Chasing a Dream (TV Movie 2009)

Chasing a Dream: Directed by David Burton Morris. With Treat Williams, Joanna Going, Andrew Lawrence, Jake McLaughlin. When his best friend, a championship runner, is killed in a car accident while running home from a party, high school football star CAM STILES suffers a nervous breakdown from the guilt and pain. It also tears apart his relationship with his father, GARY STILES, who also happens to be his football coach. When Cam decides to quit football and join the track team to honor his friend, his former teammates turn against him, too. Eventually, Cam goes for a sub-four that seems impossible and manages to win and lose the race at the same time.

“Despite my slightly lower rating, the movie usually beats out all of the other cable channels when the Hallmark Movie channel carries it. I have watched the movie at least a half dozen times. Despite the cheating by many athletes and coaches today, this movie shows what is wonderful in sports which is the friendships and discovering your own limits and you can do that fairly and honestly. That is what the track athletes do in this movie – all of them.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWhen Cam Stiles friend John Van Horn is killed in a car accident he blames himself. You will have to watch to see whether he was really responsible or not. I could say the same about the running u0026quot;accidentu0026quot; later on in the movie.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eCam becomes more and more despondent and finally quits playing football. He finally resolves to run track as a replacement for his dead friend John.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eHe has a battle royal with his father who is coach of the high school football team who wants him to continue playing football. If there is a point in the movie it should be this. Let the child decide what to do as long as it is legal and moral. If you ask me the battle over football versus track is overplayed. The hearing for his actions in a race also was over-board.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eHe has a girl who is a friend that entices him with pizza but he declines and follows Johnu0026#39;s training book religiously. The key component of the book is the diet. It doesnu0026#39;t make it clear that you can both under-train and over-train in terms of how much to run.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eJohnu0026#39;s younger brother Brandon helps Cam train, against the wishes of John and Brandonu0026#39;s mother at first. He finally wins even her over. She sees that Cam is running to honor John and hands Cam one of Johnu0026#39;s special possessions before his final running event.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIf there is one technical problem with the movie it is that all of the distance runners are really too beefy. They look more like 400 meter / 440 yard or 200 meter / 220 yard runners. Cam races the mile not once but twice in the movie. Does he win or lose? Does he get a college scholarship based on his running? He does play by the rules. You will have to watch the movie to find out the rest.”