Photo credit: Own
A group of 12 Black women made volleyball history in 2018. Now, their remarkable journey is coming to television in We Belong Here: The Story of Team Dream.
The OWN Spotlight documentary premieres Saturday, September 26, at 9 p.m. ET/PT on OWN. The film follows Team Dream as the players came together with limited practice time before competing in the USA Volleyball Open National Championship.
We Belong Here tells Team Dream’s story
We Belong Here focuses on how Team Dream came together and what happened when the players stepped onto the national stage.
Led by NCAA champion Haley Eckerman, the group brought together accomplished Black volleyball players from different parts of the sport. They shared a love of volleyball and a desire to compete at the highest level.
The team eventually became the first all-Black women’s professional volleyball team to win the USA Volleyball Open national title. Team Dream went undefeated during the 2018 tournament, according to reports about the documentary and the team’s historic run.
However, the documentary goes beyond the championship.
It explores the friendships, humor, pride and determination that shaped the players’ experience. The women also discuss the challenges they encountered while competing in a sport where Black representation remained limited.
Haley Eckerman leads a history-making team
Eckerman serves as a central figure in the story. The former University of Texas standout won the 2012 NCAA Division I championship before building a professional career overseas.
She later moved into coaching and currently serves as the head coach at Kent State University.
Team Dream also included professional volleyball players such as Khat Bell and Kaz Brown. Bell was a three-time All-American at Texas and helped the Longhorns win the 2012 NCAA championship.
Together, the players created something larger than a single tournament.
The documentary puts the women first
One of the defining elements of We Belong Here is its storytelling approach.
The documentary is told through the voices of the women themselves. There is no external narrator guiding their story. Instead, the players reflect on their experiences, relationships and the significance of Team Dream.
That approach gives the athletes space to explain what the team meant to them.
At the same time, the film addresses the barriers they faced as Black women in professional volleyball. Their experiences provide context for why the team’s achievement carried significance beyond the court.
We Belong Here arrives on OWN
We Belong Here: The Story of Team Dream previously premiered at the Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival. It now heads to OWN as part of the network’s OWN Spotlight documentary programming.
Bianca Barnes-Williams directs the documentary. Bunim/Murray Productions, a Banijay Americas company, produced the film for OWN.
The documentary arrives as audiences continue to see greater attention placed on the stories of Black women in sports.
For Team Dream, however, the story began years earlier with 12 women, limited time together and a shared belief in what they could accomplish.
Now, We Belong Here gives viewers an opportunity to hear that story directly from the women who lived it.
We Belong Here: The Story of Team Dream premieres Saturday, September 26, 2026, at 9 p.m. ET/PT on OWN.
Source: OWN / Warner Bros. Discovery press release, September 9, 2026.
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