Transforming Kids, One Mile at a Time
Film Follows Lives of Oakland Students
G. Allen Johnson
Posted in the San Francisco Chronicle
Monday, April 24, 2006
It’s a cliche to say that disadvantaged youths living in rough neighborhoods are running away from something, but in the new documentary “Runners High,” that’s exactly what they’re doing. By design.
The movie, about a group of Oakland high school students who train to run in the Los Angeles Marathon, makes its world premiere at 7 tonight at the Kabuki 8 Theaters as part of the 49th San Francisco International Film Festival.
“We feel really good about this story,” said Alex D. da Silva, the co-director (with Justine Jacob) of the film. “Usually when you’re making a documentary you have a feeling, but you cannot guarantee the results. As we went along in this story, everything got way better. … It was important to tell this story.”
It sounds simple, this running thing. Train a little bit and run, right? What kind of difference does that make, other than being a little healthier? These kids are young, they can hack it, right?
It doesn’t take long to find out how difficult these young lives are, what kind of options they have, and how this program helps them transform themselves mentally as well as physically.
The program is called Students Run Oakland, and it is an all-volunteer outfit. Alphonzo Jackson is called the “chief motivator” and Spencer Hooper not only helps keep the kids in line, he is the brains behind the organizational structure, which takes donations.
“You can call me coach, or you can call me Mr. Jackson,” Jackson says in the first meeting at the beginning of the season. “Those are your two options.”
The film quickly focuses on a select few of these students. Among them is Alma, a junior at Castlemont High. She is overweight and determined to prove something to her father, who said she’d never make it to the marathon.
Ebony, a sophomore at Oakland Tech, is afraid that if her life continues in the direction it’s heading, she’ll be pregnant soon.
“My friend just had a baby, and she’s younger than me,” she says. Yet she isn’t quite sure what running the L.A. Marathon will do for her.
“I hope I can meet somebody famous,” she says.
Fred, a junior at Oakland Tech, freely admits that he is at a crossroads.
“I eat, sleep and party,” Fred says. “I haven’t put it together yet.”
As Fred’s mother, Uzuri, says, “I think that he is challenged by my expectations of what he should do and who he should become. I think there are some people in his life who are very irresponsible.
“I think there are other people who see the light I see in him.”
In some ways, the kids in “Runners High” have to learn or relearn every aspect of how they conduct their lives. They have to learn to work together — there is friction and jealousy among some of the teens — even eat right, as most of them exist on a steady diet of junk food.
One of the key runs before the marathon, a way of judging their progress, is the Berkeley-to-Richmond 18-mile run.
“See that smoke over there?” Jackson asks. “That’s where we’re going.”
Fred misses the event, and is reached by cell phone. He’s taking a step backward, but makes up for it by making the run on his own.
Ebony causes the most trouble — she gives up easily, becomes frustrated and emotional and her lack of self-confidence feeds upon itself. The coaches have to decide whether she should even make the trip to L.A.
“What she has been doing for 14, 15 years doesn’t get solved in a few months and a trip to Los Angeles,” Jackson says. “This program’s not that great.”
Da Silva and Jacob are not necessarily concerned with making a big social statement as they are focusing on the kids themselves. Universal stories are impersonal, but personal stories are universal.
“We were crossing the Bay Bridge on the bus going to Crissy Field for one of the big training runs,” Da Silva said. “I was talking to one of the girls and she said, ‘This bridge is longer than I thought it would be,’ and I said, ‘What do you mean,’ and she said, ‘This is the first time I’ve been across this bridge.’
“So you can see how going to L.A. would show them what is possible. … This film shows how volunteers can transform a community. They’re really making a difference.”