|
Rise of NBA star Lebron James charted in documentary
2009-10-01
LOS ANGELES (AFP) - A rags-to-riches tale that takes five young basketball players on a remarkable journey from a rundown inner-city gym to the glory of a national championship. It's the sort of improbable storyline beloved of Hollywood screenwriters. In the case of NBA superstar Lebron James and his four high-school basketball team-mates, it just happens to be true. James's meteoric rise and the remarkable exploits of the Akron, Ohio, St Vincent-St Mary's school basketball team are being told in the documentary "More Than A Game", released in North America on Friday. The film recounts how James and his team-mates -- Dru Joyce III, Willie McGee, Sian Cotton and Romeo Travis -- cut a swath through school basketball during the 1990s under the tutelage of coach Dru Joyce II. "It's a story about these kids who had a dream and were going to do anything that it takes to make that dream become reality," James told AFP. "And these kids had a coach and mentor and father figure that gave them everything in his power to make that happen. It's a great American story." Cleveland Cavaliers star James, now 24 and widely regarded as the finest player of his generation, has long been accustomed to the spotlight. Yet "More Than a Game" gives equal attention to the supporting cast of individuals who make the story of St Vincent-St Mary's so compelling. The brotherhood of the players is reflected in the decision of James, McGee, and Cotton to enroll at St Vincent-St Mary's instead of an all-black school because they felt that their pint-sized friend, Dru Joyce III, would have a better chance of making the school team. Director Kristopher Belman, a film school student, was granted unprecedented behind-the-scenes access to the team and chronicles each of the players lives at every twist and turn of the team's fortunes. James says the friendships forged in childhood lay at the heart of the team's success. "It was just the loyalty that we had to each other," he said. "The brotherhood that we had. We had been best friends since we were nine or 10 years old. By the time I was in senior year we were already eight years in. "It's not like we were just put on a high school team and had got to know each other. We were like brothers before we'd even got to high school." Not surprisingly, the player's off-court friendship is mirrored by a near-telepathic understanding on-court. "We knew each other inside out, on the basketball court and off it," James said. "We knew exactly what each of us was going through. And that made it that much easier once we got on the basketball court. "We knew each other like we knew ourselves." It was the support of his "brothers" that helped James cope with the expectation placed on his teenaged shoulders. By the time of his junior year he had already graced the cover of Sports Illustrated -- the first amateur athlete to do so for 36 years -- and had been dubbed by the magazine as "The Chosen One". The national attention saw James subjected to a level of scrutiny that would be unthinkable in school sports anywhere else in the world. His team's matches played to sell-out crowds; other games were broadcast live on the sports network ESPN and some were even shown locally on pay-per-view. "My friends helped me with the pressure, no doubt," James recalled. "As much as we heard the talk about 'Lebron this, and Lebron that', everything that went on we just had blinders on. We were so focused about what we were trying to achieve we didn't pay much attention to it." Even the famous Sports Illustrated cover story was greeted with bemusement. "It was kind of funny. Because none of us realized how big it was or what it meant," James said. "We just felt 'Oh, there's Lebron on the cover of another sports magazine.' It wasn't as big in our minds as other people made it to be." The end of high school saw the "Fab Five" go their separate ways. Yet the players all remain firm friends and meet whenever they can. Although James admits he will never replicate the tight bond shared with his schoolmates, his pure enjoyment of playing the game remains as intense as ever, even in the pressurized world of the NBA. "When I play today it's not the same because I was with those guys so long, the friendship that we had made the games so much fun," James says. "But I definitely still get a thrill when I step onto the basketball court. I just love playing the game."
| 
