MOVIE ANALYSIS OF KING RICHARD 1

Movie Analysis of King Richard

Sarah Amaya

OGL 365: Sports Leadership

Dr. Jorge Ballesteros

April 23, 2023

Arizona State University

MOVIE ANALYSIS OF KING RICHARD 2

Movie Analysis of King Richard

This is the story about how Richard Williams trained and motivated his daughters to become the

world’s best tennis players after seeing a professional tennis match on television, and learning

how much money the winning player makes. He and his wife set out to train and motivate their

daughters, Venus and Serena, to become professional tennis players.

They start with a written plan for the girls and set out to learn everything they could

about tennis. Even though they did not have a lot of money, access to good tennis facilities,

coaches, or tennis competitions, they taught the girls themselves, and practiced rigorously at a

local public park. Richard was so committed that he relentlessly pursued private tennis coaches

even though he could not afford them. He persists until he convinces a pro coach, Paul Cohen to

teach one of his daughters Venus, and films their practice for his wife to use to train the other

daughter, Serena. Both girls end up playing in junior tournaments, but eventually Richard

disagrees with Paul about when the girls should start playing professionally, pulls them from

junior competitions and fires Paul. He hires a new coach, Rick Macci. Rick coaches both girls,

but they do not play in juniors competition and instead go to school for three years until they

finally agree to let Venus play in a professional tournament. She advances to the finals, before

losing. But her performance is so impressive that she lands a big sponsorship contract in the end.

Sports Leadership in the Film

Sports leadership is not specifically discussed in the movie, but there is a lot of discussion

about coaching, motivation, about what is best for Venus and Serena as children growing up and

as tennis players. This way sports leadership is discussed indirectly.

Sports Leaders Shown in the Film

The sports leaders in this film are Richard, his wife, and the coaches. Depending on the

situation, Richard’s coaching can be seen as positive or negative. Not letting the girls play in
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juniors tennis or turn professional early, could be viewed as negative. Since both girls became

the best in the world, it looks like the right decision. There is no way of knowing if the same

outcome would have occurred if they turned professional earlier. In general, Richard and his

wife's leadership are viewed favorably since they overcome tremendous adversity to make the

girls successful. The coaches that do not take on the girls are represented as racists and snobbish.

Cohen and Macci were portrayed as good coaches technically. But Cohen did not share Richard

and his wife’s vision for what was best for the girls. His view on how to be successful was

limited to what others had done before and he could not accept another way of doing it. Macci

did not always agree with Richard, but he never gave up on the family.

Sports Leadership Topics

The leadership topics portrayed in this film that will be discussed in this paper are vision,

communication, hard work/intensity, and preparation/planning. These topics are common to all

four of the readings covered in this class.

Vision

In “Vince Lombardi on Leadership”, vision is described as one of the most powerful

leadership characteristics, “Great leaders have the ability to envision what the future should look

like and the ability to chart a course for getting there. Visionary leadership is not the ability to

foresee the future but to invent the future, to shape the future, and to influence the team or

organization in such a way as to turn the leader's vision into reality” (Williams & Denney, 2015,

p.12). From the book, “Legacy”, James Kerr states, “Leaders connect personal meaning to a

higher purpose to create belief and a sense of direction” (Kerr, 2013, p.33).

Richard and his wife share the vision of seeing Venus and Serena becoming the best tennis

players in the world. Richard puts up signs while practicing that say “You are a winner” and “If

you fail to plan, you plan to fail”. Also prior to hiring coaches to help the girls with their
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technique, Richard and his wife also took time to practice with them. Richard kept the vision

alive by working multiple jobs to help pay for the coaching lessons for his daughters. He also

wrote down his plan which helped remind people of the vision he had. Coach Cohen, supported

Richard and his wife’s vision by agreeing to coach Venus. Then Coach Macci supports the vision

by providing lessons for the girls and signing a contract in which he would provide them with a

house and further resources upon relocating from California to Florida.

Communication

In “Reaching for the Summit”, Pat Summitt highlights the importance of communication

as a leader and for everyone on the team, by making it number four on her Definite Dozen,

“Learn to Be a Great Communicator” (Summit & Jenkins, 1999, p. 8) and pointing out that

communication is not just a one way street, saying that, “You have to listen to develop effective,

meaningful relationships with people” (Summit & Jenkins, 1999, p. 69). The essential

connection between communication and leadership is expressed in the Lombardi reading by the

following statement, “Clear communication is essential to great leadership. If you communicate

well, your people will find you easy to follow” (Williams & Denney, 2015, p.42).

Richard addresses communication in the film by constantly talking positively to Venus

and Serena about each move they make during practice. Also, he talks highly about his daughters

when looking for a coach for them, and it is not until Coach Cohen as well as Coach Macci see

the girls play that they see what Richard is talking about.

Hard Work/Intensity

Pat Summitt says hard work is her most valuable secret to success, stating, “Here’s how

I’m going to beat you. I’m going to outwork you. That’s it. That’s all there is to it. You’ve just

learned my most valuable secret” (Summit & Jenkins, 1999, p. 117). In all four readings, hard
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work and the related concept of intensity were highlighted as important factors of success.

