Yesterday I was scrolling for stuff to watch on Netflix and landed on the movie called Coach Carter. This is a basketball sports drama from 2005. This movie is based off a true story of Richmond high school coach named Ken Carter. He was famous in 1999 for making headlines for suspending his undefeated high school basketball team due to their failing academic results. The premise of the story is him returning to his previous high school, Richmond to whip the basketball team back into shape. He has very tough rules and aims to teach and discipline the boys into not just athletes but actual student athletes, since he believes both go hand in hand, and Richmond has been neglecting their academic status for far too long.
At first the Richmond basketball team is no longer what is was like 30 years ago when Carter played, the team and its players are know known for being rude and disrespectful. Due to this Carter is strict with his rules from the beginning and forces the team to agree to sign a contract to be part of the basketball team, and if the contract is not upheld there will be consequences. The contract states they must maintain a 2.3 average and to do this they must sit in the front rows of all of their classes. Despite the objection of the parents, many of the players on the team agree to sign these contracts. Additionally, Carter reaches out to the teachers and asks them to provide progress reports of the teams grades in each of their classes. He even receives suspicion from the Richmond high school principle who questions why he is going to such lengths to care about their academic status when he is hired merely to help the team win games. Carter argues that they cannot properly be athletes later on in life and get into college if the school does not start to focus on the real meaning of being a student athlete.
The team continues to get better under Carter’s guidance and become undefeated in the season and goes on to win a holiday tournament. After winning the team sneaks out to celebrate their win at a party, while Carter becomes aware of the players consistent absences in all of their classes. Because they were skipping classes and receiving poor grades, it went directly against the contract that the team had agreed to sign. Disappointed with the teams defiance against the contract, carter locks the gym and sends the team to the library where they will be tutored by their teachers until the agreed upon gpa of 2.3 is fulfilled by every member on the team.
However, fed up with the gym being locked the school board decides to vote on wether or not to unlock the gym. The board votes to unlock the gym however Carter refuses to let this go easily. He states that with this decision it goes against his values of nurturing student athletes, and therefore he will be quitting his job as the head coach. However, despite him quitting his job the team agrees to not play until their grades are raised, even though the gym is unlocked.
If you like sports dramas, or if you liked One Tree Hill I would recommend this movie. The person who wrote this movie also wrote One Tree Hill and they have a very similar vibe.