Medicine Ball
Trailer
Preview: 11/9/2026 | 30sVideo has Closed Captions
Through basketball, Native athletes face their campus’s boarding school legacy.
“Medicine Ball” follows Native college athletes Lexus Redthunder and Leroy Staples-Fairbanks IV as they navigate basketball and college life at the University of Minnesota Morris, located on a former Native boarding school site. Their journeys reveal how basketball became a source of resilience, hope, and cultural pride in Native communities.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
Medicine Ball
Trailer
Preview: 11/9/2026 | 30sVideo has Closed Captions
“Medicine Ball” follows Native college athletes Lexus Redthunder and Leroy Staples-Fairbanks IV as they navigate basketball and college life at the University of Minnesota Morris, located on a former Native boarding school site. Their journeys reveal how basketball became a source of resilience, hope, and cultural pride in Native communities.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
Where to Watch Medicine Ball
Medicine Ball is available to stream on pbs.org and the PBS app.
Our involvement in early history of basketball is not very well known.
We are part of the creation of the sport.
That's why it's so spiritual to us.
This building is part of the former boarding school here.
I don't really know how to react because I haven't really learned a lot about it.
How did you find out that your great grandmother, Mary Red Thunder, went to the Morris School?
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