Intentness was a building block for the Wooden Pyramid, (Wooden & Jamison, 2018, p.34).

Richard shows hard work by making the girls practice all the time, even when it is

raining on the courts. He works multiple jobs while his wife works as a nurse and yet they

practiced with the girls every day. While Cohen coached Venus, Richard would film the practice,

so his wife could watch the video to coach Serena.

Preparation/Planning

The importance of detailed preparation was a theme emphasized in all the readings.

Wooden says “Whether you are a coach or middle manager in a large corporation, I am

convinced that a significant difference between your organization and your rival’s comes down

to details of organization and execution. It’s the difference between being competitive and

having competitive greatness” (Wooden & Jamison, 2018, p.67). Preparation and planning are

not the same thing as practice. Summitt explains the role of planning and preparation in

achieving the vision, “our ambition every year is to win a national championship…But we need a

more specific plan than that. We have to recruit the right players. We have to know how to use

those players once they get here. We have to devise our strategy. And we have to make

individual game plans for every opponent. We have to know what we’re doing on a daily basis.

Plan your work, and work your plan” (Summit & Jenkins, 1999, p.125).

Richard helps show this in the movie by videotaping matches then showing the girls at

practice what they would be working on. He also videotaped their practices and would rewatch

with the girls, so they would know what they specifically needed to improve upon. On top of

that, Richard also wrote down his plan early on and went on to share it with his family, but also

the coaching staff. Furthermore, he got a couple of the best coaches in the world to coach his

daughters.
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Effectiveness of Principles

As mentioned previously, it is difficult to say how Richard, Venus, or Serena may have

dealt with these principles more effectively, because the result was so successful. Richard could

have communicated more effectively with his wife, who was his partner in raising and coaching

the girls. This created unproductive stress on Venus when she first enters a professional

tournament. Cohen could have been more effective by following the vision that Richard had set.

On the other hand, if Cohen had been a more effective communicator, he could have convinced

Richard and his wife to keep the girls in junior competitions. It is difficult to say if this would

have led to a more successful result or not. Richard could not watch while the girls played in

their tournaments. He would often have his back towards them, and only turn around during the

last set. It could have been more effective and supportive form of nonverbal communication to

face the girls while they played.

Conclusion

Richard and his wife had a shared vision for their daughters to become

professional tennis players. He used the leadership principles vision, communication, hard

work/intensity, and preparation/planning to achieve the vision. He was so effective with these

tools that the result was more than just tennis players, they became the two best women's tennis

players in the world.

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References

Baylin, Z., White, T., White, T., & Smith, W. (2021). King Richard. Retrieved April 18, 2022,

from https://www.hbomax.com/feature/urn:hbo:feature:GYXB0OgEQO5OhegEAAAAl.

Kerr, J. M. (2013). Legacy: What All Blacks Can Teach Us About the Business of Life, 15

Lessons in Leadership. Constable.

Summitt, P., & Jenkins, S. (1999). Reach for the Summit: The Definite Dozen System for

Succeeding At Whatever You Do. Broadway Books.

Williams, P., & Denney, J. (2015). Vince Lombardi on leadership: Life Lessons From A Five-

Time Nfl Championship Coach. Advantage.

Wooden, J., & Jamison, S. (2018). The Essential Wooden: A Lifetime of Lessons on Leaders and

Leadership. McGraw-Hill Education.

MOVIE ANALYSIS OF KING RICHARD
Movie Analysis Rubric
Name __Sarah Amaya_____________
Movie __King Richard______________________________
Criteria Full Points
Summary of Plot Provides a thorough
description and does not
4pts exceed page limit
Discussion of Sports Discusses and explains the
Leadership way the film showcase sports
leadership and provides
4pts relevant examples
Sports Leadership 3 or more topics are covered
Topic & Connection and are applicable to movie.
Writer does well in being able
10 pts to make connections.
Flow of Paper/Accuracy All information is accurate,
and the paper is easy to read
4pts and sequential
Grammar & Writer showcases close to no
Requirements grammatical mistakes.
Completes all requirements
4pts related to length and sections
APA Format Format is followed and writer
paid attention to detail
4pts
1
Partial Credit
Too broad of a description or
not enough detail
Writer generally discusses the
way the movie applies sports
leadership, but more
information needed
3 or fewer topics are covered
within the assignment.
Applicability to movie is broad
or difficult to follow.
Writer generally stays on topic,
but is sporadic in thought
process and may include
misinformation
Writer has more than a few
grammatical or does not meet
all requirements
Some mistakes regarding
citations and APA format
No Credit
Does not include summary
There is either no mention of
sports leadership related to the
movie or is missing
1 or no topics are referenced
with the assignment. Writer
provides small or no detail to
showcase connection.
Writer does not stay on topic, a
lot of misinformation, and flow
of paper is very choppy
Assignment is filled with
grammar issues and or does
not meet requirements
APA format not followed or
followed briefly. Many mistakes
throughout assignment