Ken Carter was a basketball coach at Richmond High School in northern California. He was a coach with standards who became known for locking out his players from the practice gym and forfeiting games until his players improved their grades.
They made a film in 2005 based upon his life called “Coach Carter” starring Samuel L. Jackson. The movie did a good job representing the perspective of both a driven coach and his troubled players and instructed on the themes of discipline, teamwork and personal growth. In one climactic scene, a player who had been cut but wanted to rejoin the team was challenged by Coach Carter to complete nearly impossible physical tasks to be allowed back: 1000 suicide sprints and 2,500 pushups by the end of one day’s practice. The player tried his best but came up short, only to have another player step up and tell Coach Carter that he would complete the disciplinary exercises for his teammate.
The movie ran a little long even though there were many parts of the real coach’s life that were left out. Samuel L. Jackson’s performance was similar to the leadership role he played as Nick Fury in the Marvel “Avengers” film. “Coach Carter” could also be compared to the college football film “Remember the Titans” featuring Denzel Washington as the inspirational coach leading a team of young black men to victory while providing important life lessons.
I play for an AAU basketball team in New Haven and my coach agreed that “Coach Carter” is an inspirational movie for both youth and adult audiences. It’s not just about basketball, but also is designed to inspire young men to be better students as well. The game action in the movie was mostly realistic including some flashy mid-air passes, the fast pace of the high school game, the loud environment in high school gyms as coaches, players and fans are all shouting. Though there was one unrealistic scene where a player dribbled down court and ran right into an opposing player to have the ball stolen.
My favorite scene in the film came when Coach Carter spoke to one of his players about his “deepest fear”. The player didn’t fear his weakness but rather the immense potential of his future that the coach had revealed to him. Coach Carter encouraged the player to embrace their inner greatness and shine rather than shrinking to fit it with others. This was the same message I received from my AAU coach – win or lose.
Channing Tatum is also featured in the film as the player Jason Lyle. “Coach Carter” can be streamed on many platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Pluto TV and HBO Max. It earns a 5/5 star rating from this film critic.
