The Gift of a Coach: A Novel of Baseball and Friendship

Chapter Fourteen: The Testimony

"We now call Jake Wolff to the podium"

Jake shot Jim Krank a nervous look before walking past the tables and sitting on the stand, placing his hand on the bible.

"Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you, God?"

"I do," Jake said.

"Okay. Mr. Wolff, when did you notice your player, uh, Parker Fox, was missing?"

Jake took a deep breath as he sat up straighter. "Around 5 o'clock that night. My team had just given me a present and we were celebrating our first win and I didn't notice that he wasn't there"

"You didn't notice?" the lawyer asked, standing in front of Jake. "You are responsible for these kids, aren't you, Mr. Wolff?"

Jake froze, realizing that he probably shouldn't have said something he couldn't back up. "Yes, I am sir," he answered simply.

"Well, then wouldn't it be your fault that one of your kids was injured under your watch?" the lawyer asked, walking slowly towards the stand.

"Objection! Interrogating the witness!" Someone called through the crowd.

"Overruled," the judge said.

"Yes, it would be," Jake answered. "And I am so very guilty because of it. But that's not the reason I'm here, with all due respect," he said, giving the grim lawyer a small smile.

"Then why are you here?" he replied sarcastically.

"To make Brennan baseball a better place to be for everyone," Jake said, firmly. The courtroom went silent and he felt confident enough that he had the floor so he took a deep breath and just spoke his mind: what he had practiced.

Jake Tyler Wolff's Testimony- November 12th, 2019

I came to Brennan High in September of 2019. I was a college athlete and did very well at division 1. I was told that there was an opening for a coach's job at Brennan High School. I had never thought about coaching before. It was never a thought that entered my mind.

But once I accepted the job, I never looked back.

And I am so proud of myself, these kids, and my best friend who I have the privilege of coaching with, Nick Zaminski. Nick and I have been best friends since college. We played college ball together and have been inseparable ever since. I don't know what I would do without him. Honestly. Some of my best life moments and memories have happened with Nick by my side. I hope you all are blessed with a good friend, at least one, in your life. Because it changes you in ways I couldn't even begin to imagine.

Nick was there when it happened.

One of Brennan's policies is that each team, club, or organization needs to raise $1000 for themselves. This can be attained in any way-fundraising, donations, cash money. Anything. Just as long as you had it done before the end of the school year. Well, I had gotten a phone call from Nick very early in the morning a few weeks before the incident happened. He had informed me that Brennan baseball was $500 under budget and unfortunately, we did in fact have a deadline. If I did not meet that deadline, I would be terminated as Brennan's head coach, including Nick's position as well. And for both of us, that was something that I never wanted to happen. These kids changed our lives and it was a very real reality that soon enough we were gonna lose them so quickly. It broke our hearts. So you can imagine, that's why we did everything we could to drum up ideas to raise money. After talking to Nick, I was pretty defeated that we wouldn't come up with anything. I mean, we did have a week to do it so you can put yourself in my shoes.