My Four Superstar Ex-Boyfriends

Chapter 9: Decisions

In November of that year, in the Round of 16 elimination round of the South Bohemian State Interscholastic Championships, Rutland High School from Kromlov achieved a home and away double, defeating their opponents at home as well as on the road, advancing to the elimination round of the Porovani High School as the first of their group in the second round of the qualifying tournament.

And until this time, the members of the Rutland High School varsity team, who had increased their distance by five hundred meters every week since accepting Emily's training requirement of running five thousand meters a day, had already increased the distance they ran every day to ten thousand meters. This was also the final number that Emily had asked of them.

Rutland High School, which last year was beaten beyond words in the knockout rounds of 16 by the top team from the other group after only successfully breaking through to the second qualifying round, has emerged this year with a strong performance that was completely unexpected and has surprised everyone by advancing to the semi-finals of the South Bohemian State Interschool Championships when December rolls around.

This means that they have been given the opportunity to take on the Czech Republic's national high school soccer powerhouses in the second half of the semester.

On December 2, the eighteen-member team gathered together under the fence where they usually practice their goal kicks, all gathered around an old radio from who knows where.

It was the afternoon that the Czech High School Interscholastic Football League would draw lots to determine which six teams they would be playing with at the Czech National High School Championships in the second half of the semester!

[Boys and girls! This year's state championships in fourteen Czech states have already reached the semi-final part of the tournament! As a result, we've got 56 teams that advanced with the top four finishes in their respective states! We'll draw eight groups, and every seventh team will be a group!] When this clear voice came out of the old radio, the members of the Rutland High School varsity team all pricked up their ears and listened with high tension to the voice of the volunteer from the Czech Central Interscholastic Football League speaking.

The group of boys Emily was coaching were very nervous at this moment in time, and Emily herself was even more nervous than they were!

Although she had been to many games, now just a tournament between high school varsity teams like this was something that even she hadn't expected to make her nervous.

And, while the boys could at least understand what the high school varsity soccer league guys were saying on the radio, she felt like she was taking a Czech listening test, or someone with only a first-grade level of listening who was going to take the eight-year test with a stiff upper lip!

No, I have to be steady, I have to be steady, steady!

When it was time to mingle with these cute Eastern European boys Emily wasn't able to do that. Now, she would have to be even more serious! But there was no way that her varsity captain and little translator was just too sweet, and took the initiative to indicate with Emily when she hadn't even uttered a single word to the Head Teacher-sama, "The people who are saying this are from the previous Czech High School Intercollegiate Soccer Championship winning team, who are now in college, and have been specially invited back to be the facilitators of the grouping draws. They are now talking about the grouping rules and the principles of the draw for the Nationals."

Emily had only nodded her head to indicate that she had heard and understood, when another series of Czech words, which seemed to Emily to be spoken too fast for her to successfully understand, came out of the radio on the other end, which hastily signaled to her interpreter to go and listen! Listen! Listen to it!

[The changes that happened to me in that year were so big that I couldn't even believe it. I did something that I had never even thought about. I was introduced by a friend to a high school in the south of the Czech Republic and became the soccer coach for their team, taking them to the national finals of the Czech High School Interscholastic League in one year. In the winter of that year, I received my Level 2 soccer coaching license from the British Soccer Federation. Until then, I hadn't realized that I hadn't thought about what kind of life I wanted to have for a long time. That must be because, I had found it.

It was the first time I'd ever worked that hard to learn a language that was completely foreign to me, and the first time I'd ever put everything I had into a job for myself. Over the course of the year, I shifted from going with the flow to being in control. Many people may think that Prague is where I made my fortune. I think Krumlov is.

Thanks to my good friend Carolina, who brought me to the path I was supposed to be on.

Thank you to Rutland High School, who allowed me to truly discover myself].

──The Autobiography of Emily

Six Months Later ......

"So, are you resigning your position as varsity coach, Ms. Emily?"

"Yes, Mr. Principal."

"Can you tell me why?"

"I want to coach an adult team. I saw that a D-League team in Prague is in need of a new head coach right now and I wanted to give it a try."

Once again in the principal's office at Rutland High School, Emily told the older gentleman of her decision to leave. After she said that, the atmosphere in the principal's office fell silent for a few seconds before Mr. Principal spoke again, "That's the right place for you to go. I've never seen a varsity coach like you. Just like you told the kids, you're treating them like pros. I'm glad you taught them self-discipline, the passion to go for their dreams, and the perseverance it takes."

