Diksha Sundriyal
In ‘You Gotta Believe,’ a Little League baseball team fights against the odds and proves itself to be one of the best teams by going up against some of the best-trained ones. The Ty Roberts directorial focuses on the Westside Lions of Fort Worth, who don’t amount to much in the beginning. However, once their potential is tapped into, they are whipped into a team that beats one odd after another and becomes the season’s underdog for which everybody starts rooting.
The major thing binding them together is the revelation that the father of their first baseman and the man who has coached them for years, Bobby Ratliff, has cancer. To fulfill his desire to see them win, the team dedicates itself to the task and goes on an entirely unexpected winning streak. The man who gets them in shape is Coach Jon Kelly. Initially unmotivated to assume the responsibility of their training, Bobby encourages him to give it his all, no matter what it takes.
Jon Kelly Works as a Reputed Lawyer Today
Jon Kelly is a resident of Fort Worth, Texas, where he lives with his wife, Kathy. They have six children together. Jon is a partner at the law firm Pope, Hardwicke, Christie, Schell, Kelly & Taplett. He is a graduate of the University of Texas and holds a membership in the American Bar Association, State Bar of Texas, Texas Bar Foundation, Tarrant County Bar Association, and Tarrant County Bar Foundation. He practices law in a variety of areas, ranging from real estate to banking to probate. He also served as the president of the Fort Worth-Tarrant County Young Lawyers Association from 1981 to 1982.
Jon Kelly fondly remembers the 2002 season when his team, which included his youngest son, Walker, garnered one unexpected but well-earned win after another. He said that the kids exhibited exemplary sportsmanship and were focused on enjoying the game and being there for each other more than anything else. He has also remarked upon their maturity, which was far beyond their age at the time, especially in the context of Bobby Ratliff’s cancer diagnosis and the fact that he was not going to be around for long. Even though the team lost in the semifinals, Jon expressed nothing but pride for them having come so far within the course of a single season.
The former coach remains in touch with almost the entire team and is glad about the different paths they chose for themselves and how they have grown over the course of the years. He formally reunited with the team in April 2022 when they all got together at the Westside Little League field in Fort Worth, where they once used to play and from where they started their winning streak in 2002. Reportedly, Jon had been trying to get a film made about the team and their game for a while before ‘You Gotta Believe’ finally materialized, and he is glad their story of resilience and hard work is being recognized by the entire world.
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