At many high schools across the country, playing basketball has the tendency to be more important than getting good grades and getting into college. For the Richmond Oilers, basketball didn’t concern anything but basketball.

Coach Carter is a movie based on a true story about a high school basketball team that deals with the struggles of everyday street life with very little focus on academics. The Richmond Oilers never had any idea that their new basketball coach would change their lives forever. Coach Carter, played by Samuel L. Jackson, arrived at Richmond High School on his first day eager to make a change in Richmond’s losing streak. The team wasn’t thrilled about his arrival after having a previous coach that let them do whatever they wanted.

Coach Carter made the team members sign a contract stating that they would maintain grade point averages of at least a 2.3 in order to play on the team. Parents argued aobut the contract, but the team proceeded to sign them. Damien Carter, Coach Carter’s son, played by Robert Ri’chard, enrolled at Richmond and became a part of the team as well and the obstacle of keeping good grades was not one of his downfalls. The team starts to win game after game not realizing that it was only a matter of time before Coach Carter found out that they were not completing the necessary requirements of the contract.

Coach Carter proceeded to get tutors for the team, but they couldn’t continue to play ball until their grades came up. Therefore, he put the gymnasium on lock down and cancelled numerous games creating upset parents as well as the community. Carter’s main focus was to ensure that each member of the team would get into college. Coach Carter is directed by Thomas Carter with Paramount Pictures. Rob Brown, Ashanti, Antwon Tanner, and Texas Battle all play excellent roles in this film. Coach Carter was released on January 14, 2005.

I thought that this movie was inspirational. Samuel L. Jackson did a remarkable job portraying the character of Coach Carter. He was determined to put the team’s future and their education before anything and he also managed to make a winning team out of the players all at the same time. While in the process, he helped the team to understand that they didn’t have to live the street life. This is one movie that every student should see.