Lasting over a month and five games, Medford's Spring Invitational this year concluded successfully on the day they defeated West Texas High School.
However, Mike's "star-making plan" did not end there.
Riding the wave of defeating the runner-up team, the newspaper opened a small special column for him in the sports section.
With continuous publicity and the upcoming poster distribution working in tandem, Mike had clearly become a somewhat famous "sports star" in Texas.
Moreover, when he received his first share of the poster profits, he also fulfilled his previous promise to his teammates, taking everyone out to have a good time.
Now, the Medford Team, after their excellent performance in the Spring Invitational, had solidified their position as a strong team.
The team members also, by virtue of this, received a wave of adoration on campus.
And Mike, who had the most outstanding performance, became the "hero" of Medford High.
For this, Principal Tom, on behalf of the school, even held a special commendation ceremony for him.
Time flew by, and another half a month passed.
During this time, Mike noticed that his Level 4 professional football skills had reached a bottleneck when training with the Medford Team members.
Yes, bullying rookies every day could not improve professional-level football skills in the slightest.
Therefore, Mike, unwilling to waste time, was preparing to submit his request to leave the team to George today.
Also, on this same afternoon, Mike saw Aaron, who had been out for tryouts and hadn't been seen for a long time, on the sports field.
After the Spring Invitational ended, several scouts from local Texas universities took an interest in his football potential.
According to contact with university teams and attending on-site tryouts, Aaron had been on leave for over a week.
However, looking at the unconcealable joy on his face now, it was clear that this tryout had a good result.
"Hi, Georgie…" Aaron, in casual clothes, greeted the team members with a smile.
Finally, he came before Mike and said, "Mike, I have something I want to discuss with you."
"Tell me," Mike responded.
"I'm preparing to leave the team, so I want to pass the captain's position to you. I believe with your leadership, the Medford Team will get better and better…" When talking about the serious matter, Aaron's expression became much more solemn.
It could be seen that he had deep feelings for the Medford Team.
Now holding the captain's armband, he had a bit of a dying wish to entrust to someone.
It's just, what a coincidence, things happened at the same time—
"Sorry Aaron, I'm afraid I can't be this captain. Actually, I was also preparing today to apply to Coach to leave the team." Mike did not take the captain's armband as Aaron had expected.
At this moment, Aaron also noticed that Mike was not wearing his training uniform today.
His eyes flickered, and he was silent for a while before saying, "Forget it, let the coach worry about these problems."
As the team captain, Aaron was very clear about Mike's strength.
His superb ball skills could completely help his teammates quickly improve their techniques.
This was equivalent to one-sided poverty alleviation—
Of course, if the person involved was unwilling to do so, Aaron, as the soon-to-be-departing former captain, couldn't say much more.
"How did your tryout go?" Mike changed to a lighter topic.
"Good luck, I passed the test at Abilene Christian University… However, next I still need to consider how to pass the high school graduation exam…" When talking about his future university plans, Aaron was both excited and troubled.
Abilene Christian University is a top-ranked university in Texas, and even if one joins as a sports recruit, at least a passing grade in cultural subjects is required.
In one sentence: you first need to have a high school diploma.
On Aaron's side, although he was not all brawn and no brain, having neglected his cultural studies, it would be a bit difficult for him to smoothly obtain his high school diploma.
Of course, this difficulty was not too great.
Sure enough, to add an extra layer of insurance for his high school graduation exam, he was now here to complete his withdrawal from the team, so he would have more time to study.
"Aaron, you're back. How did the tryout go?" Before outdoor training began, George, who arrived at the training field, immediately saw Aaron return.
"The tryout was very successful…" Aaron first reported the good news to the coach, then continued, "Coach, I want to withdraw from the team to focus on preparing for the upcoming graduation exam."
"No problem, go ahead." George took the captain's armband handed to him by Aaron, patted him kindly on the shoulder, and encouraged him, "I hope to see you on the professional field in the future."
Many people in the team knew Aaron's dream of becoming a professional player.
And everyone also knew that he had been working hard towards this goal.
As for leaving the team.
Many twelfth grade students who were close to graduating had already left the team early, and there was nothing big about it…
After all, no matter what one wants to do in the future, having a guaranteed high school diploma is always a good thing.
"By the way, Mike. What's your situation?" George, holding the captain's armband, also noticed Mike next to Aaron.
It was almost training time now, and Mike, not wearing protective equipment, stood out significantly.
"I feel like my football skills have hit a bottleneck, so I want to apply to leave the team for a while to rest," Mike answered tactfully.
In high school, football was one of Mike's specialties. So, he didn't intend to completely withdraw from the team.
With full confidence in his own strength, he was still thinking about returning to the team to play during official team games in the future.
While this approach might seem unfair to those hardworking ordinary players, Mike had the ability to be so willful.
"This…" George's expression became conflicted; he had originally planned to give the captain's armband to Mike.
However, he also understood Mike's situation.
The world of geniuses, after all, is always different from ordinary people.
After some thought, George said, "Your strength has already reached a professional player's level, and there's no need to rush to break through. It's good to rest for a while. Whenever you want to return to the team, just tell me. I'll keep the captain's position for you…"
George had also seen the situation of the Spring Invitational.
It could be said that when they encountered strong teams, the entire team relied on Mike.
This kind of unbalanced mode of development was actually very bad for the team's long-term future.
After all, not every year would there be a player as strong as Mike to support the Medford Team.
So George was also thinking of taking advantage of Mike's absence to train the other team members well.
At least, they had to ensure that in the Summer League later this year, everyone wouldn't drag Mike down.
…
"Mike, where are you going next?" Aaron asked after they left the training field.
"I'm going to the Math Study Room; someone is waiting for me there. What about you?" Mike replied.
Ms. Sharon's Math Olympiad study group had not disbanded, and Mike, as a nominal member of the Math Olympiad team, could naturally go there to pass the time.
Also, because there was still a long time until the Math Olympiad competition at the end of the year, the Math Olympiad team had not organized intensive training.
Therefore, today in the Math Study Room, it was very likely that there would only be Mike and Cady, who had been informed in advance.
Of course, if Lina from the gymnastics team had time, she might also drop by.
A small world of three…
Just thinking about it was wonderful.
"I'm going back to the classroom to study." Aaron, on his part, did not detect Mike's mischievous thoughts.
"Alright then, we'll part ways here." Mike, having arrived at the academic building, seriously said goodbye to Aaron.
"Okay, keep in touch when you have time—" Aaron, who was about to graduate, would have fewer and fewer opportunities to interact with the football team members in the future.
Suddenly realizing this, a hint of sadness appeared on his face.
It could be said that the two who left the team at the same time had very different feelings now.
Soon after, the two parted ways within the academic building: one went to the twelfth grade classroom to study, while the other went to the Math Study Room for a rendezvous with a girl.