Film Analysis: The Football Team

In the early 1970’s, the small football town of Alexandria, Virginia was struggling to overcome racial discrimination. Two schools were being forced to integrate black and white students along with Denzel Washington as the head coach of the football team. As the integration took place, the football team from the coaches down to members of the local community was in complete disarray. This is where the team building begins. Individuals began to form groups, where they had their own clicks, cultures, and ways to achieve their own individual goals without concerning themselves with the common goal of winning football games. Throughout the movie, many transformations took place, each in their own right aiding individuals to function as a winning …show more content…
For instance, the coaches and the situations they created, forced team members to abandon old alliances and make new ones consistent with higher ideals. Intent on success, the coach required every team member to get to know every other team member personally. This tore down bias, fear, and division. As everybody learned big lessons, individuals with hard personality’s softened and other personalities hardened and rose to meet the challenge. Experiences like football camp, a midnight run to Gettysburg field, three practices a day, and intense workouts in searing heat highlighted unity as an existential solution. Teams function when their members have defined roles that everybody understands for which they are responsible. Some had to step away from their roles in the spotlight to enable a stronger player to step in and carry the team. Others had to step up to difficulty in their assigned roles; the captain had to cut his friend to build a winning team. Divided factions could not have won a single game. A mutual understanding of everyone’s role and having proven trust enabled everyone to help each one to execute and fulfill his role. As the team fell apart into clicks during the season, sometimes-unexpected leaders stepped up to drive continuous cohesion. The coach was painfully aware of the divisions and the fundamental need to bridge those divides. Everybody from the 10-year old girl, team-members’ girlfriends, neighbors, business owners all learned from the powerful changes happening in the ball team. Even rituals were instrumental in bringing the team together. As the team entered the field, they symbolically told teammates, spectators and the opposing team that they were a cohesive team. Nevertheless, when the team and the community came together, they systematically overcame prejudice and individual biases as they powered to an