Skater Girls, Surfers and Soccer: Here Are The Best New Sports Docs On VOD

Two rival Philadelphia high schools are forced to consolidate during a budget crisis, meshing football players from Germantown High with those from Martin Luther King High School. To play together would be nearly sacrilegious, but with the dedication of one unrelenting coach, these boys who come from nothing where football is everything, turned their game around. From Dick’s Sporting Goods and Tribeca Film, We Could Be King will give you chills just from the trailer. [GoWatchIt]

Meet Pug. Pug just entered his teens and is now a part of the bad ass Baltimore kiddie biker gang known as the 12 O’Clock Boys. Director Lofty Nathan paints one helluva portrait of inner city youth in this incredible documentary that’s being described all over the internet as “The Wire with wheelies.” Maybe you won’t be inspired to hop on a dirt bike afterwards, but you can’t help but see the world a little bit differently — this doc shakes you. [GoWatchIt]

Acclaimed documentarian Alex Gibney (Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, Freakomonics) followed around Lance Armstrong while he was still at the top of his game — before being exposed for using performance enhancing drugs. Gibney was livid when he found out Armstrong lied to him during the chronology of their time together. The documentary took a complete 180-degree turn when Gibney forced Armstrong to tell him the truth once and for all. [GoWatchIt]

You thought Dance Moms was bad? From producer Peter Berg (Friday Night Lights) comes the enraging documentary about parents of talented athletes who desperately try to live vicariously through their kids. A golfer, a wrestler, and a basketball player are followed, along with their overbearing parents, from practices to games and finally, back home, where tensions run even higher. Pushing these kids to be the best is breaking them at the seams. [HBO Go]

Stephanie Gilmore was the most recognizable name in professional surfing when she won her first world championship at just 17 years old. After rising to the top of her sport in almost no time and acquiring four more world championships along the way, Gilmore crashed and burned after a tragic turn of events. This is her story about getting back to the ocean and overcoming odds against her while still in the public eye. See where you can stream it here. 

Before Lance Armstrong, Greg LeMond was the king of bike racing. Yet he wouldn’t have amounted to his legendary status within the sport without “The Badger” Bernard Hinault, who was supposed to be his mentor but turned out to be his rival. It’s an account of the ruthlessness that takes place on the track and how the very best bikers feel they have no choice than to leave everyone else in the dust to pedal ahead. [iTunes]

Part of ESPN’s 30 for 30 documentaries series, Bad Boys follows the Detroit Pistons basketball team who were notorious for their scrappy playing on the court and, yes, their bad behavior. They were the team everyone loved to hate on back in the ’80s and ’90s, but they radically changed the game of basketball when they took the national title in 1989 and 1990 during a period when the Chicago Bulls and Boston Celtics were untouchable. If you love yourself some b-ball, you need to see this. [iTunes]

After wrapping up on Bonanza, actor Bing Russell left Hollywood for Portland to found the Mavericks, a minor league baseball team independent from MLB. Though they were the most unprofessional professional team in the 1970s, the Mavericks shocked everyone when they began to break minor league records not only on the field but also in the stands — everyone was coming out to see what they were all about. [Netflix]

The American Samoa national football team’s only claim to fame is losing 31-0 to Australia in 2001. Until now. The rag-tag group of islanders are dedicated to moving up the ranks, but need a different approach from what put them down at the bottom in the first place. In comes Dutch coach Thomas Rogen, and he’s in it to win it. By the time the team finally hits the pitch after practicing day and night, you can’t help but cheer like crazy. [GoWatchIt].

Who said little girls couldn’t skateboard? Enter: The Pink Helmet Posse; a group of gals who would rather be out at the skatepark with the boys than stay at home and play with dolls. Don’t call this pint-sized posse a bunch of tomboys, though; they love their girly-girl skater outfits and those fairy wings definitely help them fly. You can watch the whole short above.