Top 250 Movies Like Thumping Spike

When a high school football star is suddenly stricken with irreversible total blindness, he must decide whether to live a safe handicapped life or bravely return to the life he once knew and the sport he still loves.

A skilled young hockey prospect hoping to attract the attention of professional scouts is pressured to show that he can fight if challenged during his stay in a Canadian minor hockey town. His on-ice activities are complicated by his relationship with the coach's daughter.

Set against the backdrop of a high school football season, Dan Lindsay and T.J. Martin’s documentary UNDEFEATED is an intimate chronicle of three underprivileged student-athletes from inner-city Memphis and the volunteer coach trying to help them beat the odds on and off the field. For players and coaches alike, the season will be not only about winning games — it will be about how they grapple with the unforeseeable events that are part of football and part of life.

United is based on the true story of Manchester United's legendary "Busby Babes", the youngest side ever to win the Football League and the 1958 Munich Air Crash that claimed eight of the their number. The film draws on first-hand interviews with the survivors and their families to tell the inspirational story of a team and community overcoming terrible tragedy.

In small-town Texas, high school football is a religion, 17-year-old schoolboys carry the hopes of an entire community onto the gridiron every Friday night. When star quarterback Lance Harbor suffers an injury, the Coyotes are forced to regroup under the questionable leadership of John Moxon, a second-string quarterback with a slightly irreverent approach to the game.

Unable to cope with his military father's sudden death in combat, quick-tempered teen, Conor, starts getting into serious trouble. During an intense lacrosse camp, his father's old friend challenges Conor to get his life on track and become a man.

When a plane crash claims the lives of members of the Marshall University football team and some of its fans, the team's new coach and his surviving players try to keep the football program alive.

Molly is a high school track coach who knows just as much about football as anyone else on the planet. When a football coach's position becomes vacant, she applies for the job, despite snickers from fellow staff members and her former husband.

Anthony Keller, star of his NYC high school basketball team, is riding his way to Cornell on a sports scholarship. But he can only maintain his popular jock facade for so long, as his troubled father Lee has a gambling addiction that threatens to derail his dreams both on and off the court.

Love and unity in a school torn by racism and hate in the 1970s. A gifted high school football player must learn to embrace his talent and his faith as he battles racial tensions on and off the field.

The story of the NHL's early years, focusing on the battle between the players, led by Hall of Famer Ted Lindsay, and the owners, over issues of benefits, pensions and the like.

A former football hero cannot accept his career is over. He loses himself in alcohol and women.

Even though he's the only black student at the elite Palmetto Grove Academy, star basketball player and future NBA hopeful Odin James has the adoration of all, including the team's coach and the Dean's beautiful daughter Desi. Odin's troubled friend Hugo, the coach's son, is deeply resentful of his father's preference of Odin on and off the court. When Hugo plots a diabolical scheme to sow the seed of mistrust between O and Desi, it sets in motion a disturbing chain of events which erupts into a firestorm of breathtaking intensity.

Gambler/racketeer "Knucks" McGloin takes note of just how much money and action (aside from the game itself) takes place around and about the annual Rose Bowl football game, and decides this is one sweet proposition and could be even sweeter if one had his own college and football game and had a large say beforehand as to the outcome of any game this team had. So he ups and creates his own college---Carnasie after his own neighborhood. His gangster rival. Gilatti, thinks this give McGloin a definite inside advantage and, if there is one thing a gambler can't abide, it is that someone has an inside advantage and they are not that someone. Gilatti gets himself a college football team. Education marches on.

To save the universe, and their friendship, Mordecai and Rigby must defeat an evil volleyball coach.

Jim Morris never made it out of the minor leagues before a shoulder injury ended his pitching career twelve years ago. Now a married-with-children high-school chemistry teacher and baseball coach in Texas, Jim's team makes a deal with him: if they win the district championship, Jim will try out with a major-league organization. The bet proves incentive enough for the team, and they go from worst to first, making it to state for the first time in the history of the school. Jim, forced to live up to his end of the deal, is nearly laughed off the try-out field--until he gets onto the mound, where he confounds the scouts (and himself) by clocking successive 98 mph fastballs, good enough for a minor-league contract with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Jim's still got a lot of pitches to throw before he makes it to The Show, but with his big-league dreams revived, there's no telling where he could go.

It's recruiting time and despite being short and scrawny, Johnny Walker is America's hottest young football prospect. His dilemma: should he take one of the many offers from college talent scouts or should he attend the local state college with his girlfriend and give up his football career?

The story of legendary Notre Dame football player and coach Knute Rockne.

