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| MAKING THE GRADES
coach carter
IN COACH CARTER, SAMUEL L JACKSON PLAYS A REAL-LIFE HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL COACH WHO MADE A
CONTROVERSIAL DECISION:
HE STOPPED HIS TEAM FROM PLAYING OR EVEN PRACTISING. SAM CONNOLLY FINDS OUT WHY.
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A little over six years ago, on January 4, 1999, a school sports story made the headlines in the US. It wasn’t the usual tale of triumph on field or court, of glory brought to this or that high school by the football or basketball team. In fact, it was almost exactly the opposite. And at the centre of the story was a coach.
The man in question was Ken Carter, coach to the Richmond High Oilers, who were having one of their best seasons ever. Carter had returned to the California high school where he had once been a student and, determined to make a difference in the lives of the kids, had made his star players and their parents sign an agreement. He would give everything he had to make the Oilers the best team in California; in return, the players had to commit to keeping up their academic grades.
A former school basketball star himself, Carter knew only too well that those teenage glory years faded all too quickly and that, if there was not something solid to back them up, the players’ adult lives could prove a real disappointment, maybe even a disaster. American novels, plays and films are full of tales of high school sports stars whose sports prowess has not prepared them for later life. Carter was determined the kids from Richmond High should not go down the same road.
And that is why, on January 4, 1999, he padlocked the gym, not only preventing the Oilers from playing, but preventing them from practicing as well. Several members of the team had let their academic grades slip and, since Carter had always stressed that they were a team, each responsible for the other, he called in his marker and stopped them all from playing.
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