He nods. “Yeah, that’s probably best. I’ve never seen him bend over backward to help out a male staffer.”
“Coach Turner?” one of our team’s interns calls out, leaning around a corner. “It’s time for your pregame meeting. You wanted me to remind you.”
“Right. Thanks.”
Shawn gives me a resolved look. “We’ve put in the work. Let’s hope it pays off.”
We sure as hell have. Our team and staff ended the summer break early, meeting up to talk strategy and get started on conditioning. It was voluntary, but every player showed up because the end of our season last year was unacceptable to all of us.
This team and my kids are my life now. Our roster will be strong, and we have great team chemistry. We’ve done everything we can to prepare—now we just need to execute and keep putting in off-ice time.
“I’m expecting a strong showing tonight,” I say.
And I plan to make it clear to my players in my pregame talk. Every player has to be all in, or they don’t belong on this team.
CHAPTER TWO
Jules
This was a bad idea.Silas Alexander isn’t giving me anything to work with, and I’m relying on the video I’m taking of him for my early afternoon post on the team’s social media accounts.
“Okay, that was good,” I lie, lowering the camera. “Now let’s try something different. Be more ... energetic. And don’t shrug when I ask you a question. I’m going to edit out the parts where I’m talking and it’ll just be you talking.”
He nods, sighing softly. “More energetic. Okay.”
We’re standing in the concrete-floored tunnel outside the locker room, and it’s almost time for practice to start. I need to move quickly. I start recording again, giving him an encouraging look.
“Which teammate would you call to bail you out of jail?”
“Uh...” He blows out a breath, not even cracking a smile. “I don’t know, Carter Stanton I guess?”
Fail. I try again.
“If you were back in high school and you needed help studying for a math test, which teammate would you ask?”
“I was good at math. I wouldn’t need help.”
The locker room door swings open and players start flowing out. I stop recording and give Silas a grateful look.
“Thanks for your time. Have a good practice.”
He practically races away, and I mentally check him off my list of players who can give me fun, engaging content viewers will like. Not everyone is comfortable on camera.
I pack up my tripod and camera, about to turn and head back to my office, when someone calls my name.
“Hey, Jules.” It’s Isaac, the goaltender, padded up in his practice gear. “Did that stuff I sent work out?”
“It was perfect. Thanks again for doing that.”
“No problem. Anytime.”
He smiles and returns to the group heading onto the ice. I get a brainstorm. I can film them practicing. That’ll be my early afternoon post.
I’m only a week into my job as social media coordinator for the Cleveland Crush, and I love it. I worked at a graphic design firm right out of college and ended up staying there for seven years. I liked the work but didn’t love it. When I saw the opening posted to work in the Crush’s public relations department, I jumped at the chance and applied.
The director of the department, Deb, was impressed by my own social media pages, where lots of people follow me for style tips. She created a new job for someone to focus entirely on growing the team’s social media presence and there were hundreds of applicants, so I was excited to be chosen.
“Excuse me, are you the new PR girl?”