Hearing the compliment, Emily lowered her head into a smile before looking bright-eyed at Mr. Principal, who was sitting across the desk, "Allow me, please, to express my gratitude to you. This year at Rutland High School has completely changed my life. I think I've found where I'm supposed to be. I am very grateful for that opportunity you gave me at the very beginning."

The kind smile on Mr. Principal's face never disappeared, and once again he offered encouragement to the young man as he faced an important crossroads in his life, as the older gentleman said, "If you ever want to come back. You will always be the favorite varsity coach of the kids at Rutland High School."

Hearing those words filled Emily's heart. She stood up and bowed deeply to the already old Czech elder before turning to leave.

Although she had only gotten a reply from the D-League club in Prague inviting her for an interview, she had submitted her resignation to the school in advance. As Mr. Headmaster had said, that was the right place for her to go.

But before that, she had a headache of how to tell the naughty boys on the varsity team about her decision.

As the runner-up in this year's Czech High School Interscholastic League, the Rutland High School varsity team received a modest prize. Part of this was used by the school to repair the field. And the other part was divided equally among the members of the varsity team. The boys on the varsity team unanimously decided to take the prize money and throw a celebration party, and buy a new pair of sneakers for each of them with the rest!

But she couldn't announce at such a celebration party that she wouldn't be coaching the varsity team next year, could she?

Would that still be a good celebration for everyone?

It was also when Emily was getting quite a headache about it that Heinz texted her, and the boy told her that he had some great news that he wanted to tell her in person!

Feeling that she had found a good opportunity, Emily immediately sent a reply to the other party: [Great, I also have a message for you, I hope you can pass it on to your teammates! Heinz, who got this reply from Emily, immediately sped to the school on his bike.

"Ms. Emily! I've had an offer from a C-League team in Prague! They said they were very impressed with my performance at the High School Interscholastic Championship Finals! They want to sign me! I, I can't believe it!!!"

Heinz had barely parked his bike, which made him blurt out the words in a rush. The boy had always been the most stable one in the varsity team, but until this moment, he was still too excited to stop himself. He couldn't even ride the bike properly, so he simply let it fall to the ground, then took out the photocopied contract from his school bag, and walked to Emily as if he was floating.

"This is the contract they sent me!" Only after handing the contract to Emily did the boy realize that the Czech language written on the contract was impossible for Emily to understand, which made him take a deep breath of chagrin and say, "I'm sorry! I haven't had a chance to translate it into English! If you don't mind, I can try to translate it into English and read it to you now!"

The news came so suddenly that even Emily froze, and then the joy that Heinz felt made it seem as if she felt it!

This was the player she had brought out! This was the player she had brought up who had been spotted by a League C team for his performance in the final of the National High School Interscholastic Championships in the Czech Republic!

"This is such great news! Luther and Matz will go crazy with joy when they find out! Even though it's only a League C club that's interested in you right now, you have to realize that it's actually common for a player to move over the top if he's doing well! Once you're in the second division, you're a professional! A professional who plays soccer for a living!"

Heinz started to get excited after hearing Emily's words, and then he giggled as he read the contract. Heinz's movement with the contract paused before he turned his head to look a little coy and said, "Actually, there's another piece of good news. The University of Prague's Sports Psychology Department accepted me. I also told this news to Prague Lokomotiv, the club that was interested in me! The club's staff said that I could finish my studies and play soccer at the same time, and that the ...... C-League wasn't supposed to be a professional soccer league anyway."

It was also while Heinz was reading the contract for a while and figuring out how to translate the first paragraph that Emily also spoke up after a long hesitation, "Actually, I might be going to Prague as well. Tomorrow, I'm going to have an interview with the Prague Meteo Club. This is a club in the D-League. I sent my resume to this club and wrote a team building plan according to their requirements. Now they invited me for an interview. Well, now is not the time to talk about that, I'll help you look at the contract first!"

It was also when Emily finished this sentence that Heinz, who was still instantly dumbfounded from being too happy, froze in his movements, turned around, and froze in place as he asked, "You mean, you're leaving ......? Not continuing to teach us?"

In response, Emily sighed before interrupting with a helpless smile, "Heinz, you've already graduated, so you can't say 'we' at a time like this anymore."