Sport Psychology in Film “Coach Carter”

Sport Psychology in Film “Coach Carter”

            Sport psychology significantly influences the performance, mental activity, physical activity, and discipline of athletes while performing sporting activities. Sports psychology involves explaining, describing, and predicting the attitude and feelings of athletes to improve their performance. “Coach Carter” film directed by Thomas Carter was released in 2005 by MTV in the United States. The film is based on a true story of Richmond high school where the team’s coach had suspended the whole basketball team players because of the players’ poor academic results. The film “Coach Carter” uses various clips to show the role of general discipline, motivation, and attitude, which are major topics of sport psychology. Also, the film highlights the problems experienced by team coaches in the process of shaping the discipline of the team players. In the film “Coach Carter,” sports psychology is effectively used to improve the performance of the school basketball players in basketball and also in academics by use of motivation, enhancing good discipline, and promoting the right attitude among the players.

Discipline plays a critical role in the performance of athletes. The behavior of the athletes significantly affects the psychology of the athletes. In the film “Coach Carter,”  the coach insists on his basketball players on the importance of discipline in improving their performance. The coach was a former player of the school’s basketball team. The coach promised the student players success if only they were going to adhere to his rule in and off the field. The coach directed the players who were willing to participate in the basketball team to sign contracts with strict rules. The rules were structured to make sure that the student players improve their performances in both academics and games activities. Discipline is a major topic in sports psychology study. When student players register good performances in their academics, they develop a strong mentality and confidence that enables them to succeed in their co-curriculum activities. However, without discipline, it is difficult for students to succeed in academic work. In the film “Coach Carter,” the coach of the basketball team issues strict rules to enhance the discipline of the student players, which is necessary for the improvement of the overall performance of the students.

In the film, the coach hands his basketball players with individual contracts that help to enhance the discipline of the players. The players are required to attend all their classes. Attending all the classes gives students confidence in their class works, which in turn results to academic improvements. Also, from the contract, the student players are supposed to occupy the first rows during the class lessons. When the students occupy the first rows, they will always remain attentive throughout the class session because they are in the presence of their tutor. Also, coach carter instructs the student-players to wear a tie and dress shirts during the games days. The coach requires the students to wear ties so that the students can improve their confidence in public presentations. Setting goal is a key aspect in enhancing the discipline of the students. Goals make the students work hard so that they can achieve the set goals. When the students become hard working, they will always remain busy, which restricts the students from indulging in drug abuse and gangs, hence enhancing the discipline of the students. Coach Carter in the movie sets grade C+ as the academic goal of all his basketball team players. Strictness is critical in ensuring that the students maintain high levels of discipline as depicted in the movie. Coach Carter requests the school staff for progress reports of his players to inspect the grades of the students and identify those who skipped some classes. From the film, the schools’ basketball coach teaches his players on how to play a disciplined brand of basketball. Motivation is another important topic in the study of sports psychology as depicted in the film.

Coach Carter uses positive messages in his coaching style to motivate his players. Motivation is an important aspect of sports psychology that helps athletes to continue working hard. The coaching style of coach carter is criticized by the school head teacher and also the parents. The head teacher of the school feels that coach carter is using unnecessary methods in his coaching style. At first, the players develop a negative attitude towards their team coach because of the critics the coach is receiving from the school stakeholders. However, in the film, the coach is more concerned with the positive elements that will help his players to succeed both in basketball and life after basketball. The coach encourages his students to work hard by even helping them to set their academic goals. The coach teaches the players on the importance of hard work, which motivates them. The efforts of their coach also motivate the players. The coach is concerned about their performance in curriculum activities and even their performance in co-curriculum activities. The commitment of the coach gears the hard work of the students so that they can achieve success as a reward to their committed coach. Carter preaches respect and dignity to the players. Carter calls all his players by the title “Sir,” which is a great encouragement to the students (Gilbert, 2017). Through positive motivation, the player at the end achieves the success as required by their coach in both their academics and also in basketball. National media later comes to acknowledge the encouragement coach carter gave to his players as shown in the film. All the players thanked coach carter for his commitment and encouragement that helped them to succeed both in basketball and life. One player, Cruz acknowledges coach Carter for helping him as said in the film “saving my life” (Gilbert, 2017). Therefore, positive motivation helped the players to succeed in both basketball and life. However, coach carter coaching style involved some negative motivation, which adversely affected the attitude of some players.

