Shooting Stars: Perspective When Looking Back

 

 Sometimes in order to gain perspective you have to step back.  Maybe you have to step way back.  I used to have an engineer friend who called it the “30,000 Foot View” - when looking down from on high you can see the whole picture - and, in a very real way, when we have left our high school days in the past we need the gift of time to gain perspective on who, how, and why those people and events were important in helping us become who we are.  

In the new movie, Shooting Stars, released on Peacock/NBC, LeBron James does exactly that!  Co-authored with Buzz Bissinger and brought to the big screen by director Chris Robinson, LeBron James gives to us a glimpse of his perspective of his life as he looks back on his days as a baller growing up in Akron, Ohio.  A child being raised by a single mother, LeBron found friendship, family, and community with three inseparable friends:  Lil Dru, Sian, and Willie.  The four together would go on to play basketball together at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in Akron.  Perspective.  Looking back on those days, LeBron is quick to elevate the leadership of Lil Dru, the transcendent talent of Willie, and the laughter and camaraderie provided by Sian.  The Fab Four would expand the circle when a rival high school baller, Romeo would join them.  And Romeo would bring a toughness to this quartet.

Perspective.  In this movie filled with new-to-the-big-screen actors, we gain insight as to how this community helped mold and shape a future all-time NBA great.  We see their influence over LeBron and how he is quick to give credit where credit is due.  And let’s not forget his high schools sweetheart, Savannah, who continued to guard LeBron from allowing his ego to get to big or his aspirations too far down the road.

Perspective.  A frustrated college coach returned to the ranks of High School who worked the Fab Four hard…really hard.  A coach who made them earn their way on to the court even though they were far superior to their upperclassmen.  Perspective.  And when the coach finally put them in the game the parents of the upperclassmen were furious - after all, it was a policy that upperclassmen got playing time.  Perspective:  LeBron didn’t forget that the coach said:  “Policies don’t win games.”  

Perspective - a young man without a father still needs fatherly guidance.  LeBron found that in Coach Dru Joyce.  This coach would mentor LeBron and help him grow as a basketball player…but more importantly, as a man.  Coach Dru would instill in LeBron that he possessed “greatness;” but all in good time for those trappings that come chasing after it. LeBron clearly never forgot the life lessons this man provided for him.

Shooting Stars is brilliantly directed, marked with a sense of comedic timing and story-telling rhythm that allows us, the audience, to feel as though we were there - watching the games, seeing them practice, laughing in Coach Dru’s mini-van, and playing video games in the basement.  If you want to gain some perspective on how a young man raised by a single mother in Akron, Ohio became one of the greatest ballers of all time, look no further than Shooting Stars.  It will help you gain perspective on why those relationships that LeBron clearly cherishes to this day were so profoundly important in elevating him to the man he is today!