Warrior Pride: Supporting Adolescents for Success

As adolescents mature, they begin to grow in their efficacy to understand who they are and who they would like to become. Within this life phase, adolescents also begin to have a greater sense of what is important to them. Many times the adolescent may envision a future that looks different than how their parents imagined and is in contrast to their desires for their child. When adolescents are met with parents who dismiss their feelings, do not support their decisions, and attempt to coerce them into submission, a dynamic of parental control can be at work.

Warrior Pride, a film based upon the real life of basketball coach Dylan Baxter, referred to as “Coach,” performed by Rockey Black, depicts Coach’s commitment not only in his role as a coach but as a mentor to the adolescents he trained. Specifically, Coach was dedicated to developing the players of the Michigan Warriors AAU basketball team into honorable men, ones who would be team players, humble, honest, and brave. His players coped with a myriad of stressors, including exposure to parental control that created challenges for the young men to feel understood, heard, and respected in their relationships with their parents.

Coach’s basketball team existed on a strained financial budget that did not afford many luxuries. Yet, through faith, the support of loved ones, stamina, and fortitude, Coach was able to have a meaningful impact on his community and the adolescents he served. Despite the positive work Coach offered to the team, there were times when building basketball skills and character was not enough to maintain the team’s morale. Enticed by available funding and hopes of becoming closer to having a basketball career, another local coach sought to seduce the parents of talented basketball players into terminating their participation with the Michigan Warriors to play on his team. The film focuses on two particular players who were grateful for the support they received from Coach and whose fathers shared the dream of a professional basketball career for their sons. Both adolescents began to feel the intensity of having a discrepancy between what they personally wanted and what their parents desired for them. Due to this tension, they began to experience “psychological control” within the parent-child relationship.

Psychological control refers to parental control that intrudes on the psychological and emotional development of the child through behaviors such as invalidating the child’s feelings, constraining verbal expression, withdrawing love, guilt induction, and others. (Barber, B.K., Stolz, H.E., Olsen, J.A., Collins, W.A. and Burchinal, M. [2005, p. 19]). Theorists, such as Fuligni and Pedersen (2002) note, “The transition to young adulthood represents a significant developmental period in contemporary American society and involves more autonomy and life decisions than earlier periods in individuals’ lives” (p. 856). Parental control takes place when adolescents state explicitly or act implicitly in a manner to communicate their desires to their parents and their parents respond in a manner where acceptance, negotiation, and compromise are withheld from the relationship. Consequently, this dynamic can thwart future attempts to display budding autonomy. Rather than the adolescent feeling capable, they are left to feel their wishes are not considered or neglected and what they desire holds less importance to their parent's needs and desires.

During critical adolescent years, many new skills are developed. Their social circles widen and many voices contribute to their worldview. Yet, adolescents ultimately rely upon parents to model best practices to guide their decisions. Researchers suggest, “it is fairly clear that despite the declines in emotional closeness between children and their parents during early and middle adolescence, older adolescents still see parents as major sources of support regarding important aspects of their lives” (Steinbery, 1990, Young and Ferguson, 1979, Fuligni and Pedersen, 2002). While kids grow greater independence, parenting remains “an important factor in allowing young people to develop life goals that are congruent with their inherent interests and that satisfy their basic psychological needs” (Lekes and colleagues, 2010, p. 867). Discontinuing conversations prematurely, presenting ultimatums that end with suggestions that love is conditional, and offering compromises that result in guilty feelings provide an opportunity for psychological control to ferment and disagreements to ensue. For some, parents find that their adolescent responds with silent submission where internally they are angry, enraged, and at times, depressed.

It takes a strong will to fight against a parent-child dynamic that includes psychological control. “Despite entering a developmental period that is characterized by potentially greater autonomy than ever before in their lives, young adults report an increased sense of duty to support, assist, and respect their families” (Fuligni and Pedersen, 2002, 864). Within adolescent years, budding emerging adults continue to have a desire to please parents and make them proud, which can allow the adolescent to embrace compliance with parents’ demands; even when such desires are in direct contrast with their personal goals.

Understanding that adolescents continue to hear the voices of their caregivers and supportive adults and use those voices as a compass for their behavior can provide comfort to parents that adolescents will rely upon the guidance they offer. Within Warrior Pride, the audience becomes a witness to the importance of supportive figures within an adolescent’s life who can offer unconditional support, undeniable perseverance, and dedication to their success to help reduce the consequences of hardships they face. Within this feel-good film, Coach’s ability to provide each adolescent with a nurturing environment worked to champion their individual earned successes.