“Women who want to win at sports…that doesn’t make them not human; it doesn’t mean they don’t want friendships. It just means that they happen to also be competitors in their craft, and they can both exist in that world,” Pappas says. “They just both want to get the most out of themselves, probably made better by the other one anyway.” Relationships are truly key in this film about top athletes trying to best each other—the pair played 80 matchups in their heyday—while also growing to admire and respect one another.
Rating: TV-G
How to watch: rent or buy on Amazon Prime
This 2020 film explores the groundbreaking story of the USC women’s basketball team that took the NCAA by storm in the 1980s. Led by Cheryl Miller, the squad’s undeniable talent catapulted the program to back-to-back national championships and influenced the formation of the WNBA.
“I was familiar with Reggie Miller, who played in the NBA for nearly two decades…. But until I watched Women of Troy, I had no idea his sister, Cheryl Miller, is also a fantastic basketball player—maybe even the best woman to ever play the game,” says SELF’s editor in chief Rachel Miller, who considers this doc one of her top picks. “She definitely gets her due in this film.”
This gripping documentary includes interviews and archival footage of basketball trailblazers, including Miller, Cynthia Cooper, and Rhonda Windham, among other legends in the sport, and the steps they took to create more opportunities for future generations of players.
Rating: TV-14
How to watch: HBO Max
The Founders shares the inspiring story of the 13 amateur women golfers who overcame a whole bunch of barriers—from sexism to lack of funding—to create the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA), one of longest running professional sports organizations for women in the world. The film includes interviews with the four living pioneers—Marilynn Smith, Louise Suggs, Shirley Spork, and Marlene Bauer Vossler—who beat the odds time and time again to form the league and shift the perception of female athletes in the late 1940s. “All of us draw strength from what those women did,” former professional golfer Renee Powell says in the film.
Rating: TV-Y
How to watch: Amazon Prime
In this episode of Reel Rock, American climber Margo Hayes attempts to conquer two of the most revered peaks in the entire world—a goal that came with a few struggles and was years in the making. “When climbing a hard route, self-doubt can come on as quickly and intensely as physical fatigue, but Hayes shakes off both with ease. She’s a plucky, ambitious, and balletic climber that you just want to see succeed. And that’s not only because she’s making history for women in the sport generally, but because her goals clearly mean so much to her as an individual too,” says SELF’s senior commerce writer Sara Coughlin, a recreational climber who considers this doc one of her top picks. “The entire time, it feels like rooting for someone you know—your friend, your sister, or that strong girl you always see at the gym.”