For the Love Of The Game

2 Pages 610 Words

For the Love of the Game

While watching the movie, For the Love of the Game, many themes arose from the context of the movie. The movie outlined many of life’s hurdles such as dealing with relationships, learning to obtain a mental edge, and balancing life with your career.
One of the more interesting points of the film was that of achieving a mental edge in sports. Billy Chapel, the main character and major league baseball player, acquired a mental edge over his opponents by gating out the crowds. In the movie, he would repeat a mantra, “clear the mechanism”, and that would allow him to focus in on that one pitch. Billy’s attention focus allowed him to concentrate on one thing at a time, in order not to overwhelm his head with thoughts, thus allowing him to pitch the best of his physical ability. This technique is very common among athletes due to the enormous amount of pressure put on them to perform right then and there, but it can also be used in the professional world as well. For example, when I was trying to sit down to type this paper I had to focus my attention on this one project and gate out the noise in the hallway or in the room next door.
One of the major storylines in the movie involved Billy Chapel and his romantic interest Jane. Throughout the film, Jane and Billy struggle with the issue of commitment in their relationship. Billy prioritizes baseball before everything else in his life, including Jane. Jane on the other hand, has had bad experiences in the past (she is a single mother) and has a hard time trusting Billy as well as getting close to him. Eventually Billy and Jane learn to resolve their conflicts by talking about their true feelings for each other. They both forgive the other for the pain that they have caused and all is good.
The other major storyline in the movie is Billy and his love for the game of baseball. Billy learns that baseball in itself is wonderful, but the other t...