Air Bud finds that he has the uncanny ability to play volleyball.

Sensitive study of a headstrong high school football star who dreams of getting out of his small Western Pennsylvania steel town with a football scholarship. His equally ambitious coach aims at a college position, resulting in a clash which could crush the player's dreams.

A mother's worst nightmare comes true when her teenage daughter goes missing.

Kelly Halligan has moved with her 17-year-old niece from New York to California to start her new business venture. When her niece tries out for the soccer team, the two meet the athletic and handsome new coach, Dominic. They also become acquainted with the attractive, but somewhat unstable, student Maddie who is also on the girl's high school soccer team. While Kelly and Dominic develop a romance, Dominic becomes the unwanted center of attention for Maddie, who becomes obsessed with her new coach and proceeds to sabotage his life and Kelly's after he refuses her sexual advances.

After reckless young lawyer Gordon Bombay gets arrested for drunk driving, he must coach a kids hockey team for his community service. Gordon has experience on the ice, but isn't eager to return to hockey, a point hit home by his tense dealings with his own former coach, Jack Reilly. The reluctant Gordon eventually grows to appreciate his team, which includes promising young Charlie Conway, and leads them to take on Reilly's tough players.

After Gordon Bombay's hockey comeback is cut short he is named coach of Team USA Hockey for the Junior Goodwill Games. Bombay reunites the Mighty Ducks and introduces a few new players, however, he finds himself distracted by his newfound fame and must regather if the Ducks are to defeat tournament favourites Iceland.

With the help of her coach, her mom, and the boy who drives the Zamboni machine, nothing can stop Casey from realizing her dream to be a champion figure skater.

Troy, the popular captain of the basketball team, and Gabriella, the brainy and beautiful member of the academic club, break all the rules of East High society when they secretly audition for the leads in the school's musical. As they reach for the stars and follow their dreams, everyone learns about acceptance, teamwork, and being yourself.

In 1966, Texas Western coach Don Haskins led the first all-black starting line-up for a college basketball team to the NCAA national championship.

Alex Pearson has a lot to learn about teamwork. As the star of the Lemon Oaks hockey team, Alex almost always has his way on and off the ice. That ism until he pulls a stunt so outrageous not even his own coach can give him a pass. His punishment? Suspension from the team, a never-ending list of chores and a job watching his little sister Emily after school.

Based on a true story, in which Richmond High School head basketball coach Ken Carter made headlines in 1999 for benching his undefeated team due to poor academic results.

The story of Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane's successful attempt to put together a baseball team on a budget, by employing computer-generated analysis to draft his players.

Taking over Leeds United, Brian Clough's abrasive approach and his clear dislike of the players' dirty style of play make it certain there is going to be friction. Glimpses of his earlier career help explain both his hostility to previous manager Don Revie and how much he is missing right-hand man Peter Taylor.

A light hearted comedy about the beginnings of Professional American Football. When a decorated war hero and college all star is tempted into playing professional football. Everyone see the chance to make some big money, but when a reporter digs up some dirt on the war hero... everyone could lose out.

An ambitious young skier, determined to break all existing records, is contemptuous of the teamwork advocated by the US coach when they go to Europe for the Olympics.

A teenager falls hard for the female soccer player who has replaced him on the team and attempts to pursue her.

A controlling father’s attempts to ensure that his two children succeed in high school backfire after his son experiences a career-ending sports injury. Their familial bonds are eventually placed under severe strain by an unexpected tragedy.

Monica Wright and Quincy McCall grew up in the same neighborhood and have known each other since childhood. As they grow into adulthood, they fall in love, but they also share another all-consuming passion: basketball. As Quincy and Monica struggle to make their relationship work, they follow separate career paths though high school and college basketball and, they hope, into stardom in big-league professional ball.

The inspiring origin story of a basketball superhero, revealing how LeBron James and his childhood friends become the #1 high school team in the country, launching James's breathtaking career as a four-time NBA Champion, two-time Olympic Gold Medalist and the NBA's all-time leading scorer.

A young man finds solace with a young woman, his mother, and a high-school football coach who recruits him to quarterback a six-man team.

Quadriplegics, who play full-contact rugby in wheelchairs, overcome unimaginable obstacles to compete in the Paralympic Games in Athens, Greece.

Tom Brown shows up at Harvard, confident and a bit arrogant. He becomes a rival of Bob McAndrew, not only in football and rowing crew, but also for the affections of Mary Abbott, a professor's daughter.

