The Wait Is Over

Rose City Reunion

Sunday morning in Portland started off with Emily and Christen returning to their originally-assigned rooms and Sam in the hallway redistributing the proper keys to her teammates.

After breakfast in the main dining room, which was attended only by Sam, Alyssa, and Rose (Julie and Christen went out and re-traced the steps of their first date seven years ago, while Lindsey and Emily left the hotel to pick up breakfast at one of their favorite haunts, Voodoo Donuts), the seven preceptors met with head coach Laura Harvey and assistant coach Joy Fawcett to go over policies and procedures for camp, the players' responsibilities as on-the-field evaluators and assistants, and the updated schedule for the week.

Laura: Welcome to camp, ladies! I hope there were no problems getting here from the airport and that you were able to get sufficient sleep following your matches and flights last night.

The engaged couple of the septet looked at one another and giggled slightly, knowing that they are both operating on only a few hours' worth of sleep due to some extracurricular activities following Lindsey's arrival.

Laura: Because we are loosening the reins a little when we get to Denver with couples rooming together, both Joy and I are putting a clamp down on "funny business" during our week in Portland. You seven as preceptors will be the enforcement crew for that policy, which means you'll have to do bed checks on your fellow teammates and report to us in the morning any untoward things you hear or see.

Joy: We want you to be both teammates as well as authority figures of a sort in this camp. We do have some former members of the USWNT coming to camp to help us with evaluation, which they will do from either the stands or the press box at Providence Park, as well as participating in a closed-door scrimmage on Wednesday afternoon, One team will be them, yourselves, and other players that won't be called into the July camp, while the remaining 18 will constitute the other team.

Laura: In the schedule I sent you before camp, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights were listed as "TBA". Well, that was done because we didn't know when the US Women's Soccer Hall of Fame's induction ceremony would be held. Apparently, Thorns owner Merritt Paulson and USSF President Alexi Lalas have been planning this ceremony for months and even publicized it in the greater Portland area, but forgot to confirm the date with me. As you might have seen from the signage around town, the induction ceremony is on Tuesday night. We will train only in the morning on Tuesday, leaving the players time to do what they need to do ahead of the event. I am guessing clothes shopping will take up a good bit of that time in order for everyone to find something to wear for the occasion. We will have three team vans available so that you will able to hit the malls or other shopping districts in the area.

Sam: What is the dress code for Tuesday night?

Laura: Formal, or as close to it as can be done at the last minute and without blowing your entire camp bonus on an outfit.

Lindsey and Emily have a brief non-verbal discussion, as if to confirm that both of them are thinking the same thing regarding this.

Lindsey: When Emily and I started playing here, we would shop a bit at the thrift stores in the area in order to save money since we were both on low-level contracts until we cracked enough national team camps for incentives to kick in and our salaries raised. Being that we will have a limited amount of time to find something, and with a number of the new faces in the same position we were several years ago, we would like to take them with us on Tuesday afternoon when we go shopping. Can an announcement be made at dinner to that effect?

Laura: I think you just volunteered yourself to make that announcement, Lindsey.

Sam and Emily laughed at the *zing* Laura gave the Great Horan.