When the Game Stands Tall (2014) - Life Lessons Learned from a Seat on the Fifth Row
When I went to my local theater to see director Thomas Carter’s When the Game Stands Tall, I fully anticipated an action-packed, football movie reminiscent of my days playing on the field. I was geared up, ready for some hard-hitting, helmet banging, down-to-the-last-minute, nail-biting high school football right there before my eyes, larger than life…in high definition. What I was not prepared for were the life lessons that I would learn. In this true story, Bob Ladouceur, the head coach of De La Salle Spartans, portrayed by Jim Caviezel teaches his players life lessons on and off the field. He taught me quite a few also, as I sat on the fifth row. I will evaluate the life lessons I gained from this movie. “It ain’t about the football, ain’t about scoring the touch downs, it’s about moving you in a direction that will help you … when you go out into the community”, Coach Bob reiterated to his players (Carter, When the Game Stands Tall). Teamwork, how many times did I hear that word? When the game was on it was about the team, it was about winning, but that is not what Coach Ladouceur wanted to teach. He wanted to develop the…show more content… “It’s as if life has taken more than it gives, and I am lost” (Carter, When the Game Stands Tall). How true is that? It hit me close to home. There are times in my life when no matter how good I do, things fall apart. This happens to everyone, not just me. I learned from watching the story of this team and all its individual players that a person’s life cannot be defined by a failure but must be defined by the lessons learned from the failure. “…we lost. That’s football. Don’t let it define who you are. I truly believe the best things in life happen when we lose something or something challenging happens” (Carter, When the Game Stands