The Heart of the Game
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| The Heart of the Game | |
|---|---|
 The Heart of the Game poster |
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| Directed by | Ward Serrill |
| Produced by | Ward Serrill |
| Written by | Ward Serrill |
| Starring | Bill Resler Darnellia Russell Joyce Walker Ludacris |
| Distributed by | Miramax Films |
| Release date(s) | June 9, 2006 |
| Running time | 97 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $11.3 thousand |
| IMDb profile | |
The Heart of the Game is a sports documentary about the Roosevelt Roughriders girls basketball team. The movie is centered around their star player Darnellia Russell and the Roughriders new coach Bill Resler.
[edit] Plot
The film takes place one year before Darnellia went to Roosevelt when Roosevelt contacted Bill Resler, a tax professor at the University of Washington, to be their new girls basketball coach. Relser thought they had a chance to win the KingCo championship but they fell short in the semi-finals game.
The following year, Darnellia Russell attended Roosevelt High School where she made the JV team. However, she had been missing practices and her grades weren't good enough to get much playing time. Resler saw that she was really good and he told here that he's willing to move her up to the varsity team but she has to attend all the practices and raise her grades. She helped the team go all the way to the semi-finals but once again they lost at the buzzer. After her freshmen year she got a whole bunch of college scholarships.
In her senior year she began to feel sick so she went to the doctor. After that, she dropped out of school without a reason. Resler wondered what was wrong so he went to her house, it was there where she told he she was pregnant. She got a lot of criticism from radio callers saying that it was a mistake to have sex in high school.
Since she dropped out of her senior year, she went back to Roosevelt for a 5th year. The WIAA (Washington Interscholastic Athletics Association) banned Russell from playing basketball because she had a baby, but she protested as well as her team. Bill Relser and Darnellia Russell took the matter to court where the judge granted Darnellia's request and let her play for her 5th year. The WIAA wasn't happy with the decision and took them to court again. For the second time the judge granted Darnellia Russell the right to continue playing basketball. Once again the WIAA wasn't happy with the decision and was going to take her to court for a 3rd time. In the mean time Darnellia and her team made it all the way to the KingCo championship against the Garfield Bulldogs. Darnellia lead her team to their first State Championship and two days later the WIAA dropped their charges.
Although Darnellia didn't get any college scholarships because of her child, she attend a community college.
