When I’m not driving my roommates crazy by yelling at a Bulls game, I’m probably driving them crazy by using our one and only dorm TV to watch a bunch of sports documentaries (most recently “Shohei Ohtani: Beyond the Dream”).
Sports documentaries are kind of magical. They are meant to teach us something, certainly about sports and the athletes who play them, but also about the lessons of life. Lessons of failure and of success. They offer striking stories about the conflicts that the world’s best athletes face, giving us average viewers a little bit of comfort knowing that Scotty Pippen or Anthony Rizzo are human beings just like us.
I’m used to the old school sports docs — the ones my dad would have blaring on the living room TV when I was growing up. The ones that mostly centered around team sports and ultra-famous, historically significant athletes. The ones like “ESPN: 30 for 30”.
For decades, ESPN has been the industry standard and their well crafted documentaries have stood the test of time. In 2025, however, many streaming services are in the race to compete with ESPN in the sports documentary market.
Netflix produced a successful sports documentary that has the same feel as the classic ones: “The Last Dance,” an analysis of the 1990s Chicago Bulls Championship run. Since the success of “The Last Dance,” Netflix has produced several new sports documentaries, however these new shows follow a very different storytelling format than the ESPN classics.
“Full Swing” is a two season golf docuseries on Netflix made for grandpas and finance majors everywhere. “Full Swing” is structured more like reality TV than sports journalism — and it works.
This structure compliments the high profile, high stakes sport that is professional golf. This documentary highlights the lavish lifestyles of the athletes and the large paychecks that are on the line at every tournament with a little TMZ-esque flair. In all honesty, golf isn’t a sport that I typically watch, but “Full Swing’s” use of drama from the athletes’ personal lives as an angle to make the sport more interesting was effective. For the first time in my life, I was on the edge of my seat while watching scenes from the PGA tour.
“Sprint” is Netflix’s track docuseries, and you can tell. Unlike “Full Swing,” this series is heavily coated in the signature “Netflix veneer” with its sharp warm color grading and cinematic shot composition. The storytelling is fast paced to match the speed and energy of the sport and it has a more casual, conversational feel than other sports documentaries. “Sprint” follows the athletes in their day to day routines and shows some vulnerable moments with their family members, allowing for the show to be emotionally grounded despite its fast pace. Track is a sport that has always appealed to me, but has never gotten the same attention as other sports. “Sprint” is changing the game, letting people connect with the runners in a way that hasn’t really been seen before.
Finally, “Break Point” is a Netflix tennis docuseries that showcases the raw and intense side of tennis, a side that is not often shown in the media. The whole theme of “Break Point” is hightened drama and emotional stakes.
It hides nothing.
Audiences get to watch the frustration, anger and joy that is at the core of tennis. Audiences get to see the athletes be human. This approach does make the docuseries feel more like reality TV, but it serves as an effective storytelling tool, allowing for viewers to connect with the athletes in a way that they might not be able to if “Break Point” followed the traditional sports doc formula. I had never heard of many of the athletes featured in the series, but by the end of the first episode, I was fully invested in their journey.
The true soul of a sports doc is a story that connects the athlete with the audience. Despite the Netflix documentaries not following the traditional aesthetics or structure, they still have that soul. The new generation of sports documentaries are focusing on multiple different athletes with diverse backgrounds and stories rather than game analysis and legacy-building. All three of the Netflix docs are based on individual sports rather than team sports, highlighting athletes that do not get covered by the media as often and allowing for fresh new stories to be told. This new approach to sports documentaries humanizes these athletes and takes a look into the chaos behind the superstar personas.
These documentaries were certainly different from what I was used to, but different does not mean bad. Netflix’s new approach for the sports documentary is ushering in a new era of producing and consuming sports media. Next on the roster is a docuseries about SEC Football, capitalizing on the popularity of college sports. It will be interesting to observe fan reactions as Netflix encroaches on something as sacred as football in the American South. It will also be interesting to observe if the authentic and emotional Netflix style of sports docs will continue to be successful and stand the test of time.
You can stream “Full Swing,” “Sprint” and “Break Point” at any time on Netflix.
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