Talia's POV
"Hey T." Jessie says as we walk into the stadium.
Today's the first game of the 2024 NWSL season and we play Atlanta City FC.
"Hey Jess." I say. "How's the wife?"
"She's good." Jessie says and smiles. "She and Maya came home from the hospital a few days ago."
"That's great." I say and smile.
"How are Julie and Baby Boy Martin?"
"They're good." I say and smile.
"That's good." Jessie says as we reach the locker room.
When we get into the locker room I head to my locker, remove my three necklaces and my ring, then I place them safely in my bag before I start to change. I then change into my warm up shirt, game shorts, my right sock, my left sock, my right red boot, and lastly my left red boot. After that I put my hair into my normal game hairstyle then I walk over and check the line up for today's game.
1-Emelia Lawrence
11-Emily Fox
4-Shelby Riley
5-Leah Williamson
14-Talia Martin (C)
6-Jaelin Howell
8-Jordan Nobbs
17-Jessie Fleming
10-Teagan Riley
9-Sigrid Lemmens
16-Hailie Mace
"Whatcha thinking about?" Jaelin asks.
"Just glad that the NWSL changed their roster rules." I say.
Before the season the NWSL changed their rules to basically mirror how the rest of the world operates. There's no more allocation, no more salary cap, no more draft, and no more international roster limits. As long as a club has the adequate funds they can sign whoever they want. Since owners of teams can now pay better we have a lot of good foreign players coming over to play in the league like Jordan Nobbs and Leah Williamson.
We also have some good young foreign players like Sigrid Lemmens, Shelby Riley, and Teagan Riley.
Sigrid is an 18 year old Belgian striker and she's amazing. She also gets to play with her soulmate, who's our 20 year old English goalkeeper Emelia Lawrence. Teagan and Shelby Riley are soulmates and are our 19 year old Canadian forward and centre back, respectively. They've known each other their whole lives so when they turned 18 they got married and Teagan took Shelby's last name
"Why?" Jaelin asks.
"We have a lot of the national team here."
"Yeah." Jaelin says then she looks at the league table.
Before this season the NWSL finally decided to go to the format of leagues around the world where you play one game at home and one away against each team and at the end of the season whoever has the most points wins. We now start the last weekend of March and go until October so we play 38 games over 30 weeks.
We even have our own massive TV deal with NBC. They televise 3 games on Saturday, 2 games on Sunday, 1 game on Monday, and the ones that aren't on tv are shown online. They also show the midweek games that happen periodically.
"I wander how this league format will work out...especially with 20 teams."
Ever since 2020 the league has added a few teams every year, but the league is stopping at twenty...just like I suggested.
"It's about time we got away from the championship format. It was kinda annoying being in first the whole season and not winning the league." I admit.
"Yeah." My friend says then she points to the league table. "Do you think any of those are surprises?"
I look at the table to see if I see any upsets.
2024 NWSL Table
1. Portland Thorns 1-0-0, 3 pts
2. Las Vegas FC 1-0-0, 3 pts
3. Olympique St. Louis 1-0-0, 3 pts
4. Houston Dash 1-0-0, 3 pts
5. Sky Blue FC 1-0-0, 3 pts
6. Washington Spirit 1-0-0, 3 pts
7. Colorado United SC 1-0-0, 3 pts
8. Boston Rovers FC 0-1-0, 1 pt
9. Bay United SC 0-1-0, 1 pt
10. Chicago Red Stars0-1-0, 1 pt
11. Orlando Pride 0-1-0, 1 pt
12. Atlanta City FC 0-0-0, 0 pts
13. Inter New York 0-0-0, 0 pts
14. FC Seattle 0-0-1, 0 pts
15. Minnesota FC 0-0-1, 0 pts
16. Real Miami 0-0-1, 0 pts
17. Atlético Los Angeles 0-0-1, 0 pts
18. Cleveland FC 0-0-1, 0 pts
19. Philadelphia FC 0-0-1, 0 pts
20. North Carolina Courage 0-0-1, 0 pts
We are the last game of opening weekend
"Not really. It's usually the newest teams that suck...well the Seattle team is a bit of a surprise"
"Hopefully they'll stop changing names."
"I find it funny how you can tell the new teams from the OG teams."
"What do you mean?" Jaelin asks.
"Like the OG teams are the Portland Thorns, Orlando Pride, Washington Spirit, and then new teams have more European sounding names like Philadelphia FC, Inter New York, or Colorado United SC."
"Why is that?"
"Probably because the owners wanted their teams to be taken seriously as soon as they joined the league..at least that's what the LA team owners said."
"LET'S GO WARM UP LADIES."
- - - - -
"So where are we in the table now?" Shelby asks as we change in the locker room after the game.
We won 4-0 with goals from Jessie, Jordan, Teagan, and Sigrid.
"Um." I say then look at the table on the video screen
2024 NWSL Table
1. Portland Thorns 1-0-0, 3 pts
2. Las Vegas FC 1-0-0, 3 pts
3. Inter New York 1-0-0, 3 pts
4. Olympique St. Louis 1-0-0, 3 pts
5. Houston Dash 1-0-0, 3 pts
6. Sky Blue FC 1-0-0, 3 pts
7. Washington Spirit 1-0-0, 3 pts
8. Colorado United SC 1-0-0, 3 pts
9. Boston Rovers FC 0-1-0, 1 pt
10. Bay United SC 0-1-0, 1 pt
11. Chicago Red Stars0-1-0, 1 pt
12. Orlando Pride 0-1-0, 1 pt
13. FC Seattle 0-0-1, 0 pts
14. Minnesota FC 0-0-1, 0 pts
15. Real Miami 0-0-1, 0 pts
16. Atlético Los Angeles 0-0-1, 0 pts
17. Cleveland FC 0-0-1, 0 pts
18. Atlanta City FC 0-0-1, 0 pts
19. Philadelphia FC 0-0-1, 0 pts
20. North Carolina Courage 0-0-1, 0 pts
"Third." I say as I finish changing.
Once I finish changing I grab my things, leave the locker room, head to my car, get in the car, then head home.
20 minutes later I arrive at my house so I get out of the car then head into the house.
"MAMA." Lanie shouts as she runs towards me.
"Hi babygirl." I say then Lanie jumps into my arms. "We're you good for Mommy while I was gone?"
"Mhmm." Lanie says and nods as I walk us to the living room. "We watched your game, ate pizza, I read to bubba, and I napped with Mommy."
"Sounds like you had an eventful day." I say.
Lanie nods then I set her down on one side of Julie before I sit on the other side of her.
"And how's my favorite pregnant lady?" I question then I kiss my wife.
"Better be your favorite pregnant woman." Julie says.
"You know you'll always be my favorite." I say then I lean down and kiss the baby bump. "And how's Mama's baby boy?"
"He's hungrier today than he has been in a while."
"Well why don't we go have a family date over at Piccolos?" I question.
"YEAH." Lanie shouts.
"Sounds good." Julie says.
"Let me go change then we can go." I say then I get off the couch and head up the stairs.
I love my life.
YOU ARE READING
The Family
FanfictionTalia has a lot of secrets, but her biggest secret she hopes nobody will ever find out. Her secret could put the people she loves most in danger. How will she protect her secret, her friends, her loved ones, and herself?
