The Movie Goal The Dream Begins - Essay Example

Goal! The Dream Begins Introduction There are lots of movies made on the theme of sports psychology but the movie ‘Goal! The dream begins’ is one of its kinds. The movie involves Danny Cannon as the director and Kuno Becker, Mirium Colon, Leonardo Guerra and Tony Plana playing the lead roles. Movie Summary The main character in the film Santiago Munez, played by Kuno Becker had a childhood dream of becoming a professional football player. They used to live in Mexico, where football was the most popular sports that provided the stuff of inspiration to all children of his age. Later, they moved to Barrios in Los Angeles, US where football was not given much importance hence, he felt that his dream to be a professional footballer would not be fulfilled and will remain a dream. Even his father felt that it will be an impossible task for him to become a professional footballer and hence, forced him to join the gardening business. With the turn of events, Glen Foy, an ex-footballer an a well wisher of Santiago manages to convince the Newcastle boss to watch Santiago’s play and give him a chance to play for the Newcastle team in England. The boss of Newcastle liked Santiago’s play and they wanted him to go to England to join the club but Santiago did not have the sufficient fund to go to England. His father had stolen his hidden fund to invest in his gardening business, but Santiago’s grandmother arranged the fund by selling off some of her jewelry. He had few initial failures in joining the club but eventually, joins the club but for that he had to hide the fact that he had asthma from the club officials. The asthma problem led him to lot of trouble and even his performance became poor. He was dropped from the club but with support of one of his teammates he regained his position in the club. He practiced very hard and finally got the chance to play for the team in a match against Fulham owing to the injuries of many key players. He utilized the opportunity and scored a goal from a penalty, which finally led Newcastle to win the match. His performance was watched by his father back home in US, who felt very proud about his son’s success. But unfortunately, Santiago’s father died of heart attack just before the important final match of Newcastle against Liverpool. This incident completely demoralized Santiago but he decided to stay back so that he can play in that match. Roz Harmison, who was the nurse of the club also became Santiago’s girlfriend, informed him that his friend Jamie had tore a ligament, and will never be able to play football anymore. This fall of incidents made Santiago stay back and play for his club. The final match of Newcastle and Liverpool was the climax of the where Santiago was able to pull off the victory for his team with a beautiful free kick scoring goal. The movie ends up with the tears in Santiago’s eyes after he cherished his realized dream. (IMDb) Sport psychology and its uses The behavioral study of a sport’s person is known as the sport psychology. It leads emphasis on the mental psychology of a sportsman that influences the performance of that sportsman in his sport. The performance of a team player also decides the destiny of the team’s performance in a game. Hence, it is clear that the study of sport psychology not only illustrates the behavior of a person in a match but also the performance of his team. It further deals with the enhancement of performance of a player by managing the emotional factors and minimizing the effects that are caused by high injuries. Theoretical development of sport psychology The movie under discussion also showed the effect of the emotional factors on the performance of Santiago in his initial matches in Newcastle. The movie had the potential to relate with the audience all over the world who at some point of time had thought of being a professional sportsman but failed to achieve their dream due to various circumstances. The film also had the motivational aspects towards the upcoming sportsman, how to deal with the sports keeping aside the emotional factors and enhance the performance. There is lot of importance given on the sport psychology in the recent time which involves lots of skills like setting of target, modes of relaxation, boosting of confidence, art of focusing, etc. These aspects were given the main importance in the development of sport psychology and they are enhanced for the betterment of performance of individual players along with the performance of the teams. Critical Analysis In this context, the movie showed how Santiago enhanced his performance by managing and controlling his emotions to ultimately becoming the main player of the Newcastle team, who emerged as a star after winning the final match. The movie had portrayed the childhood dream of Santiago, which he finally fulfills after overcoming all the odds, and debacles that came in his way. The movie also portrayed the father and son relationship with their different approaches towards life. Santiago was a dreamer and had focused his life to realize his dream whereas; his father was more of a practical person and wanted his son to get settled with a business. The concept of sport psychology went along very well with the film and portrayed how the performance in sport is enhanced by self-control and self-motivation. Portrayal of individual and the team The movie showed the effects of emotional aspects on the performance of players and if they learn the art of controlling those emotions then those emotions might motivate them to play well. As in the movie, Santiago in the initial levels failed to make a mark with his performances but later with self-control he was able to motivate himself and bring out the best performance in the final match between Newcastle and Liverpool. He also rectified his flaw, as per the manager, of not passing the ball to the other teammates in that final and helped on of his teammate to score a goal. (Caruso, 1-6) Conclusion The movie had a very strong massage on the psychology of sports as it showed the difficulties that come for young boy who wants to take up sports as his profession. The boy however, still manages to fulfill his dream by fighting all the odds that come in the way. The showed all major psychological factors which affects the performance of good player and how to rectify him or her in the process of performance enhancement. The psychological factors that affect the performances in various sports also have similar effects on a normal human being with some other profession. The main rectifications that can be done are to keep away the emotional factors and focus on the present occupation, to get fruitful end results. It is very important in every profession to focus on work and stay aside the emotional factors and that is quite similar to the psychology in sports. Works Cited 1. Goal! The dream begins. Internet Movie Database (IMDb), 2005. Available at: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0380389/ (accessed on January 25, 2010) 2. Caruso, Andrew. Sports Psychology Basics, Reedswain Inc., 2005. (accessed on January 25, 2010) Read More