Anthony Marciona

Three city youths take over an old rural hotel and turn it into a haven for teenagers.

Playing for Keeps follows the challenges facing several African American football players and their coach at San Jose State University, as they struggle to overcome obstacles on the field and in the classroom. This very timely and provocative documentary highlights the national debate around the social and financial costs and consequences of maintaining competitive football programs on college campuses.The players: Lamar Ferguson, second team all state from the Los Angeles area, has seen three of his closest friends killed by gang violence; Trestin George, a star tailback from St. Mary's High School in Berkeley, California, chose San Jose State over major football powers such as Notre Dame, because he needed to be near his mother who had suffered a stroke; Kendrick Starling, a junior college All-American, grew up in the projects in Marshall, Texas where most of his friends are doing life behind bars.Fitz Hill, one of only four African American head football coaches at Division 1A schools and one of only two with a doctorate degree, came to San Jose State in 2001 pledging to combine football and academic success. Playing for Keeps traces his tenure as coach in his attempt to get players from inner city, high crime neighborhoods to see football as not only a way out of troubled neighborhoods but as a vehicle for placing greater importance on classroom achievement. Over the next four years, until his forced resignation in 2004, the coach and team are confronted by the lack of a winning record on the field as well as student and faculty apathy and even opposition toward the football program, especially in light of larger budget issues facing the California State University System.In Playing for Keeps, football becomes more than just a game and the factors shaping victory and defeat reflect larger social realities confronting American society at the beginning of the 21st century.

Playing for Keeps follows the challenges facing several African American football players and their coach at San Jose State University, as they struggle to overcome obstacles on the field and in the classroom. This very timely and provocative documentary highlights the national debate around the social and financial costs and consequences of maintaining competitive football programs on college campuses.The players: Lamar Ferguson, second team all state from the Los Angeles area, has seen three of his closest friends killed by gang violence; Trestin George, a star tailback from St. Mary's High School in Berkeley, California, chose San Jose State over major football powers such as Notre Dame, because he needed to be near his mother who had suffered a stroke; Kendrick Starling, a junior college All-American, grew up in the projects in Marshall, Texas where most of his friends are doing life behind bars.Fitz Hill, one of only four African American head football coaches at Division 1A schools and one of only two with a doctorate degree, came to San Jose State in 2001 pledging to combine football and academic success. Playing for Keeps traces his tenure as coach in his attempt to get players from inner city, high crime neighborhoods to see football as not only a way out of troubled neighborhoods but as a vehicle for placing greater importance on classroom achievement. Over the next four years, until his forced resignation in 2004, the coach and team are confronted by the lack of a winning record on the field as well as student and faculty apathy and even opposition toward the football program, especially in light of larger budget issues facing the California State University System.In Playing for Keeps, football becomes more than just a game and the factors shaping victory and defeat reflect larger social realities confronting American society at the beginning of the 21st century.