SYNOPSIS
This is the story about power soccer. This is a sport played by athletes in specialized electric wheelchairs equipped with adaptive controllers and a steel cage to maneuver the ball. Often with little mobility, the athletes are strapped into these chairs and spin using centripetal force to pound the ball into the goal. It is a high-intensity sport played with a fierceness that takes one’s breath away. They play to win.
This film follows the U.S. Power Soccer National Team’s evolution from a poorly self-funded amateur team in 2021, to a professional team absorbed and funded by the U.S. Soccer Federation. With full resources the team’s transformation is unmistakable in their drive to recapture the 2023 World Cup title.
The journeys of five main characters intersect on the court. Off the court, we follow them into the most personal and raw places of their lives. As a co-ed sport, we see the beginning of a love story between two teammates: Natalie and Jordan. The two break every disability stereotype as their journey leads to their engagement, their wedding ceremony, their purchase of a home together, and their bed where they sleep next to each other every night.
In contrast to the love story, Drew is in a continuous battle against the disease he lives with. He fights for his life and for his rightful place on the team. In the third act, just weeks before the World Cup in Sydney, Drew dies unexpectedly. At his funeral, his teammates mourn his loss and return to camp vowing to dedicate the upcoming World Cup to his memory.
In Auburn, Alabama, we follow Zach’s activist work in his ceaseless fight for disability rights that culminates in him developing the first collegiate power soccer program at Auburn University. In a euphoric moment, he offers the first athletic scholarships to two power soccer recruits from Texas and California to play their sport and receive the same support as other elite collegiate athletes.
Finally, our story arc follows the evolution of Riley, the unwilling team captain. Named to the position after the former captain retires, he is humorously resistant when this role is thrust upon him. He struggles to define the type of captain he wants to be and the type of captain his team needs, as time quickly runs out. The film documents his evolution from a reluctant introvert into a bonafide leader on the world stage.
This film holds the stories of life, death, love, triumph and defeat. It is entertaining while thought-provoking. It is an honest portrait of an invisible class of elite athletes. It is shot in vérité style with beautifully captured images that will leave every viewer’s ideas of physical disability forever transformed.