McFarland is an inspirational film based on a true story about a high school teacher Jim White who

after some incidents he'd had because of his quick temper finds a job teaching Biology and assisting
the baseball team coach in the small town of McFarland in California. He moves there with his wife
and two daughters. At first they don't like the place with mostly Mexican population and even get
intimidated by the local crowd. As time goes by, he sees that young people don't have much prospect
there. His colleague tells him that the kids there are expendable, living in one of the poorest towns in
America and working on plantations, with the local prison which seems as the only worse alternative,
their future doesn't look so bright.

When Jim notices some boys are talented for running, he gets an idea for them to take part in the
cross country running championship. He forms a team and they start training.In their first
competition they come last, but Jim encourages them and is not negative about it. All the others look
down on them because they are outsiders and make cruel jokes, but they win more races and
become a great running team.

Why is White a good coach?

He was not just coaching them, he believed in them and made them believe in each other. He was at
the same time authority and one of them, they accepted him as their coach and their friend. The
story is not just about winning the championship, it was their ticket to better life, and Jim, the kids
and their families knew that. The had low self-esteem at the beginning, thinking they would end up
working on plantations till end of their lives, because everybody else did like that, but i