As soon as possible, I am going to see the movie The Mighty Macs, and I am taking my 15-year-old daughter Megan with me.
Megan is a basketball player for Everest Collegiate High School in Clarkston, Michigan, and the experience she had on her school’s first-ever girls’ basketball team last year gives her a lot in common with the team in the movie. With only two juniors, three sophomores and six freshman (one of which was Megan) the Everest Lady Mountaineers were the Intersectional Division sectional co-champions in the Detroit Archdiocese for the 2011 season, and their coach, Erin Hearn (now Erin VanWagoner since her recent marriage) was named “Coach of the Year” for that division.
In similar fashion, according to the press release, the Mighty Macs is “based on a true story” of Hall of Fame Coach Cathy Rush, who took tiny Immaculata College, an all-girls Catholic school in suburban Philadelphia, to win the women’s college basketball national championship in the early 1970s.
Megan with the ball
Not only is it G-rated – an amazing feat in today’s market (the producer Quaker Media had a hard time finding a distributor who would keep it that way- click here to read more) but it apparently is getting rave reviews from secular media outlets, and in the Catholic media as well.
One of our own Regnum Christi missionaries is also giving the movie a great review. Below is a quote from Emily Holmes, who was fortunate enough to win an online contest to see the Mighty Macs premier.
“I was so spoiled because I saw a prescreening for the movie and then I had the chance to go to the premier! I have recommended the movie to everyone I see and promote it as much as possible. I got to join in a press conference and meet the real Cathy Rush when I was in Philadelphia. It was absolutely incredible! We met some other really important folks, but she was by far the coolest one… The premier for the movie was packed, and I loved the movie!”
I think Megan will get a lot out of a movie that not only reinforces true athletic values but focuses on keeping the “dignity” of femininity integral to athletics. You’ll have to see the movie to find out more. But I have to say it sounds just like the approach to athletics our own Regnum Christi consecrated women, (as well as the Everest coaches and the athletic director Ann Lowney) try hard to get across to the girls at our school and at every educational institution were Regnum Christi is involved.
I really want to see this movie, not just because it has a great message, but I want to see the film that reviewer Steven D. Greydanus called a “fun nun” movie and a “refreshing change of pace” in 2011.
For more info on the movie and to find out where it is playing nationwide, go to http://www.themightymacs.com/.
