Best Sports Movies For Kids

As America’s stock of athletic young men is depleted during World War II, a professional all-female baseball league springs up in the Midwest, funded by publicity-hungry candy maker Walter Harvey (Garry Marshall). Competitive sisters Dottie Hinson (Geena Davis) and Kit Keller (Lori Petty) spar with each other, scout Ernie Capadino (Jon Lovitz), and grumpy has-been coach Jimmy Dugan (Tom Hanks) on their way to fame.

Foster kid Roger (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) loves the Anaheim Angels, even though they’re the worst team in the major leagues. His estranged dad promises to reunite the family if the Angels make it to the World Series, so Roger decides to ask for some divine help and prays that his favorite team will turn things around. Soon, a real angel named Al (Christopher Lloyd) shows up in response to Roger’s prayers, and Anaheim’s hopeless coach (Danny Glover) is shocked to see his team on a winning streak.

The story follows a smart and brainy American girl named Cory, who seeks to spend her semester in a science research program before she accidentally gets on the wrong bus and ends up spending her semester at the Harold Soccer Academy.

After losing his position as a minor-league pitcher, Montgomery Brewster (Richard Pryor) learns his great-uncle has left him 300 million dollars. To inherit it, Brewster must spend 30 million dollars in 30 days under a complicated set of rules that forbid him from donating too much to charity or retaining any new assets when the period is up.

Unable to share details about the will’s odd conditions with anyone, Brewster sets out to spend his money under the stern eye of paralegal Angela Drake (Lonette McKee).

In a world where the towns are peopled with cars, and even the bugs are mini motors, a young ambitious racing car called Lightning McQueen is a star. On his way to an important event, he has to stop in the little town of Radiator Springs after he accidentally damages the road and is forced to repair it. He finds living in a community oddly endearing, making true friends, and beginning to realize there’s more in life than winning.

Four Jamaican bobsleighs dream of competing in the Winter Olympics, despite never having seen snow. With the help of a disgraced former champion desperate to redeem himself, the Jamaicans set out to become worthy of Olympic selection, and go all out for glory.

When Iowa farmer Ray (Kevin Costner) hears a mysterious voice one night in his cornfield saying “If you build it, he will come,” he feels the need to act. Despite taunts of lunacy, Ray builds a baseball diamond on his land, supported by his wife, Annie (Amy Madigan). Afterward, the ghosts of great players start emerging from the crops to play ball, led by “Shoeless” Joe Jackson. But, as Ray learns, this field of dreams is about much more than bringing former baseball greats out to play.

All Happy Gilmore (Adam Sandler) has ever wanted is to be a professional hockey player. But he soon discovers he may actually have a talent for playing an entirely different sport: golf. When his grandmother (Frances Bay) learns she is about to lose her home, Happy joins a golf tournament to try and win enough money to buy it for her. With his powerful driving skills and foulmouthed attitude, Happy becomes an unlikely golf hero — much to the chagrin of the well-mannered golf professionals.

Casey Carlyle (Michelle Trachtenberg) is supposed to go to Harvard, just like her mother (Joan Cusack). While Casey has the grades to get into her mom’s alma mater, what she really wants to do is pursue her passion: figure skating. Both Casey’s mom and Gen (Hayden Panettiere), the captain of the local team, scoff at the idea of Casey on the ice. But Casey soon finds an unlikely ally, and coach, in Gen’s mom, Tina (Kim Cattrall), a former skater trying to live down mistakes from her past.

Lifelong football fan Vince Papale (Mark Wahlberg) sees his wildest dreams come true when he becomes a member of the Philadelphia Eagles. While teaching at his high-school alma mater in Pennsylvania, the 30-year-old gets a chance to try out for his favorite team and, except for kickers, becomes the oldest rookie in NFL history who never played football in college.

Daniel (Ralph Macchio) moves to Southern California with his mother, Lucille (Randee Heller), but quickly finds himself the target of a group of bullies who study karate at the Cobra Kai dojo. 

