA)

DEF Julieta (FRA)

GOAL Miranda (UK)

That team is stacked. Adella is as good or better than you, and Olga is fierce. Beth and Duni are both absurdly fast, and together they will be nearly impossible to deal with. You don't know all of Adella's players, but... that's a scary roster.