Forever Strong

Coach Larry Gelwix:
Son, when are you gonna dig down and first-string the real Rick Penning?

Rick Penning:
[teaching the rules of rugby to other inmates] Now, if you get tackled and you go down, you must release the ball back to one of your own guys. Then he takes it and goes. We don't stop. There's no huddles, no time-outs.

Detention Boy:
So, it's kinda like football and soccer?

Rick Penning:
It's kinda like Rugby.

Coach Larry Gelwix:
Rick Penning? It's Important for you know right up front: You spend a whole lotta time in the gym, you work your hardest with a complete commitment to do your best, you eat smart, get enough sleep, and you work your tail off, and someday... someday you can have a body like mine.

Coach Larry Gelwix:
We're about winning, gentlemen, and not just in rugby. For that reason, you will obtain a laserlike focus on and off the field. That means discipline over every part of your life. So, if you want "easy," play lacrosse or football or... join the Marines. Welcome, gentlemen, to Highland Rugby.

Rick Penning:
Oh, look, it's my mother.

[Bingham waits by his car for Rick, waving and smiling]

Griggs:
That's a big mama!

Marcus Tate:
Nice to meet you, Rick. I'm Marcus Tate, administrator here at Wasatch.

[Offers his hand for Rick to shake, which Rick doesn't take]

Marcus Tate:
You can call me King Tate, Sir Marc, Marcus, whatever you like.

Rick Penning:
Where's my stuff, Marcus?

Marcus Tate:
Oh, I had the bellhop take it to your suite.

Rick Penning:
I don't do ANYTHING to embarrass myself, my team and my family.

Coach Larry Gelwix:
Good decisions don't make life easy, but they do make it easiER.

Judge Alvarez:
Richard Seymore Penning, Jr.

Defense Attorney:
He prefers, uh, "Rick," Your Honor.

Judge Alvarez:
[staring down at the attorney] Counselor, considering this young man's drunk-driving career, he is fresh out of what HE prefers. Do we understand?

[In nine months, Rick has steadfastly remained obstinate, frequently incurring punishments for bad behavior and fighting and subsequently scrubbing toilets for it]

Marcus Tate:
We both know that you've done all you can to avoid learning anything while you've been here. The upside is we've got the cleanest bathrooms we've ever had.

Bingham:
[with Rick getting in his car] Belt up, brah.

Rick Penning:
I'm not your "brah," so quit calling me that.

Bingham:
Okay, okay, no problem. Belt up, SISTER.

Rick Penning:
I'm an only child. I don't need a big brother.

Kurt:
How about a friend?

Coach Larry Gelwix:
Rick, I want to ask you to be a captain.

Rick Penning:
But, uh, Q's already captain.

Coach Larry Gelwix:
We always have at least two.

Rick Penning:
But he can't stand me - the same with half the guys out there.

Coach Larry Gelwix:
This isn't about them. It's about you. It's about being the best Rick.

Rick Penning:
But what about Tumo?

Coach Larry Gelwix:
He and three or four other guys came to me, suggesting you. The team doesn't get this kind of stuff wrong.

Rick Penning:
I don't get it. You know exactly why I'm here and you still act like you care. I'm just a no good spy who cheap-shotted your star player last year.

Coach Larry Gelwix:
First of all, I attribute that cheap shot to your coach, not you; and, second, let's focus on where you could end up, not where you were or are; and - God doesn't make a no-good ANYTHING. You just got to learn to listen and pay attention to that spirit inside you. And learning to listen - that takes a lot of discipline.

Coach Larry Gelwix:
You boys might think I coach because, uh, I love rugby and I love to win - both true - but I KEEP coaching because of you guys. That's why I'm more interested in turning out champion boys than champion teams. I want you to be forever strong on the field so you'll be forever strong off it.

Coach Richard Penning:
[after asking Rick to behave unethically] This is our year. We deserve that title.

Rick Penning:
What do you mean "we?" My team is Highland.

Coach Richard Penning:
Okay, you see, you don't get to choose. You will leave this house or not, if we say. You will drive that car or not, if we say. You will go to Colorado or not, if I say, and right now I say that you will be at practice with your Razorbacks tomorrow. Rick, sit down.

Rick Penning:
Have me arrested.

Marty:
Now, why's he smilin'?

Lars:
Let's crack open his head and find out.

Coach Richard Penning:
I give you the keys to the car and this is what I get.

Rick Penning:
After what I've been through the last year, you really believe that I'd be messing with drugs and booze the day I get home?

Coach Richard Penning:
Okay, there where drugs and beer all over you and the car.

Rick Penning:
It was Lars and Marty. Test me. I haven't had a drink in a year.

Coach Richard Penning:
Rick, do you have any idea how much potential you had.

Rick Penning:
Lars set me up.

Coach Richard Penning:
See, my future was stolen.

Rick Penning:
[under his breath] You're not even listening.

Coach Richard Penning:
An-an-an... you know, an-an-an-and, what are you doing? You just throwing it all away for, what - drugs, booze, some girls?

Rick Penning:
So I guess what I said really doesn't make a difference.

Coach Richard Penning:
Rick, it kills me to sit back and watch you throw everything away. I mean, when are you gonna dig deep and first-string the real Rick Penning

Rick Penning:
You wanna talk about first-stringing a Penning? You won nationals in 1986! You were on the original Highland Rugby Team! You were a Highland Rugby Player.

Coach Richard Penning:
I didn't win anything.

Rick Penning:
You were on the team. You know what they taught.

Coach Richard Penning:
I was on nothing.

Rick Penning:
I saw your picture, Dad. You were on the team.

Coach Richard Penning:
No, Gelwix made sure that I wasn't on that team by putting me somewhere that I shouldn't have been. I told him, but he insisted that I play a forward.

Rick Penning:
He was doing what was best for you and the team.

Coach Richard Penning:
No, no, Gelwix stole my life.

Rick Penning:
Well, he's given me mine back. I play for Highland. I am benched for drugs and alcohol, suspended for lying. I don't do anything to embarrass myself, my team, or my family - not anymore. Highland Rugby. Kia Kaha. I'm done.