CHILDREN'S OPPORTUNITY FOR OUTSIDE LEARNING Coach challenges students to succeed

By VIRGINIA ROSS
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT.
FARRELL, Pa. -- Ken Carter, the famed high school basketball coach portrayed by Samuel L. Jackson in a recent movie about his life, pledged Friday to help Farrell High School students move forward and be successful.
Speaking to nearly 800 students during a program in the Farrell High School auditorium, Carter promised them if they lived up to their end of the pact he was proposing, he would return sometime next year and feature the school on his new TV show.
"You do your part and I'll do mine," he said. "I'll bring the cameras."
The deal maker
Carter, head basketball coach at Richmond High School in Richmond, Calif., from 1997 to 2002, required his team members to sign contracts outlining academic standards they were expected to maintain. If they failed to meet the criteria, they weren't allowed to play.
Carter made news in 1999 when he closed the school gym, banned all basketball-related activities, benched his undefeated varsity basketball team, forfeited several games and said he was prepared to cancel the entire season because 15 of the 45 students on the team weren't living up to their end of the deal.
"The goal was to help those players become good leaders," he said. "Academics are important. You have to read and write. You have to be accountable. You have to be on time. You can't miss the bus in your own life. ... And you have to be great follower before you can be a great leader."
Carter said he wants as many students as possible to be part of his team.
He said that he intends to supply school administrators at Farrell, and across the country, with academic contracts for the students, their parents and their teachers to sign.
The Children's Opportunity for Outside Learning Programs of Farrell and Sharon sponsored Carter's Friday morning visit.
Quotable
"You are one-third of our population, but 100 percent of our future," he told the youth.
"Everyone of you is making a movie about your life. Do you want a great movie about your life, or an average movie? What you do now, and every day for the rest of your life, is the script for your movie. Average is never good enough. Work always to improve yourself. If you stay ready, you don't have to get ready. Know your own value."