Extracurricular Activities: A Life Changing Program After school activities play a key part for young adult lives within today’s society, in America. How much it actually affects the personality and attitudes of the youths involved is something that many people are blind to. In the documentary “Undefeated” (2011), filmmakers Daniel Lindsay and T.J. Martin shine light on the positive effects that are school activities have on students’ lives and character. Based on kids that attend an inner-city school in Memphis, Tennessee, Lindsay and Martin allow their high society American audience to view new ways of helping kids who aren’t so fortunate. They show the positive life changing stories, and outcomes of players who are affected by football. …show more content…
The footage that surrounds the players, allows for the audience to focus on a clear image of the different issues that affect the kids from day to day. Viewers are able to see the conditions of the neighborhoods that the kids grow up in. From torn down houses to rundown streets and sidewalks, the audience gets a primary account of what conditions the kids are put in. This view of society is one that creates a lasting memory on the viewer; after all, a picture is worth a thousand words. Articles and newspapers cannot account for all the details produced in the movie, or the saturation of its content. Lindsay and Martin used a film to incorporate small details that would have been left behind in a newspaper or magazine article, which include Money’s visits to the doctor, O.C’s tutoring sessions, and the players path to college. Small details like these contribute to the value of the movie, and make it more heartfelt. The filmmakers also allow us the film as a way to incorporate everyone’s perspective on after school activities. The producers show scenes and do interviews with the players, their close relatives, the coaches, and even those that walk into the player’s life for a brief moment to help …show more content…
During the end of the movie, Coach Courtney states that he is no longer going to be coaching the team, so that he can focus on being a good father to his kids. What does that mean for the rest of the team that is still in high school? Will they still have someone to guide them in the right direction? Will they still have a coach? These unanswered questions leave the viewer guessing of how important extracurricular activities really are, if the coach is not willing to stay for the team. Also the filmmakers only represent their argument with 3 players from the football team. Those players could have been the only ones to benefit from the sport, while the others were left to face with their daily struggles. Lindsay and Martin left the other players out of sight in order to end their movie on a good note, and backup their
High school sports can have a tremendous effect on not only those who participate but the members of the community in which they participate. These effects can be positive, but they can also be negative. In the book Friday Night Lights, H.G. Bissinger shows that they are often negative in communities where high school sports “keep the town alive” due to the social pressure. In this way, Friday Night Lights gives insight into the effects of high school football being the backbone of a community, revealing that the fate of the individual football players are inadvertently determined by the actions of the townspeople.
The football players in Odessa were generally a wild party crowd. It was typical that late in the fourth quarter, when the game was in the bag, the players would begin talking on the sidelines about what parties they were going to after the game, what girls they were going to try to pick up, and laughing about how drunk they were going to get. They cared nothing for academics. The senior star running back, Boobie Miles, was taking a math course that most students took as freshmen. Many of the senior players' schedules consisted of nothing but electives. For the Oddesa footbal players, school was nothing more than a social get-to-gether, served up to them as a chance to flirt with girls and hand out with their friends. They knew that their performance in class didn't matter; the teacher would provide the needed grade to stay on the team. It wasn't uncommon for players to receive answer keys for a test or simply to be exempt from taking the test at all. Some didn't know how they would cope without football after the season was over. They ate, drank, and slept it. On the whole, these 16 and 17-year-old boys' identity was wrapped up in a pigskin.
Most student-athletes grow up as very innocent lads bedecked with tremendous talents and become very promising in sports. Thus, they become rays of hope for their families, neighborhoods, and schools yet to be determined. Like the lamb in William Blake’s poem The Lamb, they are fed “by the stream & o’er the mead; gave…clothing of delight, softest clothing, wooly, bright…making all the vales rejoice.” (Smith 24) Then they are exposed to the life of hard work in which only the fittest survives. This makes them ready for the different challenges in the sports scene.
Douglas E. Foley offers an interesting analysis of American football culture in high schools, in his article titled “The Great American Football Ritual: Reproducing Race, Class and Gender Inequality”. The author covers the ways that the football culture splits people apart and segregates them into groups based on what they contribute to the football scene. The football scene seems to bring negativity to the lives of every group it touches, yet it is still a staple in American culture to this day.
Talladega Nights starring Will Ferrell follows the ups and downs of a famed NASCAR driver coming to terms with his in and out father. The audience is given a glimpse into Ricky Bobby’s opulent life style from seat at the dinner table in the beginning of the moving. Ricky posses all a man could want (ten cars, two kids, a best friend, and a smokin’ hot wife) due to his incessant chanting of “If you’re not first, you’re last.” Ricky Bobby’s life takes a sudden downturn, when a French-speaking foe is introduced. Jean Girard beats Ricky, the first person to do so, causing a chain reaction that leaves him without a housewife, friend, career, or kid. Towards the end of the movie, we see Ricky Bobby start to understand what he truly values learning
The Warriors, a film based on the book of the same name by Sol Yurick, was released in 1979. It was directed by Water Hill (The Making, 2016). This film is a cult classic about a gang that becomes stranded away from home and has to fight their way back to their home turf. This movie has held a fascination for many and it is a fact that it is loosely based on an event from Grecian times, the Battle of Cunaxa in 401 B.C. which is chronicled in Xenophon’s “The Anabasis” that follows a Grecian army who becomes stranded after the battle between Athens and Sparta (The Making, 2016). Although critically critiqued for its filming style it is a cult classic and is ranked by Entertainment weekly as number 16 in the Top 50 Cult movies. (The Top 50, 2016).
