Abstract
Coach Carter, a successful man that accepts the job of a basketball coach for his old high school in a poor area of Richmond, CA, where he was a champion athlete. As much displayed of poor attitudes of his players as well as their play performance, Coach Carter is determined to change both.
Coach Carter was a great leader and coach, who encouraged his team and pushed them to be the best they could possibly be and nothing less. His style of leadership truly inspired his athletes and demonstrated qualities of not only one leadership style, but instead a combination of various styles such as transformational, coaching, commanding, and visionary.
When coach first started coaching the team, he came in with the attitude of “I am the coach, I make the rules, and you do as I say” (Gale, D 2005). He showed aggressiveness, controlling, and commanding attitude which made the team accept him as a coach and take him seriously. Once he gained that, he understood that it is not best to continue using those styles to lead for a long period of time. He started to use visionary and pace-setting leadership to let the team know what he wants and how he wants it done. He ensured all players do the same for him and one another in a show of respect but did not always act like a dictator or a rude and strict coach. He was very fair and understanding, he got involved with his team players and always supported them. For example, Cruz the player did not cooperate with the coach and got physical the first day so coach had to react to that and kick him out. Cruz later came back in the week to ask for forgiveness. Coach Carter at first kept asking him to leave but seeing that Cruz was really sorry and wanted another chance, coach let him come back and join the team but under one condition, he had to do pushups and suicides (Gale, D 2005). Coach Carter treated his players with the very same respect as anyone else. He encouraged them to never give up and always look to improve.
Transformational leadership is thoroughly demonstrated throughout the movie. Transformational leadership is the ability of a leader to get people to do more than they originally expected to do (Riggio, R. 2009). Coach Carter inspired the team and believed that each player can achieve far more than they could ever imagine. He made them suffer together as a team but coach had a positive influence on one another and most importantly he encouraged every player to work at their full potential. Not only as basketball players he made them maintain a certain GPA to further their academics and basketball career (Gale, D. 2005).
Coach was not only a good leader but a role model to his athletes, he displayed determination, dedication, commitment, discipline, respect, and many more to his team. He always thought for the better of the team.
Reference
Riggio, R. (2009). Are you a Transformational Leader. Retrieved from www.physcologytoday.com/blog/cutting-edge-leadership/200903/are-you-transformational-leader Gale, D. (Producer), & Carter, T. (Director). (2005). Coach Cater [Motion picture]. United States: MTV Films.
