My Favorite Sports Movie: Coach Carter
One thing about me is that I love a good sports movie! At the top of my list, I place Coach Carter as one of my favorite sports movies for many reasons.
Coach Ken Carter inherited a basketball program after the previous coach just did not know what else to do to help his athletes. Each player went home to many different home lives and struggles, which can be a common theme among inner-city high school athletic programs. Due to their difficult life circumstances, the boys relied on the game of basketball as an outlet. Plus, their community thought their worth was tied to basketball due to most players having failing grades, poor attendance, and lousy attitudes. Basketball appeared to be the “only thing they had” and the “highlight of their lives.”
Coach Carter came into the program with a no tolerance, yet caring, stance and required more than the minimum of his boys. He required them to report a higher GPA than the minimum needed, and to not only attend but also sit in the front row of EVERY class, among other things. Not only did Coach Carter require higher standards, but he put his feet to the pavement and actively enforced them. He was the first man to believe these boys could be more than basketball players. Coach Carter believed they could succeed by rising above the low standards set by others in their environment.
Everyone thought he was stepping out of bounds as a basketball coach. Much like they expect LeBron to just “shut up and dribble.” They wanted Coach Carter to just focus on basketball. Even the school’s principal, who was a Black woman, thought he was crazy since his goal was to send all of his players to college despite the school’s low graduation rate for young Black men.
Coach Carter broke down the stats in the following quote:
“Well, let me tell you what I see. I see a system that’s designed for you to fail. Now, I know you all like stats so let me give you some. Richmond High only graduates fifty percent of its students. And, of those that do graduate only six percent go to college; which tells me when I walk down these halls and I look in your classrooms, maybe only one student is going to go to college. Well, damn Coach Carter, if I ain’t going to college, where am I going to go? Well, that’s a great question. And, the answer for young African American men in here is this: probably, to prison. In this county, thirty three percent of Black males between eighteen and twenty four, get arrested. So, look at the guy on your left. Now, look at the guy on your right. One of you is going to get arrested.”
“Growing up here in Richmond, you’re eighty percent more likely to go to prison than college. Those are the numbers. Those are some stats for your ass. Now, I want you to go home and look at your lives tonight, look at your parents lives, and ask yourself; do I want better? If the answer is yes, I’ll see you here tomorrow. And, I promise you, I will do everything within my power to get you to college, and to a better life.”
In a system that was designed to fail them, Coach Carter managed to give the boys on his team — who society had thrown away — a newfound sense of dignity, self-respect, and accountability. He also taught them discipline, which is something many of the boys had never experienced from a man. Coach Carter’s coaching style brought the team together as family because, “One person struggle, we all struggle. One person triumphs, we all triumph.” His belief in his team elevated them to new heights where basketball was not their only option, which gave them a sense of pride and confidence. One player said, “Not only are we undefeated but our grades are tight!” By the end of the movie, Coach Carter had helped his— at times childish — players grow into respectable youth. My favorite themes throughout the movie regard two questions that he continued to ask the team:
“How do you see yourself?”
“What is your deepest fear?”
It all manifested in this moment here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_fDhqRk_Ro
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, ‘Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?’ Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And, as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
― Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of “A Course in Miracles”
Coach Carter inspires me — I’m an inner-city high school coach too — to show people just how far a little tough love and believing in your student-athletes can go. You never know which young person’s life you are saving. Coach Carter went on to send most of his athletes to college — as just a student or a student-athlete. Either way, being a student should always came first.
