(ThyBlackMan.com) Ken Carter (Samuel Jackson) takes over as the head coach of the basketball team at Richmond High School, the team he played for in high school. He notices that the athletes are disrespectful towards the coaches and each other. He starts off by handing the players contracts, which state that they must attend all of their classes and sit in the front row. The contracts also state that the student athletes must wear dress shirts and ties on game days, an refer to their peers and the coach as, “Sir.” The students initially referred to each other and the coach with the n-word. They also must maintain a 2.3 grade point average in all of their classes. Carter also asks the teachers for progress reports on the players’ grades and attendance.
He soon faces pushback from the players, the teachers, the principal and the board of directors in the community. Many players leave the team. The message here is that the people at the administrative level just want the kids to get by and play basketball, while Coach Ken Carter is trying to develop them into responsible adults. After he receives the first progress reports from the teachers, he learns they are not attending class and not performing according to the terms in the contract. And so, he locks the gym and refuses to open it for practice or for games until the student athletes bring up their grade point averages and start attending class.
Facing outrage and adversity from almost everyone, one of the players, Kenyon Stone states, “but sir, I have a 3.3” [Grade Point Average], saying he should not be apart of this gym lockout himself, since he is performing well in the classroom. Coach Carter responds, “Good job Mr. Kenyon, do you score all of the points on the team as well? If one of us fails, we all fail.”
In a conversation with the principal, who is an African American lady, Coach Carter is told that his job is to win basketball games, and she suggests that he focus on doing his job, rather than on what is going on in the classroom. Coach Carter quickly responds that her job is to educate the students, and that he suggests to her that she should start doing hers. She says that this basketball season will “be the highlight of these kids lives” and so he should let them play. Carter tells her, “I think that is the problem here; Nobody believes in these students, and I believe they are all capable of attending college and doing better than what everyone expects from them.”
Afterwards he goes to the library where the players are studying and preparing to perform better in the classroom, and tells them that the system is designed for them to fail, and that they are all much more capable than they have been told they are. One student athlete, named Timo Cruz, initially leaves the team in outrage in response to all of the terms and conditions set forth by the new coach. Eventually he wants to rejoin them. He initially leaves the team and joins his cousin in selling drugs. On his right arm, which is his dominant hand while playing basketball, he has a tattoo of a spider web, which is constantly shown when he is on or off the court. This signifies that he is trapped in the web of the system that is programming him to fail.
Cruz leaves the team and joins the team two times. Initially, he leaves after Coach Carter comes in and sets forth these conditions for the student athletes. Later on, he sees how much the players on the team are enjoying themselves, and he attends one of the practices and asks Coach what he has to do to be on the team again. Coach Carter states that he must do 1,000 suicide runs and 2,500 push-ups by the end of the week to join the team again, and Cruz agrees. On Friday, the assistant coach who is counting the progress that Cruz is making, states that he is short of his goal, and cannot join the team. However, as Coach Carter is walking out of the gym, one of the players asserts that he will do the push ups for him. He states, “You said we are a team. If one of us fails, we all fail.” Soon, the whole team starts running suicides and doing push ups to complete Cruz’s goal. This shows unity, and how it is a very important trait for a team to have, whether on the court or in the classroom.
The second time Cruz leaves the team it is because he does not meet the thresholds of the Grade Point Average provisions of the contract, and decides to leave because he gets into an argument about the lockout of the gym. He starts working with his cousin again, and while he is with him, someone drives by and shoots and kills his cousin. Confused and covered in blood, Timo Cruz runs to Coach Carter’s house in the middle of the night and tearfully explains to him what happened.
All of the seniors on the team, including Cruz, end up graduating and attending college. Some of them play basketball at the collegiate level and some do not, but all of them move on to earn prestigious degrees in their respective fields at highly respected colleges. Others constantly told them that they would never be able to do what they did, yet Coach Carter was able to convince these young men that they are much more capable than they have been led to believe. And so, they went on to accomplishments the world told them they could never attain. This statement really stood out for me.
“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. 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. It’s not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own lights shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
Staff Writer; Mantej Bindra