WEST COAST PREMIERE
They are the most improbable teenagers to take up the preppy game of lacrosse, but their story is inspiring, uplifting and memorable: meet the determined young men of Charlotte Secondary School, a predominantly African American charter school in North Carolina. Many were living below the poverty line and dealing with challenging home lives, while their underfunded school struggled to offer sports programs. But a windfall gift of equipment led them on a search for someone who could instantly devise a semblance of a lacrosse team—even as one of the players admitted, “That’s a white person’s sport!” Enter Bobby Selkin—a Jewish ophthalmologist bored with his professional routine performing LASIK surgeries.
With dogged enthusiasm, encouragement and chutzpah, Selkin sets about to turn the kids into not just a team, but a family. Becoming coach, mentor, and father figure, Selkin bonds with his players and helps them set their sights on getting into college, even amid skepticism that he’ll stay only long enough to pat himself on the back for “helping the disadvantaged black kids.” Instead, as this up-close and inspirational documentary reveals, Selkin proves himself a stalwart and dedicated presence in their lives long past graduation, while his life is transformed right along with his students. —Peter L. Stein
Director Ron Yassen and subjects Bobby Selkin and Xavier Hare in person in San Francisco, Palo Alto and the East Bay
Ron Yassen is a multiple Emmy Award-Winning documentary producer and director who began his career at Classic Sports Network, which was acquired by ESPN. He has directed and produced more than 30 documentary films including Roger Maris: Reluctant Hero, Kareem: Minority of One, and 50 Cent: Origin of Me, and docuseries Being Terry Kennedy, and Framed. He most recently directed Crossroads, a film about at-risk youth who find hope from an inspiring coach.
