rememberthetitans639

Remember the Titans - Mentoring Movie Jason Walberg and Heather Walberg

Jason's Notes

Wow, I love how Coach Yoast (Will Patton) does a great job of keeping 3 of his players from getting in trouble. The kids were going to go fight some black people for something that had nothing to do with them and Coach told them that if they go get in that fight that they will never play football for him again.

I believe Coach Boone (Denzel Washington) just did something special that many times seperates the great mentors from the good ones. The supposed star running back, an African-American named Blue, gets put in his place by Coach Boone the very first time Coach meets the team. Personally, as a guy that has played competitive team sports my whole life, there is nothing better a coach can do to earn the respect of his players than call out his best player and let him know that he is no more important than anyone else.

Coach Boone not only does this to the best black player, but also to the only "All-American" on the team, a white male linebacker named Gerry. He just told coach that if he is going to be on the team then Coach Boone is going to have to coach a certain way. Coach Boone makes fun of him and his sidekick right there and in a matter of a couple of scenes he has just made 2 of the best players look as stupid as all hell. So far, Coach Boone seems to be an incredible mentor because although he is already calling out people with whom he has no previous relationship with, he has the respect of everybody on the team without them knowing it yet.

Just got the chills when Denzel made both whites and blacks get off the bus and not be situated by color by if they were either going to play offense or defense. Such an unbelievable motivator and knows how to get under the skin of everybody. A characteristic of a great mentor is one who not just teaches, but does it effectively.

I love how Lastik, the big white offensive lineman, tries to be a mentor and leader by going out of his way to hang out with those of the opposite color. I know this is going to lead to some fights, but if he is persistance he is going to make a huge change.

Denzel shows that it is not just about football, but more importantly, life after football and tells Lastik that he needs to bring him his text scores every week so he could help him pass high school.

Denzel keeps pushing them to the limit and this could either make or break the team. If it makes it, they are going to become unbelievably tough.

I love Denzel's different techniques to get the team closer.

Julius and Gerry keep arguing, but I can tell Denzel is getting into them because now they talk to each other with care in their voice. The respect is starting to come.

Part of being a great mentor is knowing how to motivate, guide, and reach your mentees and Denzel does it time and time again. Gives me chills seeing him take the team to the ground where the Battle of Gettysburg was fought.

Gerry shows he is the team leader when he stands up against his friend because he was not blocking for the black running back and that leads to him and Julius getting along and now slowly but surely these group of people that not so long ago hated each other are now like brothers.

They are becoming a real team now. There are dancing around with each other like there wasn't any segregation to start with. Denzel has done the unthinkable and just seeing the parents' faces and reactions when they are all together when the buses arrive back on campus are indescribable.

Patience and motivation is what has led Denzel to do the impossible so far. He has opened doors, but now he has to keep them open and it is going to be tough now with school is session and all these voices are the kids' all the time telling them what they are doing is right or wrong.

Being a good motivational speaker is key to being a leader because I remember having a few people that were supposed to be my mentors, yet whenever they spoke at a time that was supposed to be motivational, it was the opposite.

It has to be tough also being one of the white kids trying to change and make a difference and go out of there way to be friends with the African-Americans yet the rest of their classmates, friends, etc. make it worse by giving them a ton of crap. It is crazy to think that some people actually look at the color of someone's skin and make a decision.

I am starting to see how the players are mentoring each other and helping each other out. Both races, both ways. They are literally like a family now.

Boys in high school fighting with their parents to go play with a friend of theirs that is a different color is sad.

The players only meeting called is always a great thing because no matter how good a coach is at any aspect of coaching it takes players to patch things up in between and if there aren't people there to bring guys back down to earth when things are going well or pick em up when they are going bad then its all for nearly nothing. These things work as a whole, if there is one person bringing down the team and being a "cancer" the whole squad suffers.

Denzel is amazing. The best out there. No matter how many times I watch this it hits me like the first time everytime.

This movie reminds me of some teams I had growing up. By no means is it related in anyways to the racism and troubles these men went through in this movie, but if you have a coach/mentor that can inspire a bunch of young men to play hard, smart, and together like brothers then anything can happen. Denzel is doing just that, but obviously to levels that have never been seen before because of the racism involved.

You realize how important football really is compared to life when you lose someone or someone important to you gets hurt really, really bad as in Gerry's case.

I see things like this and realize how lucky I am and I take life for granted too much and I don't know if anyone could ever prepare someone for what Gerry is about to go through, but they can definitely help with the process.

Its tough to think about winning and losing a football game when one is badly injured in the game that counts the most.

Can't wait for Denzel's halftime speech.

"You taught this city how to trust the sole of a man instead of the look of him." Great quote by Coach Yost.

Great movie. Last play of the game very unrealistic, but I'll accept it. So much can be learned from this movie on so many different levels.

Jason's Final Summary

Well since I was only watching it with one other person it really did not seem as if I was watching it with someone else. Although,being in Tapped In instead of using a wiki would have made it seem more so. I have seen this movie many times with many different people and have had my perceptions of this movie and life grow more and more each time. My perception did not change as much this time because my sister and I have seen it before, but definitely would have been different if I did it with another cadre member. My ideas about mentoring and how powerful it could be really were not changed, but just witnessed. I have always been a big believer that with the right ingredients something big can come from something not so at all. It definitely makes me feel very, very inferior about my mentoring skills after seeing Denzel put in the work he did as a coach in this movie.

Heather's Notes

This is my second movie transcript and it was just as interesting as the first! There is much to be learned not only about mentoring in this movie, but much about the struggles of life. I recently went to Atlanta and visited the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Site which included the house he grew up in and the church he was a mentor at. It was absolutely amazing to see everything he did and the effect his mentoring had on the world.

Here are a few notes I made as we watched the movie. It was such a powerful movie at times I got distracted!

It was really powerful when Denzel made the kids get off of the segregated buses and switch to put offense and defense to intermingel.

Denzel was incredibly tough on his players at training camp, but was also trying to mentor and teach them things. Especially on their early morning run to the site of Gettysburg where many men fought for the equality.

Gerry (the white linebacker) partnered up with Julius (black leader) to lead everybody together

When the players returned from camp and went to school they were faced with the challenge of racism. Blacks were threatened and the whites were threatened for hanging out with the blacks. This was important that they stayed strong and carried on what they had learned at camp instead of reverting back. This was instilled in them from Coach Boone and continued by Julius and Gerry.

There were endless amount of motivational speeches given by Denzel Washington in this movie. In each speech he is powerful. He stays strong throughout the entire incident. I would like to add that he and Coach Yost we major mentors to the players, but they each had people they counted on as well. Denzel's wife served as a guiding force for him reminding him what he came here to do. Even the daughters of the new and old coach struggled at first, but then they became little best friends!

Gerry's car crash really brought everyone together. As he was in the hospital room he still lead and was a mentor to his teammates. This was evident when the accident first occurred and the waiting room was full of both black and whites.

One of my favorite moments of the movie is when the girl at the end finally shakes Julius's hand. I felt this simple gesture spoke volumes and I really appreciated the simplicity of the act.

This is one of my favorite movies of all time. It has an incredibly powerful message and there is so much to learn. I think that is one of the keys of mentoring, being able to teach and pass on information. There were endless amounts of mentors in this movie and I think every person should watch it!