Student-American Student Athletes In The Film Coach Carter
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Society most commonly predicts that an African American student-athlete in a low income neighborhood following high school will not go on to college, and instead will either end up in prison or involved in illegal activities. The film Coach Carter looks to teach society that if some cares enough to show these student-athletes the right path to go down, then the lives of the student-athletes will have been preserved and enriched. Through the character of Ken Carter or Coach Carter this film points out the issues in need of correcting. These issues are educational instructors and parents holding low expectations for their student-athletes, the need for true friends to help you stay on course, and the need the show the student-athlete that hard…show more content… Kind of like a community. As said by Benedict Anderson “ A community is a group of people who shares a common area and goal.” This basketball team is its own community. These boys protect each other and help each other. They were not always like that though. You see that with the relationship between Jason Lyle and Timo Cruz. At the beginning of the movie, before Coach Carter even took the job as head coach, they were fighting in the locker room and since then have been at each other’s throats. Of course at the start of Coach Carters career at he kicks Timo Cruz of the team for being a smart mouth and disrespecting him. Once Cruz decides that he would do anything to be back on the team, Coach agrees that he can come back if he does one thousand suicides and twenty-five hundred push-ups. Once Jason Lyle sees Cruz starting and continuing to strive to finish his goal, he starts to feel sympathetic toward Cruz. So when it came to Cruz’s deadline for his suicides and push-ups, Cruz had cam up short. Then, Jason Lyle said to the coach before he walked out the door “ I’ll do push-ups for him,” and before you know it the whole team was helping Cruz finish. But, a team is not just supposed to help each other on the court; they should also be there for each other off the court. Just like when Timo Cruz broke up a fight between Worm, Lyle, and Battle against three African American young men. Or Coach Carter was forced to end the lock out, when he went to the gym to pick up his things, he sees his team in there studying with their tutors. By now the team understands the meaning of a team. Having the film teach this powerful concept, society can learn how to be successful in life. Especially when you are coming from a low-income neighborhood you need help to keep you on the right