Henry Steele is a basketball phenom at his small town high school, but when he matriculates to a big city university on a scholarship, soon realizes that he has few skills outside the sport. Expected by his coach to contribute significantly to the team, Henry is overwhelmed by the demands on his time, the "big business" aspect of college sports, and the fact that he never fully learned to read. Things look bleak for Henry when Janet Hays, a pretty graduate student, is assigned as Henry's tutor. Her intellect and strength lift Henry out of his doldrums just in time to battle the coach, who attempts to rescind Henry's scholarship.

With the help of their high school's newest teacher, four Hispanic students form a robotics club. Although they have no experience, the youths set their sights on a national robotics contest. With $800 and parts scavenged from old cars, they build a robot and compete against reigning champion MIT. Along the way, the students learn not only how to build a robot but something far more important: how to forge bonds that will last a lifetime.

Two years after a Super Bowl win when NFL head coach Sean Payton is suspended, he goes back to his hometown and finds himself reconnecting with his 12-year-old son by coaching his Pop Warner football team.

Every school day, African-American teenagers William Gates and Arthur Agee travel 90 minutes each way from inner-city Chicago to St. Joseph High School in Westchester, Illinois, a predominately white suburban school well-known for the excellence of its basketball program. Gates and Agee dream of NBA stardom, and with the support of their close-knit families, they battle the social and physical obstacles that stand in their way. This acclaimed documentary was shot over the course of five years.

Failed college coach Norman Dale gets a chance at redemption when he is hired to coach a high school basketball team in a tiny Indiana town. After a teacher persuades star player Jimmy Chitwood to quit and focus on his long-neglected studies, Dale struggles to develop a winning team in the face of community criticism for his temper and his unconventional choice of assistant coach: Shooter, a notorious alcoholic.

The life story of a salt-of-the-earth Irish immigrant, who becomes an Army Noncommissioned Officer and spends his 50 year career at the United States Military Academy at West Point. This includes his job-related experiences as well as his family life and the relationships he develops with young cadets with whom he befriends. Based on the life of a real person.

Bob plays football badly so his father Coach Dudley, his girlfriend Dorothy and his school reject him. He joins a rival college team and aims to defeat his dad's team.

The story of the 1980 United States Olympic hockey players, a group of amateurs from around the country who were whipped into a cohesive unit by controversial coach Herb Brooks to win a gold medal at Lake Placid during the winter games.

After the tragic death of star volleyball player Caroline "Line" Found, a team of dispirited high school girls must band together under the guidance of their tough-love coach in hopes of winning the state championship!

The story of Ray-Ray McElrathbey, a freshman football player for Clemson University, who secretly raised his younger brother on campus after his home life became too unsteady.

Based on true events amid the wreckage and chaos dealt by Hurricane Katrina; one basketball coach in Marrero, Louisiana just will not give up. Coach Al Collins, gathers other players from hard-hit schools and builds a team actually worthy enough to go to the state playoffs.

A school teacher takes over a talented, but undisciplined high school basketball team and turns them into a winning team.

Girls growing up in 1960-61 London develop a passion for Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, the first British team in the 20th century to win the English league and FA Cup "double". Twenty years later, one of the girls tracks down players of the '60-'61 Spurs for a documentary.

A 30-something urbanite is pulled back to his rural hometown by his high school buddies on Thanksgiving to finish The Turkey Bowl - an epic football game against their cross town rivals that was snowed out fifteen years prior.

After reluctantly agreeing to coach cross-country, high school basketball Coach John Harrison helps the least likely runner attempt the impossible in the biggest race of the year.

Cap Collender (Arthur Loft),a showboat gambling racketeer, ensnares a collegiate rowing team's coxswain, "Squirt" Adams (Jimmy Eagles), into the sports-gambling racket.

High school football coach, Harold Jones befriends Radio, a mentally-challenged man who becomes a student at T.L. Hanna High School in Anderson, South Carolina. Their friendship extends over several decades, where Radio transforms from a shy, tormented man into an inspiration to his community.

A comedy centered on a has-been coach who is given a shot at redemption when he's asked to run his local high school's girls basketball team

After a teenager's friends die in an accident, he finds running allows him to remember them perfectly. Running, however, also brings him notoriety. He is caught between keeping the past alive and making new memories in the present.

15 year-old soccer prodigy, Sara Davis, has a chance to join the U.S. National Team, but she must juggle high school, romance, sports, and parental pressure while deciding her own priorities.

An uplifting story of the passion and drive it takes to succeed and the power of family to help realize your dreams.

