Chapter 117 The Tournament in Europe 5
Jake would pay attention to every game, so he saw the final between the two 15-year-old players, the two had similar heights and were bigger than Jake.
The two were speed players, so this was a game with many feints and short runs, the two players were not very good in defense so it was an open game, who had the first possession had the advantage.
So after a running game that started with the first ball won from 10 to 7, if the other was a little better in the defense or the one who won missed a mid-range shot the result would be another.
In the next 16-year final Jake had a hunch on who could win this game, both players were tall, but it seemed that one of them was PF and good at defending near the inside area, and the other was an SG and was good at defending in various ways.
As it was a concern for Jake, all players even in high school had to be good at both attacking and defending, so Jake focused so much on improving his defense since he had confidence in his attack.
So Jake hoped the SG would win because that SG was tall too and knew how to make shots from outside, now it would depend on whether he would hit or miss more, who started with the possession of the ball was the PF, so he had an advantage.
The SG pressed with their defense, but the PF managed to pa.s.s and made the first point with the layup, then again the PF pa.s.sed SG and made another point.
In the third attack, SG managed to get the hang of it and no longer allowed the PF to pa.s.s, so the PF tried the mid-range shot and made another point, in the other attack the PF cannot pa.s.s again and tried another mid-range shot and missed this time and so SG got the rebound.
So the SG was up to the three-point line and as the PF was not close he took the shot out and made the first 2 points of him in the game, then again the SG tried the shot from outside and made 2 more points and went to the front in the game.
After the SG managed to make a feint and a dribble pa.s.sed by his opponent to make 1 more point, the PF that started well now was losing by 2 points, so he tried to tighten the defense, but SG was fast and soon can do more 1 points with a mid-range shot.
After the PF managed to steal the ball and then tried to make an attack and decrease the advantage of the opponent, and the game continued like that, as Jake hoped the SG won by 10 to 7, after all, if he was shot outside, was 2 points.
The 17-year-olds were much more exciting to the public, all were over 1.80 in height, so it was normal to have at least 6 Dunks per game, yet the game was much more contested because everyone who came in at the end was excellent players.
Then it was the final for the 18-year-old, some of these players could even be professional by age, all were very good, but had no incredible player so the final was won by 10 to 9 with a dunk of the winner.
After that Jake left with his mother, Jake had little more than a month of vacations still, so he would not return and waste the trip to Spain, in addition, he wanted to wait to see if the opening of the Tiffany and Clara stores would happen before his vacation was over.
Jake wanted to be present at this important moment for her friends, Eva also wanted to stay here for a while longer, after all even if the hotel room cost a little it would be much more waste to leave without taking advantage.
Jake liked a famous investor"s phrase that he did not remember the name "the most valuable a.s.set in the world is time", it was true so Jake and his mother had to take advantage now that they had time because no one knew what the future would be like.
After a few days strolling around town Jake managed to pick up some newspapers that had pictures of him and about the champions.h.i.+p, he wanted to give to his mother who likes to save that newspapers that had stories about him and also show Clara that the announcement of the companies was legal in the picture of Jake"s uniform.
After a few more weeks in Madrid, Jake and Eva finally got to see everything they wanted in the city, as it was a wonderful city had many sights and types of food to try.
And Clara had finally come to town too, Jake called her and said she was still in town, Clara was surprised because she knew that Jake"s tournament had ended a few weeks ago, and then she could not get in touch with him.
Now she knew it was because Jake had not come home after those weeks.
"Hi Clara, how long have you been able to sort out all the stuff about opening the stores?"
"Yes, I got it, I"m sorry I lost the entire tournament even though I asked you to come here."
"No problem, actually I wanted to thank you, as I had stayed all this time without playing I wanted to partic.i.p.ate in some tournaments like this, but I can never find where they are performed."
"How good, then, are you sure you do not want the companies to pay for your trip to Spain? Even when I make my travels, whoever pays is the company, it"s more a matter of justice than having money or not."
"This is because you are hired by the company, so all your expenses have to be registered to not generate future problems with shareholders, but I am only a sponsored athlete."
"Moreover, because of my mistaken decision to enter this school, I have to stay out of the team and I am not giving visibility to their companies as I should, and my mother and I took advantage of the trip on that vacation."
Seeing Jake give so many reasons so Clara did not say anything else, but she was a little surprised that Jake understood that she had to have her expenses recorded so she would not have problems, she knew Jake read books about companies, but she did not expect him to know so much about this.
If Clara knew that Jake now had a company too and worked with investments at age 14 she would be even more surprised, Jake intended after showing that he was earning money advising his friends to invest as well.
"So why are you still here in Spain? Getting to know the city on your vacation?"
"That too, but I decided to stay here to witness the opening of the stores here if they happen before my holidays are over, after all, you and Tiffany are above all my friends."
Clara was very moved by this gesture of Jake to stay in town just to support her, she was happy to have worked with Jake all those years.
"Yes, it will be done later this week, Tiffany, unfortunately, will not be able to come anyway, but I"ll represent her in the opening as well."
"It"s a shame she can not come, but she"ll sort things out in her company more important now, especially with the new stores soon her brands will be represented all over the world."
"I hope you"re right, I and Tiffany sacrificed a lot of things and a lot of time for our companies to grow here."
"I think you"ve already achieved a lot of things, even if you end up selling your company in the future, you"ve still done something incredible."
"I wanted to never have to sell this company, I have a very special affection for her and it"s not just for the money that I did all this but also to feel that I did something in life."
Jake understood well what Clara felt, not many women who managed to create a successful company in that decade, after the times were modernizing women could show more and more their ability, but the beginning is always difficult, he was sure that Clara and Tiffany were deserving of being called successful women.
So after a week, Jake was present at the mall that the first store would open, Tiffany"s company had a store next to Clara"s company, actually, it was a much larger s.p.a.ce that was split in the middle so the rent was cheaper and the shops stayed together.
After that Jake returned home with his mother, but Clara would still have to stay in Madrid to sort out some things about the stores, in a few weeks it would be the beginning of Jake"s second year at high school.
He said he did not think he could return to the team this year, but he still had some hopes that coach Philips would call him, if he was called back Jake would go to the team without saying anything about the past.
Jake went to school on the first day of cla.s.s to show the newspaper that he had a story about him for Joseph, but it was Joseph who called Jake to talk at the break saying he had something important to talk about.
Jake naturally thought that his friend would finally introduce his new girlfriend to him, but Joseph seemed too serious to be about it.
"What Joseph was, you"re so serious you"re scaring me."
"I"ve wanted to talk to you for a while now, I"m dating, I started before this year"s vacation."
"I already knew, it was so obvious after all you get out sometimes and also your grades were falling, so who is she?"
"That"s what I wanted to tell you about, she does not like you very much and I think you do not like her too much."