Alice Henderson On Debut

Twenty-eight

The next morning is cold, wet and miserable. "I thought it was supposed to be summer," I grumble as I spoon sugar over my cornflakes.

"Toowoomba only has two weeks of summer," Hannah informs me.

"Really?"

Hannah shrugs. "That's what it feels like, anyway."

I huff. "I hope the cold goes away. I didn't bring any warm clothes."

Charlie is grinning from ear to ear when she sits down at the table. She tries to squish her multi-layered bacon, egg and cheese muffin down so she can fit it in her mouth. "Why are you so happy?" Hannah asks.

"I just ran into Brad outside. We're having a proper training session with the Brisbane squad," Charlie replies. "With their coaches instead of ours." She does a little happy-dance in her chair and I can't help but laugh.

"Oh my God!" Hannah does a little squeal that makes some of the other girls turn around and give her funny looks.

"You guys are a little too excited for this time of the morning," I say, digging into my cereal.

Hannah puts her hand on my arm. "It's a real chance for us to be seen," she says and nods furiously.

I look over at Charlie who's devouring her muffin with a crazy grin on her face and wide eyes.

"You two are nuts," I say and eat my breakfast.

The nets in the indoor centre have been pulled back to reveal one big training area. There are cones and other training aides scattered around the place, I'm guessing for skills circuits. We all sit on the floor in front of Brad and Karen and a few other people I assume are the Brisbane coaches while the Brisbane squad stand off to the side. Charlie sits beside me, her knees bouncing around like she's had too much red cordial. She spots Jules and gives a little wave. Jules smiles and shakes her head.

Charlie nudges my shoulder with hers. I hope she can keep her eyes off Jules Livingstone and concentrate on the session because I have a feeling this is going to be a long and exhausting day.

Karen explains the circuits we'll be doing this morning and then she says she has an announcement to make. "We didn't want to tell you all until you'd settled in to camp and since you're getting the chance to train with the Brisbane squad today, we thought that now's as good a time as any. The game you'll play on Saturday will be against a team selected from the Brisbane training squad. And not only that, one of you will get the chance to play on the Brisbane team."

Charlie grabs my leg and shakes it and lets out a little squeal. The rest of the girls get excited and start talking amongst themselves. Brad says, "Look around ladies. You're all team mates, but as of now, you're all competing for that one spot on the Brisbane team. We want to see your absolute best at training today and tomorrow. I'll hand you over to the Brisbane head coach, Angie Myers, who's going to run this morning's session."

Angie steps up and explains the stations and what we're to do at each. It's a timed, rapid-fire session where we get two minutes at each station with thirty seconds rest before we start on the next one. I love this type of training because you have to go on instinct more than anything which is something I'm good at. And the best part is we'll be teamed up with Brisbane players so we'll be able to test how good we really are.

It also means that Charlie and I are separated for the first time on the camp. She's put in the group with the Brisbane wicketkeepers as well as Hannah and Dee and she looks like she might burst with excitement.

"Good luck," Charlie says as she heads to her station.

"You too," I call to her as she jogs away. I turn to see who I'm with and my heart drops. I've got Shari in my team and she looks about as happy to be with me as I am to be with her. It could've been worse I guess. I could've been teamed up with Paris.