Ever since childhood, nerdy Danny O’Shea (Rick Moranis) has felt inferior to his brother, Kevin (Ed O’Neill), a former college football star. Danny runs a gas station, while Kevin coaches the local youth football team. When Kevin’s team rejects Danny’s daughter, Becky (Shawna Waldron), because she’s a girl, Becky convinces her dad to start a rival team, though the city can support only one. To prove himself against his brother, Danny begins coaching his team of misfits for a playoff game.

The new owner of the Cleveland Indians, former showgirl Rachel Phelps (Margaret Whitton), has a sweetheart deal to move the team to Miami. But to break the lease with the city of Cleveland, ticket sales have to plummet. So Phelps hires the most incompetent players available, including near-blind pitcher Rick Vaughn (Charlie Sheen) and injury-prone catcher Jake Taylor (Tom Berenger). But her villainous tactics accidentally foster a can-do team spirit, turning the Indians into potential winners.

In a last-ditch effort to save his career, sports agent J.B. Bernstein (Jon Hamm) plans to find baseball’s next star pitcher. He heads to India to find a cricket player whom he can nurture into a major league star. With the help of a scout (Alan Arkin), J.B. finds teens Dinesh (Madhur Mittal) and Rinku (Suraj Sharma), who haven’t a clue about baseball but throw powerful pitches. As the boys adjust to American life, J.B. learns valuable lessons about teamwork and family.

When college coach Herb Brooks (Kurt Russell) is hired to helm the 1980 U.S. men’s Olympic hockey team, he brings a unique and brash style to the ice. After assembling a team of hot-headed college all-stars, who are humiliated in an early match, Brooks unites his squad against a common foe, the heavily-favored Soviet team. As the U.S. squad tries to overcome insurmountable odds and win the gold medal, the team becomes a microcosm of American patriotism during the Cold War.

Charlie Kenton (Hugh Jackman) used to be a prizefighter but lost his chance to win a title when heavy, towering robots took over the boxing ring. Now working as a small-time promoter, Charlie pieces together scrap metal into low-end fighters, barely earning enough to make it from one underground venue to the next. After hitting rock bottom, Charlie reluctantly teams up with his estranged son, Max (Dakota Goyo), to build and train a championship robot for a last shot at redemption.

In Virginia, high school football is a way of life, an institution revered, each game celebrated more lavishly than Christmas, each playoff distinguished more grandly than any national holiday. And with such recognition, comes powerful emotions. In 1971 high school football was everything to the people of Alexandria. But when the local school board was forced to integrate an all-black school with an all-white school, the very foundation of football’s great tradition was put to the test.

A freak accident causes 12-year-old Little League player Henry (Thomas Ian Nicholas) to become such a powerful and accurate pitcher that the Chicago Cubs sign the junior high student to a contract. Unprepared for such a high-pressure environment, Henry falters until aging fastballer Chet Steadman (Gary Busey) takes him under his wing and teaches him how to play in the big leagues. Meanwhile, his mother’s venal boyfriend (Bruce Altman) tries to sell Henry’s contract to a hated opposing team.

Rudy Ruettiger (Sean Astin) wants to play football at the University of Notre Dame but has neither the money for tuition nor the grades to qualify for a scholarship. Rudy redoubles his efforts to get out of the steel mill where his father works when his best friend (Christopher Reed) dies in an accident there. Overcoming his dyslexia thanks to his friend and tutor, D-Bob (Jon Favreau), Rudy gains admission to Notre Dame and begins to fight his way onto the school’s fabled football team.

After he beats his dad (Joe Mantegna) in a chess match, Josh Waitzkin (Max Pomeranc), a 7-year-old, gets noticed for his talent. He becomes interested in speed chess at the park and learns the game from a hustler named Vinnie (Laurence Fishburne). However, Josh’s parents invest in the services of Bruce (Ben Kingsley), a famous coach who has very different practices. Between Bruce’s methods and the stress of the competitions, Josh learns that even a chess prodigy cannot make all the right moves.

