Hoop Dreams

              The movie Hoop Dreams is about a pair of boys from the ghetto who go to high school to play basketball. Their names were William Gates and Arthur Agee. They both went to St. Joes to play basketball. Family members supported them and paid their tuition. William started on Varsity as a freshman while Arthur is starting point guard on the freshman team. They both had pretty good freshman seasons, but going into sophomore year the family stopped paying for Arthurs tuition so he had to start over at Marshall High School. William is a star as a sophomore,  he is carrying the team and everyone loves him. Meanwhile Arthur is playing varsity as a sophomore but not to his full potential.

        St. Joes loses in the playoffs again even though Arthur had a great game. Going into his junior year William hurts his knee and he can't play the whole regular season. Arthur is starting on Varsity, and playing well. William comes back in the playoffs and in their final game William hurts his knee again, but comes back into the game. In the clutch Will misses 2 free throws and they lose again. Senior year William is a McDonald's All american. In the camp William hurts his knee once more and can't compete in the last days. When he comes to play his senior year at St. Joes he isn't as confident in his ability anymore, and they don't go very far in the playoffs. Arthur leads Marshall to the playoffs. They go on a streak where they beat a list of ranked teams to win the city championship. They even beat the number 2 ranked team to win the championship. William gets a scholarship to Marquette, but he quits after the season then drops out of college. Arthur went to college and played as well.

              The theme of the movie is how basketball become a job for the kids not a sport for them. When they first started playing they loved playing and they were having fun. Near the end the were just playing so they could get money and move their families out of poverty. William couldn't take it any more so he dropped out of college and stopped playing, but he got convinced to go back to school. I enjoyed watching the movie and the story it told. It shows that if you work hard you can succeed, just like Arthur did when he took an unranked team to win the championship.