MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — If you say “Martinsburg Bulldogs” anywhere in West Virginia, a team with seven state championships in nine years and one of the longest winning streaks in the nation will come to mind.
“Addicted to Winning” follows the 2017 Martinsburg High School football team through their journey to another state title. Director Yaron Deskalo said he discovered Martinsburg through an article in The New Yorker titled “The Addicts Next Door”, which focused on Berkeley County’s opioid epidemic.
“I did a quick Google search and looked up the football team,” Deskalo said. “The first article that came out was that Coach Walker was the reigning national coach of the year. I tried to get in touch with Coach Walker and he wouldn’t return my emails. So I just flew in one morning and showed up in his office. It went really well.”
Running just over an hour long, the film includes interviews with then-Berkeley County Recovery Resources Coordinator Kevin Knowles, Martinsburg football coaches and players. The film is being released in partnership with Uninterrupted, described as “an athlete empowerment brand founded by LeBron James and Maverick Carter.”
Among the players featured are Tavis Lee, who is now a redshirt freshman at WVU. Also included is now-Shepherd University standout quarterback Tyson Bagent and Lackawanna College defensive back DeWayne Grantham.
“I think that we didn’t have a full sense going into it that we knew all of the connections between the opioid epidemic and the football team in the community,” Deskalo said. “I think what I had pitched to Uninterrupted was with these types of communities, it would be hard imagine that there weren’t some types of interweaving in the epidemic and the football team.”
Radio play-by-play announcer for Martinsburg Andrew Caridi can be heard in the documentary calling plays. Caridi said the documentary is a testament to the strength of the community.
“It’s overall a theme of the entire location, a theme of the entire high school. It’s the troubles and tribulations that these kids go through but have a football team and program that is extremely strong and obviously teaches them important lessons. From 3-6, Coach Walker says, it’s a chance for these kids to get away from whatever problems that they have and go play football.”
.@ACaridiWVUNews talks with @HoppyKercheval about the release of the documentary "Addicted To Winning" WATCH: https://t.co/wkudfIAoe1 pic.twitter.com/dwVQnww0bQ
— MetroNews (@WVMetroNews) October 24, 2019
After filming, Deskalo said he left Martinsburg with a good impression.
“I think Martinsburg really approached the problem head on. We see it a lot with the communities now around the country that have really taken big steps to curb the epidemic. Martinsburg really was on the forefront. They weren’t trying to shove it under the rug.”