Movie Clips

The following movie clips are meant to inspire in ways that improve both your basketball ability and your overall life. Please note that a few clips may spoil a bit of the movie they depict, and we urge players to check with their parents to see which clips they're allowed to watch.
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Context: Before Captain America was born, his civilian identity Steve Rogers was just a frail man who had recently joined the United States Army to aid his country's efforts in World War II. Superior officers were debating about who to select for the experimental "super-soldier serum", when one thought of a novel solution.
Lesson Learned: No matter your stature or perceived strengths, there is no strength stronger and no indication of your potential greater than what's within.
Context: Ray began going blind at a young age, far before eventually becoming one of the greatest superstars of music this world has ever known. But this lesson from his mom proved to be his life's true defining moment.
Lesson Learned: The world is sometimes a harsh place, so we must accept assistance when it's offered but we should be prepared to carry ourselves through alone just in case we must.
Context: A group of failed Jamaican sprinters set out on the impossible task of trying to win gold as a bobsled team. As one of them is being mocked by the other, his reply draws justifiable scrutiny.
Lesson Learned: Regardless of what your dreams are, be sure to use them as fuel to achieve whatever greatness there is out there to be achieved.
Context: In the midst of the Great Depression, a former boxer is forced to attempt a comeback. In his boxing days he was only an average boxer, but the thought of his family starving forced him to reach down inside himself to find he's always had so much more. The clip is of his first return fight.
Lesson Learned: There's a point in every person's mindset where they no longer allow fear to dictate their life. Usually (and in this scene in particular) it's the point where we're at our lowest and death is staring at us awaiting our arrival. The greatest can call upon this inner power even when times are at their best, however.
Context: Eddie is a British ski-jumper who only made the Olympics due to the technicality of no one else from his country attempting to make the team. Through his many failures, he continued to try, and eventually sought to land the longest jump in history along with the Gold-medal winner. In this clip, these two men share the same elevator before their historic jumps.
Lesson Learned: We each have our own ceiling to reach and our own mountains to conquer, and what makes someone special isn't the greatness they've already achieved but more so how much beyond themselves they're willing to strive.
Context: Batman (aka Bruce Wayne) is trapped in a prison that can only be escaped from by climbing from an enormous pit. Only one person has ever made the climb successfully, but Batman is looking to be the second.
Lesson Learned: Sometimes to achieve what we want in life, we must be willing to lose everything.
Context: A family has two kids - one born "perfect" and the other born genetically inferior. Though the superior kid wins at everything, the inferior brother eventually beats the other at a race and leaves home at 17 to try to become an astronaut. In this scene, the two finally meet again.
Lesson Learned: It's less about what we're given in life, and more about what we do with what we've been given. And if you're willing to die for what you believe in, you will have very few people willing to compete against you.
Context: As the first black regiment is set to go into a suicide mission the following morning, they reflect on their journey and all they've accomplished.
Lesson Learned: Regardless of whether you win or lose (or - in this case - live or die), all that matters is the effort you gave and how you stayed true to yourself and loved ones.
Context: In the future, there's a person named The Rainmaker who single-handedly takes down the crime syndicate. A criminal from the future travels back to kill The Rainmaker when he's a kid but doesn't know which kid on his list is the correct one. This scene has two modern-day criminals stumble upon the kid.
Lesson Learned: When the mom first began to run, we think she's attempting to save the kid... when she was actually trying to save the man from the kid. Our parents attempt to protect us because they believe we can't handle certain situations and pressures. Your goal, however, should be to be the type of person who thrives under the most adverse conditions... to the point where even your parents know when you're at your most frustrated that your opponents better beware of the greatness you're about to unleash.
Context: Civil Rights icon Malcolm X is at the beginning stages of his storied journey, but still had such a strong personality and convincing conviction that people were willing to follow his lead.
Lesson Learned: The power we need to do the impossible exists within every one of us if we are brave enough to allow it to come forth.
Context: Neo has broken free from reality and is placed in a machine that allows him to learn anything just by uploading it to his brain like software.
Lesson Learned: Our limits are only defined by what our minds and bodies are capable of handling. So don't be afraid to seek that limit by engulfing all that is possible for you to engulf.
Context: The first black Navy diver suffered much hardship at the hands of his superiors and classmates at the academy, but none more harsh than his final exam. Each person had to complete the project far below the surface at near-freezing temperatures, but his bag of nuts and bolts was purposely torn.
Lesson Learned: Even through the unfairness, Carl persevered. Rather than focus on what is unfair in your life, focus on working to succeed every inch and every second at a time.
Context: Two magicians watch an old man do a magic trick, then try to figure out how he accomplished the feat at his age and with his frail condition.
Lesson Learned: The old man was so dedicated to his craft that he never broke character, and so must you never break character in your quest for greatness. ALWAYS think about your goal, and make sure every day finds you at least one step closer to that goal. Then when people observe you, they'll never know your "magical" secret was HARD WORK because it'll just be a part of who you are.
Context: Before Elton John became one of the world's greatest singers, he was a young kid who was so infatuated with the piano that he studied it day and night.
Lesson Learned: Elton studied music so ferociously that he could hear a song just once and then play it back perfectly. This kind of feat is known as a genius, but all the hours he put into the art would prove it was just an insane amount of passionate work that developed his unique ability.
Context: Rudy worked excruciatingly hard to finally make the team only to find he'd never play in a game. In this scene, he finally decides to quit right before the team's last practice. Then his mentor has a talk with him.
Lesson Learned: In this lifetime, the only person you have anything to prove is to yourself. Through any perceived successes and failures, it was and will always be your effort that mattered all along.
Context: Achilles is the world's greatest warrior but is constantly living with the weight of his legacy. In this scene, his companion talks about how the greatest men live life on their own terms and don't wait for others' permission to be great.
Lesson Learned: Greatness doesn't wait. It doesn't ask. It's not given. It takes.
Context: With his team down at halftime, this football coach gives one of the best speeches of all-time. Through a lot of profanity, he lays out exactly what an inch is worth.
Lesson Learned: Sports and life are all about the small moments and the small things we do on a daily basis. And even within that day, focusing on each and every single minute and second adds up to the greatness we seek.