The East Los Angeles College men’s basketball team, the Huskies, located in the City of Monterey Park, was showcased by the Netflix documentary series Last Chance U and is currently streaming on Netflix.

While it is what most would consider it to be, a sports documentary, it is much more. The series follows the ELAC student athletes and coaching staff during the 2019–20 season. The daily struggles of the team members and coaches are the focus of the documentary. It is with compassion that Netflix offers a view into what many of us rarely think about: the soul-shattering adversity young community college student athletes (and students in general) have faced during the pandemic, many of them dealing with it alone.

Led by Head Coach John Mosley, the ELAC Husky basketball program has gone from mediocre to one of the best in the state. The team, with a record of 29 and 1, was on its way to a likely win of the state championship when they, like all of us, were hit with the realities of COVID-19.

The documentary is well worth viewing. It demonstrates what can be accomplished regardless of status and adversity, due in large part to the student athletes’ belief in themselves as nurtured and supported by Coach Mosely and ELAC as well. And it is worth contrasting this film with the experience of the privileged, as depicted in another Netflix documentary, Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal.

Be advised that some of the language is salty and the content may be shocking; it is definitely not “PC”! But you will not regret watching—a positive experience in trying times.

—L. Peter Zavala