By Gen Terblanche11 July 2025
Watch her win! Women’s sports watch list
Women’s sports are in the spotlight this month as South Africa’s Banyana Banyana defend their WAFCON title, taking on Africa’s greatest players. With a victory against Ghana already under their belts, we’ll be tuning in to watch them stand up to Tanzania on Friday, 11 July, and Mali on Monday, 14 July. In the meantime, women’s football teams are also taking advantage of the Premier League off-season to get their time in the sun, at the Women’s Euros. It’s all live on Showmax Premier League now … but not every day is match day.
If you’re on fire to see women and girls kicking butt and snatching trophies through great teamwork, skill, and the power of will, we have some series and documentaries for you. Press play to see what it takes to become a champion, from the netball court to the race track.
Quick ticket links
Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty Season 1-2
Lionesses Part 1 and Lionesses Part 2
Breaking Records the Gerda Steyn Story
The Unbreakable Tatiana Suarez
Unstoppable: The Rebecca Nagel Story
Hero starts with her
Netball
Obstruction Season 1
Sports drama from Thembakuye Madlala, the creator of Showmax Original series Youngins. Seventeen-year-old Zenokuhle (Luyanda Zuma) has big dreams of making the Gauteng provincial netball team. But getting around her opponents on the court is child’s play compared to overcoming the obstacles in her everyday life, starting with her mom, Thandiwe (Bukamina Cebekhulu), who’s decided to uproot them and transfer Zenokuhle to a new school with a lacklustre netball team. While Zenokuhle blames her mom, her dad Mandla’s (Menzi Biyela) gambling addiction might be the root of the family’s troubles.
Tennis
Breekpunt Season 1
When 18-year-old Ashleigh Joshua (Spinners and Wyfie star Chelsea Thomas) sets her sights on becoming an international tennis champion, her mom Rozlynne (Lorcia Cooper Kumalo) and dad Dwayne (Sherman Faro) are more inclined to douse her dreams in cold water, than to cheer her on. There’s a strong message that “this is not for the likes of you”. But as Ashleigh’s talent shines, smart, ambitious Rozlynne faces a tough choice whether to stand up for her daughter, and stand up to her husband. Breekpunt’s tennis advisors included Pieter Becker, director of the High Performance Tennis Academy.
Spinning
Spinners Season 1
We’re not talking about those spin cycle classes at the gym, we’re talking about extreme motorsport street car stunt performers. One of the drivers grabbing the Red Bull by the horns is Amber (Chelsea Thomas), the best young woman Spinner in The Hills. Her character is based on real-life driver Kayla Olifant, who was Chelsea’s stunt driver – especially for death-defying moves like her “suicide slide” in which she hangs backwards out of her driver’s side window, with her hair nearly touching the ground while her car drives in perfect circles. Don’t tell the insurance; we’d like to keep our woman driver discounts.
Also watch: For an inside look at Spinners’ stunts and more, watch the making-of doccie, Inside Spinners.
Cheerleading
Trompoppie Season 1
In the Showmax Original murder-mystery series Trompoppie, the rich Patterson family take shy, ambitious gymnast Luna (Melissa Myburgh) under their wing believing that she has the star quality to boost their daughter Zanne’s (Celeste Loots) Deacon College cheerleading squad to the next level. But when Zanne goes missing during Luna’s top secret initiation ceremony, everyone’s lacquered claws point at the new girl. If you’re a cheer-lover, this is unmissable. Aside from having backgrounds in dance and gymnastics, the cast trained and ate like real trompoppies for months – and Jane de Wet (Valerie) was a real-life cheerleader for the DHL Stormers and the IPL in India, while Maite Rakabe (Tracy) was a stunt performer on the movie The Woman King.
Reënboogrant Season 1
In this Showmax Original series inspired by Louise van Niekerk’s young adult novels, Hoërskool Reënboogrant Rhinos cheerleader Shani Brink (Minke Marais) has big dreams of translating her skills on the squad to a career in modelling or being an actress. Performance is performance. But she’s surrounded by mean girl frenemies looking to topple her off the pyramid – like rich girl Rachelle Labuschagne (Marelee Ferreira), and jealous social media terror Tina Swanepoel (Cara Kruger). And if you’ve seen Shani going “one one and two” at cheerleader practice, you know she’s not quite ready to step it up like a Trompoppie.
Dare Me Season 1
American cheerleader drama series based on Megan Abbott’s novel of the same name. Sutton Grove High School’s cheerleading squad takes a dark turn after they get a new coach, Colette French (Willa Fitzgerald), who starts making drastic changes like body shaming the girls, demoting squad captain Beth Cassidy (Marlo Kelly), and elevating Beth’s quiet best friend, Addy (Herizen Guardiola). On the surface and on the field it’s all smiles and chummy togetherness, but underneath, it seems all too easy to turn young women’s competitive natures against one another. When your power structure is a pyramid, everyone wants to be on top.