Despite her lack of experience, housewife, and mother Penny Chenery (Diane Lane) agrees to take over management of the family Thoroughbred farm after her father (Scott Glenn) becomes ill. Successfully navigating her way through the male-dominated world of horse racing, Chenery, together with veteran trainer Lucien Laurin (John Malkovich), fosters a gifted colt that ultimately crosses the finish line into history as the Triple Crown winner in 1973.

Swackhammer (Danny DeVito), an evil alien theme park owner, needs a new attraction at Moron Mountain. When his gang, the Nerdlucks, heads to Earth to kidnap Bugs Bunny (Billy West) and the Looney Tunes, Bugs challenges them to a basketball game to determine their fate. The aliens agree, but they steal the powers of NBA basketball players, including Larry Bird (Larry Bird) and Charles Barkley (Charles Barkley) — so Bugs gets some help from superstar Michael Jordan (Michael Jordan).

Surfing means everything to teenage penguin Cody Maverick (Benoît Brière). Followed by a documentary film crew, he leaves his home in Antarctica for Pen Gu Island, the site of the Big Z Memorial Surf Off. Cody wants to be respected and admired, and he believes that winning the competition will bring him what he craves. However, an encounter with washed-up surfer Geek (Mariloup Wolfe) teaches Cody about what is truly important.

Fresh from England on a foreign exchange program, teacher Miss Anna (Olivia d’Abo) arrives in a small Texas town where the local students don’t have much to be happy about. Determined to boost their spirits, Anna forms a soccer team, hoping the sport will help them out of their funk. But, since they’ve never played before, she has her work cut out for her. She hopes that, with her assistant coach, Sheriff Tom (Steve Guttenberg), she might have a chance to turn their lives around.

Michael Oher (Quinton Aaron), a homeless black teen, has drifted in and out of the school system for years. Then Leigh Anne Tuohy (Sandra Bullock) and her husband, Sean (Tim McGraw), take him in. The Tuohys eventually become Michael’s legal guardians, transforming both his life and theirs. Michael’s tremendous size and protective instincts make him a formidable force on the gridiron, and with help from his new family and devoted tutor, he realizes his potential as a student and football player.

Born into poverty, Ernie Davis (Rob Brown) overcomes many obstacles to get into Syracuse University’s football program. Under the guidance of Coach Ben Schwartzwalder (Dennis Quaid), Davis becomes one of the school’s best players, even surpassing Jim Brown’s achievements. In 1961 Davis becomes the first black player to win the Heisman Trophy, but there is one more obstacle in his life that he must overcome.

After reckless young lawyer Gordon Bombay (Emilio Estevez) 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 (Lane Smith). The reluctant Gordon eventually grows to appreciate his team, which includes promising young Charlie Conway (Joshua Jackson), and leads them to take on Reilly’s tough players.

On the way to a tryout with the Chicago Cubs, young baseball phenom Roy Hobbs (Robert Redford) is shot by the unstable Harriet Bird (Barbara Hershey). After 16 years, Hobbs returns to pro baseball as a rookie for the last-place New York Knights. Despite early arguments with his manager, Pop Fisher (Wilford Brimley), Hobbs becomes one of the best players in the league, and the Knights start winning. But this upsets the Judge (Robert Prosky), their owner, who wants Hobbs to lose games, not win.

A true story about a coach who discovers that it’s never too late for dreams to come true. Jim Morris (Dennis Quaid) 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.

Raised by his overprotective mother, Helen (Kathy Bates), Bobby Boucher Jr. (Adam Sandler) is the water boy for a successful college football team coached by Red Beaulieu (Jerry Reed). When Beaulieu fires Bobby, he takes up the same position for a losing rival team, led by despairing Coach Klein (Henry Winkler). After witnessing Bobby beat up a player who teased him too much, Klein adds him to the roster as a linebacker. Soon, Klein’s players are championship contenders.