5 Sports Movies to Add to Your EKKL Watchlist This Fall
Football, baseball, soccer and plenty of heart. These five movies bring the excitement of the game to movie night with stories the whole family can enjoy.
Fall is here, and for sports fans, that means the games are on, the rivalries are heating up, and there’s no shortage of excitement.
But you don’t have to be watching a live game to get caught up in the fun.
Some of the best sports movies are about much more than what’s happening on the field. They’re about the kid who refuses to give up, the coach who sees something in his players, the underdog nobody expects to win, or the family learning that sometimes the biggest victories have nothing to do with the scoreboard.
So while you’re watching the games this fall, why not add a few sports movies to the lineup? Here are five to watch on EKKL.
🏈 Woodlawn
What happens when a football team discovers there’s something bigger than winning?
Set in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1973, Woodlawn follows high school football player Tony Nathan as he navigates the racial tensions surrounding his school’s forced integration.
The football field becomes a reflection of everything happening around the team. But when a Christian revival speaker named Hank begins sharing a message of hope and love with the players, something starts to change.
What begins with one team eventually reaches far beyond the locker room.
Based on a true story, Woodlawn follows the team’s remarkable transformation as players begin choosing unity over division and faith over fear. The story ultimately becomes about much more than football—and about how a group of young people can influence an entire community.
Why watch: For the football, the true-story inspiration and a reminder that sometimes the biggest victories have nothing to do with the final score.
Watch Woodlawn on EKKL →
⚽ Little Angels
A disgraced football coach gets one unexpected chance to start over—with a girls’ soccer team.
Jake Rogers is used to winning.
As a Division I college football coach, he’s built his career around competition, success and being on top. But after a very public mistake gets him suspended, Jake is given an unexpected assignment: coach a 12-year-old girls’ soccer team.
The team isn’t exactly what he’d hoped for. They’re inexperienced, overlooked and lacking just about everything you’d expect a competitive soccer team to have. And Jake initially treats the whole thing as a temporary inconvenience while trying to get his old job back.
But somewhere along the way, the coach who thought he had everything figured out begins seeing his players—and himself—differently.
Why watch: Little Angels brings plenty of sports comedy and underdog energy, but its real story is about humility, second chances and learning that winning isn’t always the point.
Watch Little Angels on EKKL →
🏈 Greater
He was told he wasn’t good enough. He decided to prove them wrong.
Before Brandon Burlsworth became one of the most respected players in Arkansas football history, he was the kid who didn’t look like a Division I athlete.
In 1994, Burlsworth walked onto the University of Arkansas football team and faced the kind of odds that would have made plenty of people quit. Instead, he kept working. And working. And working.
His journey from overlooked walk-on to All-American is the heart of Greater, a true story about perseverance, faith and refusing to let other people’s expectations determine what you’re capable of becoming.
But the movie isn’t simply about making the team. Burlsworth’s story also asks bigger questions about faith, loss and what it means to trust God when life doesn’t unfold the way you expected.
Why watch: If your family loves an underdog story, this one delivers the kind of comeback you don’t forget.
Watch Greater on EKKL →
⚾ Running the Bases
A new school. A bigger baseball program. And a coach who won’t leave his faith in the dugout.
Luke Brooks gets the opportunity coaches dream about: a chance to lead a much larger high school baseball program.
So he uproots his family and leaves behind the small town he’s always called home.
But his new position comes with an unexpected challenge.
Luke is a man of faith, and his approach to coaching soon puts him at odds with the school’s superintendent. What follows is a battle over how he coaches, what he believes and what kind of influence a coach can have on young athletes.
The baseball gives the movie its setting, but the story is really about the relationship between a coach and the kids he’s been entrusted to lead.
Why watch: For baseball fans, it’s a chance to get back on the field after the final out. For families, it’s a story about faith, conviction and the impact adults can have on the next generation.
Watch Running the Bases on EKKL →
🏈 Average Joe
He knelt to pray after football games. What happened next became a national story.
Based on the true story of Joe Kennedy, Average Joe follows the high school football coach whose decision to pray after games ultimately put him at the center of a national legal battle.
After years of serving in the Marines and working through the foster care system, Kennedy becomes a high school coach determined to make a difference in his players’ lives. But when he continues his practice of praying on the field after games, he is fired from his coaching position, setting off a legal fight that reaches the U.S. Supreme Court.
At its heart, though, the movie is about a coach who believed his job was about more than football.
Why watch: It’s a sports story, but the stakes go far beyond football—exploring faith, conviction and what happens when one coach refuses to separate what he believes from the way he lives.
Watch Average Joe on EKKL →
More Than a Game
These movies remind us that the best sports stories aren’t always about what’s on the scoreboard. And they’re just a few of the sports movies you can find on EKKL, alongside plenty of other family-friendly stories worth watching together.
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