Laugh As Much As You Breathe: Coach Ken Carter Comes to SU

Coach Ken Carter brought me to my feet, raised both my hands, touched my heart, and spun me around.

Literally. The man who inspired the movie Coach Carter spoke at SU on Tuesday night in honor of Black History Month, and the guy had everyone stand up, raise both hands, put one hand over the heart, and spin around. He then told us to go out and tell people he did so. Although I normally like to ignore authority whenever possible, this guy proved difficult to ignore.

We rarely get the chance to meet the actual people who inspired movies, especially sports-themed movies. Walking into Goldstein Auditorium, my friend Jen and I had no idea what to expect. But within five minutes of Coach Carter speaking, we started laughing and continued for an hour and a half.

I'm not much for motivational speaking. I can look up my own inspirational quotes online, and when I'm really feeling unmotivated I blast Sugarland's "It Happens" and go for a run. Normally, some random person whom I've never met telling me to go out and love life and dance in the rain just makes me roll my eyes. But Coach Carter was different. He was fun. He had an edge. He hit people sitting on the aisles as he talked, and they still liked him. "People are always talking about life's great secret," he said. "The secret is that there is no secret."

And that's true. Coach Carter talked about staying busy, about believing in yourself, about having integrity. All of which is great advice, and probably will lead to happier, more productive lives. But Coach Carter laughed. He made jokes. He refused to take himself too seriously.

And that was the most motivational part of all.