"coach carter" Send an exceptional message about a coach with integrity, honor and kindness
Coach Carter – 3 stars (good)
Samuel L. Jackson stars as Coach Ken Carter in a good sports drama with an outstanding message for today’s high school basketball players who see playing for the pros as their only goal in life.
Coach Carter, a successful sporting goods store owner and noted athlete in his day, returns to his alma mater in a poor area of Richmond, CA. He inherits a team with players who have poor attitudes, poor performance, and virtually no expectations for his future if they fail to advance their basketball careers. The Richmond High School team is designed for its student-athletes to fail by not requiring higher expectations, discipline, and responsibility. Coach Carter is the centerpiece of this values film based on a true story of a California team.
He immediately lays down the law, Carter-style, demanding discipline, hard work, and responsibility. Carter and his players sign a written contract that requires standards of behavior, a dress code and good grades to remain eligible to play. Carter believes that scholarship and ethics must go hand in hand with a great game of basketball.
Given some standards to meet, their players turn 180 degrees and start winning from the beginning of the season, going undefeated in several games. Then the community starts showering them with attention and praise and players become overconfident and ignore their class attendance and studies. Carter discovers that several of his players are about to fail and he takes immediate action, benching his team and shutting down the basketball program until the players catch up with their studies. You can imagine the reaction of the parents and the community in general.
Coach Carter is under immense pressure to pass his players. He will likely become the only basketball coach in the United States to hold his own with an undefeated team. He steadfastly refuses to budge, holding his players accountable for their performance both on and off the pitch.
This is an amazing story of a coach who will not compromise his values by not compromising his integrity. Coach Carter has the guts and the audacity to stand his ground and in the end he has the right will. Hear what Coach Carter has to say at his board hearing: “You really need to consider the message that you’re sending these guys by ending the lockout. It’s the same message that we as a culture send to our athletes.” professionals, and that is that they are above the law.
“If these guys can’t abide by the simple rules of a basketball contract, how long do you think it will be before they break the law?
“I played ball here at Richmond High 30 years ago. It was the same then; some of my teammates went to prison, some of them even ended up dead. If you vote to end the lockout, you won’t have to fire me, I’ll leave it”.
Powerful? You better believe it. Ignore the violence, sexual content, foul language, teen parties, and drug material in this movie, it’s just Hollywood’s clumsy way of stereotyping high school basketball players. There is very little recognition in movies for prep basketball players who are not only outstanding college and pro prospects, but also outstanding students with great character and values.
However, there are legacy players like Coach Carter, and this movie illustrates an important and necessary statement about what really matters. Coach Carter isn’t interested in winning games to advance his career; he is totally focused on turning young people into confident, productive and well-adjusted adults.
Fortunately, the movie Coach Carter enjoyed some success, generating the highest opening weekend ($24 million) of any MTV movie opening. There was little recognition for this film among the most prestigious awardees. No matter. It was an Academy Award message in its own right.
See this movie for its great message. And yes, take your children with you, they need the message even more than you, now they are in the spotlight and you are behind.
Copyright 2007 Ed Bagley