Hoop Dreams Essay

The film documentary Hoop Dreams concentrates its focus on the lives of two protagonists, Arthur Agee, and William Gates. Arthur and William were raised in a Chicago neighborhood notorious for its crime rate and low-income residents. The demographics of the neighborhood show that the predominant race taking residence there is African Americans. Both teenagers are passionate about basketball, and are quite good at it too. Their idol is Isaiah Thomas, who was raised in the same neighborhood and developed into a top basketball player in the NBA. The footage, which spans the four years of high school of the boys, offers the audience the truly unique experience of being witness to an extremely urban environment. The cameras follow Arthur and William as they pursue their ultimate, mutual goal: professional basketball. As we watch the documentary, the audience comes to understands how motivated these kids are, and how dedicated their lives are to the sport. Both protagonists (who we get to know well), heavily rely on their success in basketball to “take them to the top” so they can at least get out of the slums of their neighborhood. One of Chicago’s finest private schools, St. Josephs, recruits these incoming freshmen in the hope that their basketball program will make it to the state basketball championships. St. Josephs High School is located in a Chicago suburb, hours from their home on the north side of Chicago. As our two protagonists arrive for school in the predominantly white school, we see the heavy contrast with their old public school, Marshall. We see racial difference, as the boys get a glimpse of the lifestyle of middle/upper class white teenagers who attend St. Josephs. They each have their ups and downs playing basketball (William suffers an injury and Arthur transfers back to Marshall). The good news is that they both attend college on scholarships and they make it out of the neighborhood alive and well.

Today, Arthur and William are not playing professional basketball, however they are relatively successful. Arthur is a public speaker who discusses his rise from poverty and stresses young people to follow their dreams and goals. William graduated from Marquette University and is a real estate agent (as foreshadowed in Hoop Dreams). Although the protagonists didn’t make it to the NBA, their passion and dedication to the game of basketball let them “get away” from their problems at home and in school. They learned valuable lessons from playing the game and growing up in an urban high school. 

A valuable lesson is to always have a backup plan for whatever you do. Gates and Agee did not totally rely on their promotion to the NBA to give them a life. The chances of becoming a pro athlete are very slim, however if your passionate about something and you put the work in, good things will happen.