Coach Carter: An Inspirational Movie for Coaches and Athletes

Coach Carter is a film based on a true story of the legendary Richmond High School basketball coach, Ken Carter. The story narrates Ken Carter’s life as a basketball coach trying to effect change in a group of young men. He was known for his daring and unorthodox method of coaching which began with requiring his players to sign contracts. 

The film was set in a poor African-American neighborhood where young men either end up in prison or end up dead. Throughout the movie, Carter challenges the educational system and the system of this world. The film brings to life the value of discipline, respect, teamwork, and humility. Coach Carter is a perspective-shifting film for coaches and athletes alike. 

Coach Carter: An Inspirational Movie for Coaches and Athletes

For Coaches

Coaching is more than just winning games. In the beginning of the movie, the Richmond Oilers, Richmond High School’s basketball team, were on a losing streak. Apart from their streak, nobody wanted to coach a team of rowdy, disrespectful, and purposeless young men until Coach Carter. Coach Carter accepted the job in order to effect change in these young men’s lives. 

In order to do that, he set specific goals for the team to achieve which began with signing contracts. The contract requires that every player should attend all their classes and sit in the front row of those classes. Aside from that, players should maintain a C+ grade point average and wear suits and ties on game days. Coach Carter also demanded school progress reports from every teacher to ensure his players’ progress. This enraged the faculty and Principal Garrison which leads us to an eye-opening dialogue between Coach Carter and the principal.

In this scene, Coach Carter demonstrated a strong desire to send his athletes off to college, to a better life. This is a quality that every coach should possess—the desire for your athletes to thrive in life and not just in sport. Coach Carter knew how unlikely African-Americans go to college but he wanted his players to at least have the chance. He wanted his players to reach higher than play high school ball. 

The way you view your athletes becomes the way they view themselves. Throughout the film, the community exhibited a stronger desire for the boys to win basketball games than go to college. The boys themselves, the Richmond Oilers, never thought or even imagined going to college. In the film, Coach Carter revealed to his players that male African-American are 80% more likely to go to prison than college. He encouraged his players to go home, look at their family’s lives, and ask themselves: Do I want better? 

Being born from the same neighborhood, Coach Carter knew how nobody expects these boys to go to college. But for Coach Carter, this doesn’t have to be the reality of his players. Coach Carter viewed his athletes as someone capable of playing college basketball and living a better life. In the end, his athletes believed and wanted more in their life—go to college and play college ball. The way you see your athletes impacts the way they see themselves.

For Athletes

Winners are not born, they are made. As mentioned, before Coach Carter led the team, the Richmond Oilers were on a losing streak. Their team has no discipline, respect, teamwork, and purpose. Because of the team’s losing streak, their defeated mindset clouded their perception in becoming better. However, in just a few weeks, Coach Carter transformed the defeated and losing streak team into a dark horse team. This teaches us that while talented people do exist, anything is possible through hard work. 

Although it’s categorized under athletes, coaches can also learn from this as well. In an athlete’s journey, it’s important for athletes to have a mentor who will guide them every step of the way. There are instances where coaches seek strong players and do not bother building and honing a player from scratch. As an athlete, having a coach that trusts and invests on your progress is enough belief to keep pushing. 

Winning teaches you about your personality just as much as losing. In the film, the Richmond Oilers headlined news with their dark horse journey and becoming undefeated in the season. After the Oilers’ victory, they sneaked out and went to an after-party but Coach Carter caught them red-handed. He scolded the team to which Timo Cruz replied— ‘we undefeated, ain’t that what you wanted?’ The Oilers misinterpreted Coach Carter’s efforts to improve the team as his desire in winning. 

The undefeated journey of the Oilers caused them to become arrogant and forget their humble beginnings. In their limelight, the Oilers resorted to trash talking and talking down on their opponents. Losing and failure reveal an athlete’s passion and drive to be better while winning unveils an athlete’s personality.