Head of the family, on and off the field
Long Beach Poly's high school football team is all about family, but Coach Raul Lara is pulling double duty.
He's the patriarch of the family on the football field, and he's also the father of backup quarterback Manny Lara.
In this clip, the coach takes some time away on a rare day off to have dinner with his son and talks about trying to split his time as a coach and a father.
"When we're on the field, I'm not his dad no more. I'm pretty much his coach," Raul said. "When we come home … then I become the parent and I try to stay away from the coaching part of it."
During the course of their meal, the coach and father can't help but steer the conversation toward football, but feels a bit of reward in the fact that his son recognizes the hard work he puts into his full-time job as a probation officer working the graveyard shift and coaching at Poly.
"It was really rewarding to get that he knows I'm trying to get things accomplished to better them guys out there," the coach says.
"4th and Forever" chronicles the 2010 football season of Long Beach Polytechnic High School, touted by Sports Illustrated as the "Sports School of the Century" and boasts the largest roster of high school players who have gone on to the NFL.
After decades of success, Poly had a down year in 2009. They had their worst season in 15 years and lost to local rival Lakewood for the first time in over 25 years. After years of being pegged as "the team to beat," the aura of invincibility is gone. The players are worried that their hopes for a college scholarship have dimmed. The clock is ticking and the question is: Can Head Football Coach Raul Lara pull the team together for one more season of greatness? And, can the players avoid the temptations of the street, succeed in the classroom, and emerge victorious on the field?
"4th and Forever" premieres Thursday, May 26 at 9/8c on Current TV.
For more, go to current.com/4thandForever. Be sure to follow "4th and Forever" on Facebook and Twitter.
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