Attitude is an important topic in sports psychology as revealed in the film “Coach Carter.” The attitude of the players influences the performance of the players either negatively or positively. The negative attitude of the players towards the team coach makes the players resistant to the instructions issued by the team coach. When Carter was first introduced to the basketball team players, the players developed a poor attitude towards the coach. Coach Carter was in attire that resembled preacher’s attire, and the students developed a wrong perspective towards the coach. The students said, “God isn’t in this neighborhood” (Gilbert, 2017) Carter, after been introduced to the players, explains the players on how he expects them to behave in the field and also in the classroom. Due to the negative attitude the players had already developed towards coach Carter, some team players disobeyed his instructions by misbehaving in a party. At the party, the players stripped down to go for swimming. Stripping is totally against the rules of the coach who always insists that his players should be well-behaved in all the aspects of life. While swimming, one basketball player called Damien is shown kissing a girl. Also, in the schools’ dancing activity, a player is seen joking to two girls and inviting them for a romantic tryst. The film shows some players been involved in dancing and sex, which is against to coaching principles of Carter. Also, when Carter reviews the progress report of his players in their academics, he realizes that some players skipped classes and registered minimal performance, which is against his rules. The players had developed the vice of rudeness because of the negative attitude they had developed towards coach Carter and also towards playing football. Therefore, negative players’ attitude during the early coaching life of Carter affected the performance of the students adversely. Carter coaching style was surrounded by several negative elements that negatively affected the attitude of the players.

In the gym, Carter faced hostility from some team players because they had developed a negative attitude towards the coaching style of the coach. The parents and the school head teacher had claimed that coach Carter was using awkward methods to force success from his players. Parents were also involved in a protest claiming that Carter should not be the schools’ basketball coach. All these activities made the players to develop a poor attitude towards their coach, and they started disrespecting him. At the gym, Timo Cruz, one of the team players’ punches Carter, and Carter loses his temper where he is seen pushing Cruz to the wall using his hands. After the incidence, Cruz and the other two players quit the basketball team, which is a major blow to Carter’s team. Due to the wrong attitude the players have towards Carter, some players are seen arriving late for the practice. Instead of Carter finding some positive elements to use so that he improves how the players respond to his instructions, he uses cruel methods. Carter warns that the players who will arrive late for practice will be involved in a running punishment. Also, Carter dictates that the players who were going to be disrespectful to him again will do push-ups as a punishment. In one occasion, Carter is seen telling Cruz to quit because he cannot complete the push-ups recommended to him on time. Therefore, at first days, coach carter coaching style had many negative elements, which affected the attitude of the basketball players resulting in poor performance in basketball and also in academics.

In sum, sports psychology has a significant influence on the performance, mental, and physical activity of athletes in different sporting activities. The film “Coach Carter” directed by Thomas Carter was released in 2005 in the United States. The film is based on a true story of Richmond high school basketball team. Carter who is the coach of the basketball team insists on the importance of discipline in achieving success in both basketball and academics. The coach makes strict rules that should be adhered by his players to promote the discipline of the players. The coach uses positive motivation that encourages his players to work hard both in academics and basketball. The methods employed by the coach are first criticized by the school stakeholders, which makes the students to develop a negative attitude towards their coach. Negative attitude causes the players to build a mentality of rudeness that adversely affects the performance of the players both in academics and basketball during the early coaching days of coach carter. At the end of the film, Carter employs positive elements in his coaching style that sees his players succeed both in basketball and in life.

References

Gilbert, J. N. (2017). Sport psychology teaching approaches for high school coaches and their       student-athletes. Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 88(2), 52-58.