Chapter 125 Change in Situation 3
"Mr. President I have an idea now that the school does not have a coach for the high school team and will have to look for someone qualified, why not promote coach Mike from the Middle School team? I think he's capable enough to get the job done and then looking for someone capable of training the Middle School team should be easier."
The president hoped Jake would ask for many different things in his mind, the president even told Jake that he would ask him a lot of money, but he never expected Jake's request to be something that could benefit the school, not him.
"Then this is agreed, coach Mike will be promoted at the beginning of next semester."
So Jake was pleased with this, there were not many things he needed the president to give if he needed the money he could just sell some of his stock and he would have a lot, but what Jake cared most about was being able to play basketball in the next semester.
So he could not risk the school hiring another crazy coach and he could not play in the season to see, so he remembered Coach Mike that Jake thought he had the ability to train the high school team if it were coach Mike he would have sure to be put to play.
After everything was settled Jake went home and told about his conversation with the president to his mother, so Eva said she agreed that Jake had made the right decision to stay in that school waiting to be able to play.
So Jake could sleep soundly for the first time in a long time because now he had no more trouble to worry about.
On these holidays Jake wanted to just train and rest a lot because he would have to play early next semester, but Clara did not know that and called Jake.
"Hi Jake, I remember you told me you were always looking for tournaments to play, but could not find any?"
"Yes, indeed, Clara."
He said so himself, but it was when he knew he could not play on the school basketball team, but he could not tell Clara that he seemed to be doing it for him.
"I've heard that there's going to be a tournament in Miami in two weeks, I do not know who's organizing it more, it's a 3-on-3 tournament, not like the ones you've played, so you need to find two more people to play, too it seemed that the age limit is under 18 so you can play with older players."
So Jake was excited, it had been a long time since he wanted to play against people older than him again, so he would try to call some players from his school team to see them go.
"Thanks for letting Clara know, I'll go get some of my classmates from school and see if they'll join me."
"Alright then, this tournament is just for fun so you do not have to wear the uniform with the company brand if you do not want to."
"Alright, thanks again."
So Jake hung up the phone and soon called Mark, he always had the numbers of his teammates, but he never went to call if it was not for something important.
"Hi Mark, this is Jake."
"Hi Jake, how long, I thought you had forgotten if your teammates, we have not talked for nearly two years."
"I told you that I do not like to talk on the phone for anything, I wanted to invite you to play a tournament that will be in a few weeks, this tournament is 3 against 3 and I thought I'd call you and David."
"A tournament? It looks cool, I will."
"Fine then, I'll call David now."
"Okay, goodbye."
So Jake called David to invite him as well, David also complained that Jake had not talked to them in a long time and agreed to attend the tournament as well.
So after a few weeks, the three friends went to participate in the tournament, this tournament would be done in just one day this time, it would start around 7 am and would go until around 10 pm so it would be a tiring day for the players, Jake did not care much about it.
As they always had lots of people participating, Jake stayed close to David and Mark, he asked his friends how things were while he was away, they said he did not miss anything, after all, they did not get anything in those two years.
Jake also realized that the two were much more mature, especially David who was much calmer, so Jake was curious to know how much they improved in the game as well.
After waiting some time it was their turn to play, the opponents had some younger players and others older than them, it seems that it was a team formed just to have a little fun playing.
Jake had already discussed some tactics with his teammates, possession began with Jake's team, the game was up to 21 in this tournament and each shot was worth as many points as in an official game.
So when Jake scored, he gave Mark a pass that he received and then did a layup to make the first 2 points, then Jake received an abolish to start another attack, Jake passed to David that in a few moments passed around the opposing player and makes two more points with a layup.
In another move, Jake passed to Mark who even with the opponent defending well managed to turn and make the 2 points, so Jake can see a little how his teammates had improved a lot in those 2 years.
They quickly made it 18 to 0 and Jake passed the last ball to David who shoots the outside to score 3 more points and win the game, so Jake was more certain that they could win the national championship next year.
"You seem to have improved a lot in those two years, especially you David who seems to be calmer."
"The only good thing about that coach was that he knew how to coach the players, so if he made up his personality he could have been good."
"Who would have thought that one day I would hear you say that in David?"
"I've improved my personality a lot, too, we all have to grow someday."
"You do not seem to get much better from Jake."
"It's just that I've always been a lot better than you've always been, so you can not tell the difference."
"Hahaha I do not think that's it, you've been two years without training now I should be better than you."
"You can keep dreaming David."
After waiting for almost 2 hours the second game would finally happen, each team had to do 5 games to be the champion, and not all were as good as Jake's team and win easily.
So Jake who had been provoked by his teammates wanted to use this game to prove that he had improved so he passed the ball to David and then asked for it back, after receiving the pass he soon shot the outside and made the first 3 points of the game.
On the other play, Jake asked David for the ball again, so David understood that Jake wanted to show off in that game and just passed the ball back, and that's how it happened, Jake ten right 6 more shots out and made all 21 points without missing a beat.
The whole fans were cheering much more opponents wanted to cry, the defender of Jake tried to get in the way, but Jake still shot the shots.
After the game ended Jake looked at David as if to say I told you, David did not want to give up and replied.
"That does not mean that you've improved in those two years, you could do it before."
"That's what I said, I was way better than you two years ago that you can not figure out how I got better."
After that David had to admit that at least he could not beat Jake, Mark was just laughing at it, he knew Jake was not arrogant and was just doing it to provoke David, but what Jake said was true, be it two years ago or today Mark knew that just like Jake as captain they could win the national championship.
In fact, although they did not say much about it, Mark knew that his 3 teammates did not want to be professionals, or rather they could not be professionals, so everyone just wanted to play in college and have good memories.
But Mark felt that Jake did want to become a professional basketball player in the future, and Mark thought Jake had the ability to do that, as he knew Jake was a great player, and as SG he already had the ability to play at a university was what Mark thought.
After a while the time came for the third game, the opponent seemed stronger, but Jake and his teammates did not care, Jake played seriously making points and making the passes on time, so in a short time, they won again from 21 to 0.
The others were already getting angry with Jake's team, it was obvious they were very good, so they should not come to play with amateurs, but no one could complain because it seemed that Jake's team was only 16 years old.
Many who were playing were 18 years old, so complaining after losing to a team that had players two years younger could not happen.
The opponents of the semifinal seemed to be better, but Jake did not care, he made the same moves again and they made the points easily as well.