It was back in October of 2009 when I was working with CBS MaxPreps and NIKE on a web-series called 5 Days 2 Friday, where I spent 5 days filming and interviewing high school football teams as they practice and prepare for their game, as well as the special events NIKE put on for 'em.
I was lucky to spend the week down in Florida with Miami Central as they prepared for their cross town rival, Miami Northwestern. Both programs are among the best in the state, and also known for producing professional athletes, but does it ever come with a cost?
To give you an idea of what I'm talking about, here's Day 3 from our 5 Days 2 Friday with Miami Central. (The night before a game would usually be Day 4, but for some reason this week was off?!?) Check it out~
Produced by Casey Littlejohn and Adam Ace Spencer
Since the game was being aired on ESPN, we weren't allowed to film the game but we did complete a recap video of the Miami Central vs Miami Northwestern game. Here it is~
Produced by Casey Littlejohn and Adam Ace Spencer
And here's an interview we conducted with Miami Northwestern's, Todd Chandler who is currently playing for the South Florida Bulls.
So as I mentioned, both of these programs are among the best in Florida. But one thing we didn't speak about was the environment or actual struggle that most of these student/ athletes endured. Well I recently stumbled across a documentary called 'Year of the Bull' which was directed by Todd Lubin and released in 2003. This documentary follows the senior season of football player Taurean Charles at Miami Northwestern High School.
Passionate and powerful, this documentary will almost definitely get a response out of you... but the question is where will you stand? Is this "too much", or merely part of the game? You watch it and be the judge~
Intense huh!?! After watching this I decided to look up the star of this film, Taurean Charles, and see what happened to him. Well the good news is that he graduated from Northwestern and was accepted into the University of Florida. The bad news is that he basically had anger management issues that prevented him from going as far as he had the potential to go. He was kicked out of Florida but luckily went on and graduated from Bethune-Cookman. He's apparently doing well, working with veteran NFL players and continuing to be a role model to the youth.
So its good to hear Taurean is doing well, but its not to say we can forget about the film, Year of the Bull, and influence of his surrounding environment while growing up. Do you think the coaches were too rough on him, or was all of that fine? Growing up in Miami Dada County isn't easy, maybe the coaches taught him to be strong and to endure the hard road ahead...
Let me know what y'all think!?!