Coach George Copper's college football team is losing game after game, much to the dismay of stiff-and-stuffy but influential alumni Roger Jessup, and also having trouble at home with his oldest daughter, Connie. The team keeps losing and Coach Cooper is about to lose his job as his efforts to win the last game of the season, against the team's Big Rival, end in disaster. But, unknown to he and his wife, Elizabeth, Connie has sold an article, called "I Was a Bubble Dancer" to a 'True-Confession" magazine, and the girl-who-couldn't-get-a-date becomes suddenly popular and, because of her, the high-school football star from another town decides to play his college-ball for Coach Cooper. Jessup is forced to keep Cooper on as the school's football coach.

Freddie Steinmark, an underdog on the gridiron, faces the toughest challenge of his life after leading his team to a championship season.

True story of the life of Jimmy Piersall, who battled mental illness to achieve stardom in major league baseball.

A story about the great basketball player "Pistol" Pete Maravich when he was in the eighth grade. He plays on the varsity basketball team at Daniel High School but has some very difficult obstacles standing in his way of playing. The only support he has is from his father, retired basketball pro Press Maravich.

Ruthless Coach Gore creates turmoil at a college by hiring players and alienating students. Along the way, the coach loses his wife Claire Gore to a grandstanding player. Inside look at college football of the 1930s replete with fake grades, non-student players, and the importance of football to a college's reputation.

In 1980, a teenage boy escapes the unrest in Iran only to face more hostility in America, due to the hostage crisis. Determined to fit in, he joins the school's floundering wrestling team.

Joe Mazzello, best known for his acting roles in Jurassic Park, HBO's The Pacific, The Social Network, etc, wrote and made his directorial debut with this story based on his brother's experience as a collegiate baseball star who was skipped over in the Major League Baseball draft. Story centers around an intramural baseball game with his misfit teammates that becomes incredibly important to him as he tries to come to grips with his dashed dream.

All-American basketball player, Billy signs up with the world-famous "Harlem Globetrotters", an all-Negro professional team. Billy struggles with important life decisions and their consequences.

A masked killer begins murdering students on the school track team after a track runner dies upon completion of a 30 second 200-meter race.

In the Bible, Saul persecuted Christ's church and its followers. Overcome parallels this story. Set in modern day, a young man in high school mistreats anyone good around him, until he has a fateful accident which changes his life. Now he must make amends to all those around him, and try to become the person he knew he should have been the whole time.

Unveils the exploitative world of high-revenue college sports through the stories of young men at varying stages in their athletic careers.

A quiet and introverted high school senior by the name of Gaby is asked by the school's principal to welcome and supervise the integration of a new student, Sandrine. Outgoing and cheerful Sandrine is the complete opposite of Gaby; yet, the two girls soon develop a bond and Gaby slowly comes out of her shell. Pent up emotions about a past accident and old friendships comes back to hunt Gaby after she learns that she will have to tutor Frédérick, the swim team's champion and school hunk.

Kokoyakyu: High School Baseball is a documentary about making it to Koshien, the summer high school baseball tournament in Japan. The documentary follows two teams: Chiben Academy from Wakayama Prefecture and Tennoji Public High School from Osaka. The documentary covers what motivates the players and coaches, and also covers the cheer team and team managers who support the team.

It started as a friendly meeting between 4 old buddies with their basketball coach and ended up in revealing the truth about their relationship. The meeting forces the five men to reveal their true identity, to be honest with each other for the first time in their lives. When the night comes to an end they decide to go back to the old glorious days and reunite into the team which won that championship season, back in 1957.

Ferguson is a rough-and-tumble hockey player who discovers that his chosen profession is nothing more than a racket, a plaything for game-fixing racketeers. When his brother is killed in a highly suspicious accident, Ferguson and team trainer Holland join forces to bring the killers to justice.

When single mom Megan Nolan moves to a new town, she feels guilty for uprooting her ten-year-old daughter Caitlin. Seeing that the little girl's only friend is a neighbor's dog, Megan decides to adopt a shelter pet for Caitlin. She immediately regrets her decision when Caitlin gravitates to the biggest, sloppiest dog in the pound, Jake. Megan's beautiful new home is now in shambles and, as Megan considers returning Jake to the shelter, handsome ballplayer Ben shows up claiming Jake is his dog, the regrettable outcome of his roommate leaving a gate open. Megan and Ben butt heads. Ben wants to take his dog and leave, until he sees that Caitlin loves Jake as much as he ever could. Now it is clear: the pound puppy everyone loves deserves no less than joint custody.

When Jessica Parker’s former high school boyfriend, superstar baseball player Chase Taynor, returns to town, she finds the inspiration to reinvent her struggling diner… and revisits the past to find something even better for the future.

A world champion ski racer and local ski instructor find romance on the slopes as he returns home and prepares for the biggest race of his life.

