Warrior Pride:

Supporting Adolescents for Success

Arriving to the airport at 4:00am to begin Sundance Film Festival, once checking in, I found myself scrolling through various apps designed to help curate an optimum Sundance experience. Yawning and pushing my finger constantly in a swift upward motion to forward the feed, I fell upon a request from Rockey Black hosted upon The Blackhouse app, an organization that “helps Black creative voices and executives gain a better foothold in the industry”. The request stated “….We have a new movie out called WARRIOR PRIDE. It’s on Amazon right now and if your (sic) a prime member u can watch it for free. Just do us a favor and do a review for us. It helps a lot.” I must admit, I am aware that I am naturally drawn to “helping out” being in a helping profession. However, within the request there was a sincerity that many times is absent from ones found upon social media. As a result, my finger stopped moving the feed and I was pulled into 136 minutes of film screening upon the first leg of my flight to Park City, Utah.

Warrior Pride, a film based upon the true life of Coach Dylan Baxter, (acted by Rockey Black and referred to as “Coach”), depicts a man who is committed to his community as a coach and a mentor. In working as a basketball coach to adolescents, his goal to help young males to refine their basketball skills was only one aspect of his influence. Rather, Coach was dedicated to developing the members of the Michigan Warriors AAU basketball team to become honorable men; ones who would be team players…