The movie Hoop Dreams is a good portrayal of high school basketball in Chicago. It follows two players, William Gates and Arthur Agee in their pursuit of playing college basketball. It shows all of the struggles and hard work the players had to go through in order to achieve their goals. The movie displays elements of determination and struggling to survive in the harsh sections of Chicago.

Both William and Arthur are determined to succeed in playing basketball. They both travel over an hour to get to school, where they improve upon their basketball skills. They both have aspirations of playing basketball at a high level, and did everything they possibly could to do that. Instead of settling for an average school close to their town they traveled far away to a better school where they could improve and get noticed more. They had a goal all throughout their childhood to be great basketball players. Most people would just be lazy and average. However, there are some players who have the drive and determination to succeed so they push themselves and become stars.

Sometimes living in a hard part of town help make players better. Both players came from bad parts of Chicago. While they could have given up at an earlier age and given in to the crime and drugs in the city, they had more determination and pushed through to become great players. It can be very easy to give up on your dreams, but they both wanted more out of life, and did not want to give up on their dreams. They grew up with little in their life, but were able to take the high road instead of giving in and going down the  wrong path.