I am writing a film review on the 1976, classic movie Rocky. In this review I will explore the main character Rocky, along with secondary characters Adrian, Pauley, and Mick. I will compare Rocky’s self-concept and self-esteem to the secondary characters. Identify whether the characters are nourishing or noxious individuals. Finally, we will describe how the main character is perceived by other characters.
Ripley argues that football is a dangerous sport for students that young to begin to express their rage on and off the field. However, in the article Do Sports Build Character or Damage it? the author Mark Edmundson writes about his experience playing high school football. He said football made him a better person. He gained courage, strength, and heroic character. Edmundson said he applied everything in his life to football, which helped him get a job. Even though he was not the best player, he said he enjoyed going to practice every day to increase his skills. These attributes help Edmundson still to this
American football for youth emerged as a social benefit in 1929 when Joseph J. Tomlin, of Philadelphia, organized the first competitive youth football league called the Junior Football Conference [1]. At the time, society was experiencing an influx in youth vandalism; thus, in response to the issue, Tomlin’s solution was to create a youth football league to get these idle youth off the streets and into an athletic
“‘Athletics last for such a short period of time. It ends for people. But while it lasts, it creates this make-believe world where normal rules don’t apply. We build this false atmosphere. When it’s over and the harsh reality sets in, that’s the real joke we play on people’” (Bissinger xiv). “Friday Night Lights” shows the darker side of high school football. Players are taught to play games to win, and thats all that matters. Football players are put under a tremendous amount of pressure, almost enough to be considered unfair. Even though football is a “team sport”, pressure on individual players is unnecessary. Some players have the burden of the team, the city, their family, and their future, resting on their shoulders. These players are put under pressure that is physically and emotionally damaging, not to mention future ruining.
High school athletics leave a major impact on everybody that is involved with them. It also can even leave a mark on people who aren’t associated with them. There are many conflicting opinions on whether high school sports are a positive or negative influence on a student’s life. Athletics in high school can have an effect on the community as a whole. In H.G. Bisssinger’s highly regarded Friday Night Lights, high school football is accurately portrayed as the most important thing in Texas; it receives much more attention than academics. Football players are often treated like celebrities; yielding confidence, and at the same time creating pressure.
College is a time for young people to develop and grow not only in their education, but social aspects as well. One of the biggest social scenes found around college campuses are athletic events, but where would these college sports be without their dedicated athletes? Student athletes get a lot of praise for their achievements on the field, but tend to disregard the work they accomplish in the classroom. Living in a college environment as a student athlete has a great deal of advantages as well as disadvantages that affect education and anti-intellectualism. Around the country, college athletic programs are pushing their athletes more and more every day.
Improving competitiveness is not the only advantage to beginning a football program two years earlier. Junior high is a time when many young people reach a crossroads between the innocence of elementary school and the complicated choices that come with the independence of high school. These are the years that young people begin making life changing choices in their search to identify who they are in this new world of leaving childhood behind. Many middle schoolers choose paths that do not lead to positive results. Some students during this time begin the illegal use of drugs and alcohol as well as other delinquent behaviors. Sports are a proven deterrent to these types of decisions. Studies reveal the number of athletes that become involved with drugs and alcohol is a significantly lower percentage than that of non-athletes.
Participation in sports has proven to increase self-discipline and self-esteem, and can teach athletes to learn from their mistakes and move on (Issitt). Athletes playing team sports also develop the ability to work well with others and use teamwork in their everyday lives. Teammates form relationships that are strengthened over a common passion and goal. These relationships can last long after high school is over (Chen). These social skills translate into better communication used with an athlete’s family, peers, and in the community. Likewise, “A 2006 study in Maryland found that student athletes are 15 percent more likely than non athletes to be involved in their communities and to take the time for civic engagements, including participating in voting and volunteer activities” (Issitt). The same study also concluded that athletes are far more likely to be comfortable with public speaking than non-athletes. This study provides concrete evidence that high school sports can help to gain mental and social skills that will be used later in life
“Sports do not build character. They reveal it” said John Wooden, Legendary UCLA Basketball Coach. Sports have become very popular over past years and it seems like nobody really joins the sport knowing the true benefits coming from these sports. After all, most people do watch sports on tv more than reality shows or movies. Many teens join sports in their high school years, and most don’t know that these sports are the things keeping teens out of conflicts. A new disagreement has arisen over whether or not sports can keep teens out of trouble. Participating in sports keeps teens out of trouble because it prevents depression and stress, creates a community, and averts boredom.