Chapter 240 Preparations for the Olympics 6
So at one time Jake was called by coach Jim to talk, Jake naturally respected the coach very much and rushed to hear what instructions he had for this endgame.
"Jake you were doing very well in this game, I honestly didn't expect us to get so close to victory and you contributed a lot to us getting here."
"I said I would help coach so I am trying my best so the team can win."
"I believe that but you don't have much experience in football, so I want this last attack to just follow what the assistant coach says."
At first, Jake didn't understand, he was doing it from the beginning of the game, he just followed the assistant's recommendations and only changed the moves when he saw a better opportunity or if he saw that the recommended play would not work.
"I don't understand coach, I'm following the assistant's recommendations whenever I can in this game."
"Exactly, what I mean to you is that in this final attack it's not recommendations, it's ordered, what he tells you to do you do, after all, we'll pick the best option."
So Jake finally understood, the coach meant that for the final play of an important game he didn't trust him to make the decision, after all, he wasn't really on the team after all and the coach feared that Jake would ruin everything.
In the last game, the coach gave Jake full authority to make the decisions because it was just a friendly game, but now Jake was just following the team's order.
Jake felt a little offended by the lack of confidence but told the coach that he understood, Jake thought he had made good decisions and that is why the team came up with the last play with the possibility of winning.
But he wasn't really a player on this team and today could possibly be the last time he played football, so he would obey the coach's orders and not care about the outcome of the game.
Coach Jim knew he might have damaged Jake's pride with that order, but he had his own priorities and would not choose to please a player who would not even continue his football career.
If he won this game the Elite school would gain more reputation and the president promised coach Jim a prize, but when the second quarterback was injured he understood that against a strong opponent he would not have a chance to win.
So he called Jake and left everything to him and said the game was unimportant not to put pressure on the young man, now that he saw the opportunity to win could no longer trust Jake who had no experience.
Jake put on his helmet and returned to the field had started the first attempt for the down, the assistant told Jake to try a race and Jake did it and with a handoff handed the ball to the right-hand RB.
The first attempt advanced just 1 yard for the team, Jake understood well that the opposing team had strengthened the defense and were determined to win this game, in the second attempt Jake tried the race again for RB to advance only 2 yards.
On the third play, the assistant again recommended a run and Jake did it, the RB this time advancing just 1 yard and was knocked down.
Jake was very disappointed by Coach Jim, in these 3 plays he saw an opportunity to make a pass and another opportunity to make a run, both plays could guarantee at least one more down.
On the fourth attempt the kicker entered the game, they wanted a field goal that was recommended with Endzone less than 25 yards away.
Jake looked down at the bench and saw that the coach and assistant looked very pleased, so Jake understood that they were thinking of betting on the Field goal from the start, so he was not allowed to try any different play.
Unfortunately while Jake just watched he saw the kicker go wrong and the Elite team missed the chance of victory, Jake could see that everyone was disappointed to lose, the opponents cheered happily.
Jake wasn't happy about that, he hated losing, especially when he knew he had the chance to win, soon after Jake changed and after saying goodbye to the players he left home unhappy.
Coach Jim thought Jake should be more sympathetic to the coach's decision and was being irrational, of course, he didn't know that Jake had two chances to maybe win the game and because he lost was even angrier.
After all Jake was very busy with training, even though he had nothing to do officially, he still trained every day, so he agreed to do the coach a favor because he thought he could win and out of consideration for the coach.
But he ended up losing because the coach who invited him ended up not trusting him at the most important moment of the game, Jake didn't even want to complain about that respect for the coach as he knew the coach had a right to demand it and also because he thought he could be held responsible for the defeat if the coach were unreasonable.
This was normal, after all, Jake was a winning athlete who always had good results in the most disputed marathons and would still compete in the Olympics and besides, was a captain of the basketball team that was respected by the coach, it was impossible that Jake was not a little proud and arrogant later and conquer it all.
After arriving home Jake forgot all this when he had dinner with Eva, Jake wondered if there was still something his mother wanted in this life, she probably wanted to see Jake graduated from college and married.
But Jake didn't know if she wanted anything for herself, he realized her dream of having a restaurant and Eva had friends and a good home, Jake didn't know if Eva ever thought of remarrying.
Anna said she already talked to her about it and Eva said she never thought and didn't want to do it, but he wasn't sure about it, even though his mother always had it, Jake knew from experience how bad it was not to have a mate to love.
Unfortunately, he didn't have the heart to talk about it to her, maybe if Eva had contact with any man Jake could comment on that, but Eva didn't talk to anyone but Julius and Jake knew for sure that, his mother didn't like him.
After a few days Jake returned to training normally, he would still sometimes train with the football team, but did not try and even refrain from talking again with Coach Jim, in a few more days the court and the athletic field would be ready in the house from Jake and he would no longer come to train at school.
Jake also learned that Mark had recently recovered and Jake waited to meet his friend at school, but Mark, as well as all the players in the last year, would not come training with the basketball team after a few weeks that Jake left.
Some really wanted to leave and so Coach Mike decided to say goodbye to everyone and enjoy the rest of the semester to train the new players who will be the pillar of the team next year, fortunately he still had Lucas and Nathan who improved a lot in that first year and would be the main players of the team in the coming years.
Knowing this Jake had no choice but to call Mark and call him to talk at a mall dinner, after all, Jake didn't even want to think about visiting Mark's house and meeting his mother who must hate Jake now after he visited Mark when She was not at home.
After a few hours, Jake took advantage of the fact that he had arrived earlier at the mall and besides buying a souvenir for his mother took the opportunity to go again to the music store to see if he could find any new album from Kate.
After meeting her for just once Jake never forgot Kate again, just as he Jake is also very successful in the music world and has done many advertising campaigns that Jake saw on television.
Jake knew that she probably should have forgotten him, after all, they only saw each other once and Kate was much more famous than Jake and in a different way, now Jake suspected she was one of the people the system said had an Unfair fate like him.
The system said that when he went back to the past with Jake it would change their lives for what it should be, it was impossible that Jake had never heard of such a famous singer that she almost won several music awards even though she was just a little older than Jake.
After seeing that there was nothing new about her in the music store Jake was the diner where he had scheduled to talk to Mark when Jake arrived Mark was already waiting.
"Mark my friend, how are you? Have you fully recovered?"
"Hi Jake, yes I am fortunately recovered, but it will still be a while before I can play again, fortunately, we are far from university entrance time and I can recover completely."
"Glad to hear it, I hope you keep playing basketball at the university, I know you're going to a university that is better at studying than at sports, but you have to enjoy this time well."
"I will believe me."
Jake knew well that Mark was a little disappointed by that, with the fame he made being one of the best players on the team who was a three-time national champion in four years, it was impossible for him not to receive university proposals with better basketball teams.
But this university Mark was going to had a deal with the Elite school a few years ago and through the school, they spoke to Mark's mother and convinced her that education was more important to Mark and Mark's mother accepted the university's generous offer.
Mark knew he wasn't so talented at basketball to become a pro, but he wanted to play and try to win some titles with a strong basketball team and then if he was lucky enough to get into a professional basketball team even if he went to Europe.
But it seemed that Mark's mother realized that her son was thinking about it and killed his dream by choosing a university that would not give Mark a chance to develop, Mark also knew it and gave up on becoming a professional.
So Jake just wanted his friend to have fun playing over the next 4 years, at least it was certain that Mark would be the starting lineup from the first year and could perhaps improve playing with stronger opponents from stronger teams.