The story deals with the college rivalry of a piccolo player and an All-American halfback on the football team who both love the same co-ed. After graduation they carry their their feud and collegiate ideas over into the department store business.

Gamblers try to pressure a star hockey player into throwing a game.

Samantha, once jilted by her high school sweetheart Jake during Snowcoming, returns home to honor her football coach father, who’s retiring, and runs into Jake, now a famous quarterback. After seeing the library needs updating, Samantha asks Jake to use his celebrity as a draw for a “Tailgate at the Library” fundraiser.

Jenna, a former professional dancer, uses ballet to help a hockey player get back on the ice.

A figure skater is injured during a competition. A coach that hired her then helps her rehab her injury so that she may live her dream.

The newly crowned Rose Bowl Princess and a tough but tender football player find the California Rose Bowl is an area for their budding romance.

A documentary chronicling the highs and lows of the first century of the National Hockey League, featuring interviews with noteworthy players, coaches and experts.

An exploration into the struggle American girls and women have faced trying to play their country's national pastime from 1931 to the present day. The story is told by players, coaches, umpires, and parents from age 9 to 90, celebrates those who've succeeded in spite of crippling gender bias, and considers the path forward to make the game accessible to all women across the USA.

Indy lives with her aunt and uncle and believes her life is fine until an accident brings a new guy into her life. Bryant Bailey is not Indy's type - she's never been into guys like him. But then again, she's never really known anyone so stubborn and caring that can also help her discover who she is and what she's worth. A modern telling of Cinderella, based on the novel by Jenni James.

Joong-Ang High School was once renowned for its high ranked basketball team, but as the years pass and victories grow fewer, the school's social worker Kang Yang-hyun who was a former minor league baseball player, becomes the head coach. Left over talent refuses to play under an inexperienced coach, leaving Coach Kang to pull together a ragtag team of sports misfits. The team is pushed to their limits, but one final obstacle threatens to destroy what little hope was left, until six members agree to return for the love of the game and take on the KBA National Tournament. With only six players on their roster, they begin knocking on victory's door, following Coach Kang's motto: "There is no such thing as missed shots, there are only rebounds!" The miracle journey of Busan Joong-Ang High begins.

Three friends' love for volleyball is tested to the limit when their school burns to the ground and they are forced to join a rival school in order to win the national championship.

“The Rocket" is a small town story inspired by true events, about a high school football star who suffers a severe head injury and loses his entire life plan. The heaviness of a broken relationship with his father, and losing the identity of "football star" push him to seek a new way to prove himself. Restricted from playing any sports and despite being an unlikely runner, the cross country coach brings the young man aboard his high school team out of necessity, and through much struggle, doubt, and determination, he finds a new way to push towards greatness. With colorful characters, youthful insights, and nostalgic storytelling, "The Rocket" brings together the elements of family, loss, failure, and redemption. The entire story is based on real characters and events that took place in the mid-west in 1999.

From acclaimed director, Chris Eyre, whom People Magazine calls "…the preeminent Native American filmmaker of his time" comes this touching and inspirational story about loyalty, friendship and courage. New man in town Kenny Williams (James McDaniel) has just accepted a position as an English professor at the Three Nations Reservation in Utah. Finding it hard to fit in with the tight-knit Native American community, he decides to take on the challenge of coaching the high school girls' basketball team.

The true story of a single mom who overcomes many of life's obstacles.

When high school football player Cam Stiles loses his best friend, he decides to drop football and focus on attaining his friend's goal of running a mile in under four minutes. Cam's decision tears apart his relationship with former teammates and his father—who happens to be his demanding football coach.

A high school halfback must choose between the gridiron dreams of his football coach father, and his own dream of becoming a musician.

A searing commentary on the "win at all costs" mentality of American high school sports. David Lee Birdsong is the smalltown quarterback hoping to escape with a college scholarship and a pro career. David's father is the overbearing taskmaster vicariously living through his son. The third side of the triangle is Coach Marshall, a hypercritical and cruel man who sees David as the key to his future success. David's lockstep commitment to his father and coach is altered when he witnesses a teammate die after a grueling practice.

In order to get better results, a young athlete starts using steroids and begins his downfall.

An unsuccessful coach is paired up with a losing female volleyball team that only needs a single win for the owner to keep it going.

An unwed mother watches as her illegitimate son is raised by others. Director Lambert Hillyer's 1934 drama stars Jean Arthur, Richard Cromwell, Donald Cook, Anita Louise, Jane Darwell, Mary Forbes and Ward Bond.

College football player is expelled for ticket scalping, and teams up with reporter to expose his school's hypocrisy.