Sicily “Sis” Jones is the only undefeated college athlete in the Amateur Fighting Association (AFA), but her spotless record is running her life. She’s living on pennies and nursing a debilitating injury. Her teammates have their share of struggles, too. Striker fights to support his struggling family. Rip has a secret. Cal harbors a grudge.
Topping it off is their cut-throat coach who pushes them beyond their limits for the sake of his own career.
It’s a new order in the world of college athletics. After a financial crisis, the AFA had to salvage its profits. Fighting became the only sport, a brilliant and violent solution to the economic collapse. But at what cost to the athletes?
Sis and her teammates have made it through nearly four years together at their little second-tier university. But all bets are off when the AFA puts Sis against one of her own. Will the Association survive the aftermath?
Katie Lever is a doctoral candidate at the University of Texas, where she researches NCAA rhetoric and policy. She is also a freelance sportswriter, whose work has been featured in 2aDays, FanSided, Extra Points, Global Sports Matters, Sportico,and Forbes. Lever’s debut novel, Surviving the Second Tier, launched in February 2022 and discusses her research, including college athlete abuse, exploitation, health and safety, mental health, and NCAA policy failures, in a fictional dystopian context. She graduated from Western Kentucky University in 2016 with a B.A. in Communication Studies and in 2018 with an M.A. in Organizational Communication. While at WKU, Lever was a Division 1 athlete running track and cross country and was a two-time Sun Belt Conference champion in track and field (indoor and outdoor).
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Katie Lever 