Sports documentaries not only offer inspiration for young athletes, but also allow a glimpse into the reality of competing at a higher professional level. They highlight the beauty of athletic achievement and competition, while also underscoring the hardships and sacrifices made along the way. For young athletes, it can be extremely motivating to see representation of their sports and examples of success on the screen.
For Sebastian Hyde, a sophomore football player at Berkeley High School, the movie “The Blind Side” humanized football. “The Blind Side” is a biographical movie based on the true story of football player Michael Oher, following him throughout his early life and the start of his professional football career. The film details his impoverished childhood and how despite his lack of privilege, he made it to the NFL with the help of his adoptive family. “The family aspect of football is something that really stood out to me in this movie, both on and off the field,” Hyde said, “It inspired me to create further bonds with my teammates.” To Hyde, bonding with teammates creates communication and trust on the field, which are key aspects of football. “Football is already in the media a lot,” Hyde said, “But it’s often denoted as a violent game.” Hyde believes there are many more complex aspects to the sport, which are brought to light in the film.
Running is a sport that is far less depicted in the media. The movie “McFarland USA” is a sports drama film based on a true story about a high school cross country team set in the 1980s. BHS senior Magnolia Hougan has competed in both the North Coast Section (NCS) Championships and the State Cross Country championships. She holds key leadership positions on the BHS cross country and track teams as well. “‘McFarland USA’ is the quintessential high school cross country movie, and sort of the only one.” Hougan said. The film highlights the team aspect of running, which is often overlooked due to popular belief that running is an individual sport. In addition to “McFarland USA”, the documentary “Race” also inspired Hougan. The film perfectly combined the great athletic achievements of four time Olympic gold medalist Jesse Owens with his personal struggles with racism as a black athlete in the early 1930s. “It’s such an incredible and inspiring story to watch,” Hougan said.
Davis Bove, a BHS junior volleyball player named several sports documentaries that stood out to him personally, including “The Last Dance”, a basketball docuseries about the Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan’s dynasty, and “Untold”, a docuseries featuring a collection of lesser known sports stories, including ones from baseball and college football.
“Even though these documentaries aren’t about my sport specifically, I think it was really important to see competition at the highest level,” Bove said. Bove believes it is important for athletes to watch all different varieties of sports documentaries because every ambitious sports player can relate to this athletic achievement and competitiveness.