All-new 8-minute ‘Roarball Roundup’ featurette debuts alongside the free, 4-lesson emotional resilience program designed to help students build confidence and navigate emotions, inspired by the hit animated feature.
Sony Pictures Animation (SPA) and the Kevin Love Fund (KLF) have teamed up to launch “GOAT: Beyond the Game,” a free curriculum featuring four lessons inspired by the studio’s new hit animated feature film, GOAT, now in theatres. Designed to help students build confidence and resilience, develop a growth mindset, and navigate emotions, the program brings the film’s core themes into classroom-based student activities.
Premiering alongside the curriculum is Roarball Roundup: An Exclusive Interview with the Vineland Thorns, an 8-minute animated featurette showcasing animated character interviews from the film, which is now streaming on the Sony Pictures Animation YouTube channel. In the featurette, the team opens up about pressure, fame, and their struggles on and off the court, with all the chaos, humor and unfiltered personality you’d expect from the Vineland Thorns.
The curriculum was developed by the Kevin Love Fund’s education team and includes creative and reflective writing, storyboard illustration, drawing, and music-based activities intended to celebrate students’ unique identities and provide valuable tools for navigating emotional challenges. The program is focused on reinforcing a simple idea: emotional wellness education belongs in every classroom, and everyone has the power to change the game. You can download the free classroom curriculum at kevinlovefund.org/goat.
“Being comfortable in your own skin - that's the game-changer, on the court or in life,” said Kevin Love, founder of the Kevin Love Fund. “For years, I held everything in because I thought that's what I was supposed to do. But speaking up and reaching out? That's real strength. With ‘GOAT: Beyond the Game,’ we want kids to see themselves in these characters and know that talking about how you feel isn't a weakness. It's what makes you unstoppable.”
“Roarball Roundup gives audiences a fun, fast-paced intro to the characters and world of GOAT, but its real purpose is to start a conversation,” said Tyree Dillihay, director of GOAT. “One that can help kids see themselves as both athletes and emotionally strong individuals.”
GOAT, from Sony Pictures Animation, the studio behind Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and the artists that made KPop Demon Hunters, is set in an all-animal world and follows Will, a small goat with big dreams who gets a once-in-a-lifetime shot to join the pros and play roarball – a high-intensity, co-ed, full-contact sport dominated by the fastest, fiercest animals in the world. Will’s new teammates aren’t thrilled about having a little goat on their roster, but Will is determined to revolutionize the sport and prove once and for all that “smalls can ball!”
Directed by Tyree Dillihay and co-directed by Adam Rosette, the film features a screen story by Nicolas Curcio and Peter Chiarelli and a screenplay by Aaron Buchsbaum and Teddy Riley. Producers include Michelle Raimo Kouyate, Rodney Rothman, Adam Rosenberg, Stephen Curry and Erick Peyton, with Rick Mischel and Fonda Snyder serving as executive producers. The voice cast includes Caleb McLaughlin, Gabrielle Union, Stephen Curry, Nicola Coughlan, Nick Kroll, David Harbour, Jenifer Lewis, Aaron Pierre, Patton Oswalt, Andrew Santino, Bobby Lee, Eduardo Franco, Sherry Cola, Jelly Roll and Jennifer Hudson.
In 2018, professional basketball player Kevin Love established the Kevin Love Fund (KLF), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that works to inspire people to live their healthiest lives by creating equity between mental and physical health. As an evidence-based nonprofit organization, KLF focuses on research, education, and narrative change to break the stigma around mental health. To learn more, visit kevinlovefund.org.
Source: Sony Pictures Animation
Dan Sarto is Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network.
