Let's not talk about the fact that most of the main ball players look like they never played the sport. That is something viewers can probably overlook, considering that a lot of big budget sports movies in the past also cast actors and not athletes, so this low-budget one did as well. Fine. The acting is not great, mind you, but even that gets a pass. What doesn't get a pass is the messaging. First, Kyle's dad is a bit of a baby. Arguing with the coaches, bending league rules, being okay with Kyle walking a guy in the championship game? As a coach and former athlete, these are all reprehensible behaviors. Sure, the kid maybe didn't deserve to be cut early on, but he was also an unknown quantity at the time of the first tryout and maybe the coach wanted to go with past team chemistry - fair enough. Yes, the coach had other flaws, but those were not the reason the kid was cut. The dad coming at the coach after his kid gets cut is basically what is wrong with youth sport. Dad should have STARTED with the "Work hard and prove them wrong" speech to his kid, not had it as a follow-up to his pity session and telling his son it wasn't fair like a little snowflake. I just feel like this movie misses in places it is not supposed to. I found myself cheering against Kyle and his father, and even his brother was a tool for most of the movie. Bad movie.