Also watch: The murder-mystery movie Cheer, Drama, Murder
Boxing
Makofi Season 1-3
Zambian boxing drama. Women can dish it out and take it! Anna (Chimwemwe Zulu) a passionate young boxer, inherits her dad’s Makofi Boxing Club after he dies in front of her in the middle of a match. Despite fierce opposition from the woman who used to be her greatest supporter – her mom, Izukanji (Yoko Chimanja) – hordes of haters including her sister Kalumba (Chacha Cottan), and the fact that her dad’s business partner Joe (Philip J Ngabwe) might be fighting dirty, Anna gets her gloves up and fights for her dreams at home and in the ring. And in doing so, she opens a space in the ring for women like her.
Sidelined!
Women might not be on the field, but they’re calling the shots behind the scenes in these series:
Champions Season 1: Sne Modise (Jo-Anne Reyneke) takes charge of her family’s business – Soshanguve Giants Football Club.
Mr Throwback Season 1: Kimberly (Ego Nwodim) runs (real-life) basketball star Stephen Curry’s documentary film production company, Curry Up and Wait Productions, in this comedy series.
Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty Season 1-2: Claire Rothman (Gaby Hoffmann) is the first and only woman managing a major sports arena, the Forum, while Jeanie Buss (Hadley Robinson), daughter of LA Lakers owner Jerry Buss (John C Reilly), Jerry’s mom and bookkeeper Jessie Buss (Sally Field), marketing guru Linda Zafrani (Molly Gordon), and Laker Girls cheerleader head choreographer Paula Abdul (Carina Conti) rattle some cages as they try to make themselves heard above men’s egos in the business.
Ballers Season 1-5: High-profile sports journalist Tracy Legette (Arielle Kebbel) knows all the NFL’s darkest secrets and has the players’ best interests in mind in Seasons 1, 2 and 5 of this comedy-drama about the business of American Football.
Doccies
Edge of the Earth Season 1: HBO documentary miniseries on elite athletes taking part in extreme sports expeditions. Look out for mountaineer and free climber Emily Harrington, snowboarder Elena Hight, and canoeist Nouria Newman.
Lionesses Part 1 and Lionesses Part 2: A behind-the-scenes documentary on the England women’s football team’s 2022 UEFA victory, and how they overcame massive obstacles including attitudes that sidelined them while the lion’s share of resources went to the men’s team.
Breaking Records the Gerda Steyn Story: Documentary on the South African ultramarathon runner and multiple-time Two Oceans and Comrades Marathon winner, following her 2024 running season.
The Unbreakable Tatiana Suarez: Her story reads like the script for Million Dollar Baby, but MMA athlete Tatiana overcame a broken neck during the 2012 Summer Olympics, and cancer, to come back and win the 2023 season of reality series The Ultimate Fighter.
Black Ferns, a Redemption: Documentary tracing the rise of the New Zealand women’s rugby team the Black Ferns, from underdogs status to winning the 2021 Rugby World Cup.
Lindsey Vonn The Final Season: This gripping documentary follows 34-year-old downhill skiing champion Lindsey Vonn as a 2019 knee injury derails her plan to break the career record set by Sweden’s Ingemar Stenmark for most World Cup wins (86).
Angel City Season 1: A three-part docuseries about the origins of Angel City Football Club, a Los Angeles-based professional women’s soccer team whose financial backers include Uzo Aduba, Jessica Chastain, America Ferrera, Jennifer Garner, Eva Longoria and Natalie Portman.
The Fastest Woman on Earth: HBO documentary on Jessi Combs, the racing driver, metal fabricator and Mythbusters Host, on a mission to break the women’s land speed record – set at 825 km/h by Kitty O’Neil in 1976 – and then to top her own record.
Unstoppable: The Rebecca Nagel Story: In 2014 Rebecca Nagel lost the use of her legs in a car accident. But on 18 June 2022, Rebecca became the first-ever woman to complete a half marathon trail event. This South African documentary joins her on the trail.
Shine: Documentary. Nigerian sports journalist Tracy Chapele-Ugo is one of four fans in Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania and Ghana, who are going above and beyond to make football more enjoyable for others in their local community.
What to binge this weekend
Queen Modjadji S1
In a land facing desperation and strife, one woman will rise up to save them all. From hit-makers Rhythm World Productions (My Brother’s Keeper, Sibongile & the Dlaminis, Umkhokha the […]
Made in South Africa
Love Island UK S12
Gorgeous singles live in a luxury villa – with the added possibility of meeting their soul mate – in this fun and flirty reality series.
Matlock S1
Retired 70-year-old Madeline Matlock rejoins the work force at a prestigious law firm, where she uses her wily tactics to win cases and expose wrongdoing in this hit reboot.
Nelly & Ashanti: We Belong Together S1
Follow the electrifying journey of Nelly and Ashanti as the beloved couple reignite their love while navigating the ups and downs of being newlyweds and parents.