What is the Most Athletic Sport?
Wherever you are in the world, sports seem to be widely celebrated, every sport differently, and for what reason? Why are some sports more popular than others? As an athlete myself, I have had countless arguments over which sport is the most athletic. An athlete, is “a person trained or gifted in exercises or contests involving physical agility, stamina, or strength; a participant in a sport, exercise, or game requiring physical skill.” according to dictionary.com. The topic of what sport is requires the most athleticism is a conversation that has gone on for generations. Some people say the most athletic sport is soccer because of the amount you run, others say it’s football because of the skill and size you must posses to be good at football, some even say it is baseball because of it’s difficulty. So what really is the most athletic sport?
Many people say the most athletic sport is soccer. To be able to control a ball without touching it with your hands is truly a talent. People like Christiano Ronaldo, who can jump higher than the average NBA player, make it look easy, but in reality what these professionals do is very hard. The average soccer field is 100 yards long and 60 yards wide (sportsknowhow). That means that any soccer player has the potential to have to run the length of a full football field end zone to end zone at any time. The average soccer player runs six miles in one game, which means he was at an average pace of four miles per hour (active.com). That doesn’t really seem like as much as one would think a player would run. So why do some people think it’s the most athletic sport? Nearly 70 percent of the entire planet watches soccer; it is the most popular sport in the world (postgame.com), its a low scoring, high pace game that makes people go absolutely nuts. Soccer is celebrated way more than any other sport on the planet, however are soccer players more athletic than those of other sports such as basketball, football, or baseball?
In today’s age, basketball is definitely more popular than it has ever been before, and it is easy to see why. People like LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, and more all look like super heroes compared to the average every day Joe. Standing well over six feet tall, weight exceeding two hundred pounds, jumping over three feet into the air these monsters dominate the court with others like them. These men are what seem to be the perfect athletic specimens, so why is basketball not celebrated as much globally as soccer? One could spend their entire life searching for this answer, but in reality, it may just not have happened yet.
The main question here is whether or not popularity of the sport could show whether it is more athletic than another. Are some sports more athletic than others, or is every sport just full of athletic human beings? This fact could be a third variable when looking for the most athletic sport. Throughout the course of this blog period, I will be analyzing more sports in depth, to ultimately make a decision on which sport is the most athletic.
I like the idea you came up with here but I have no idea how you are going to pick one over the other. There are so many sports out there, popular and unpopular, each requiring a different aspect of athleticism. With each aspect what makes one more valuable than the other? For example baseball takes a great deal of hand eye coordination but doesn’t require as much endurance. Where as a sport like swimming requires absolutely no hand eye coordination but endurance everything. How do you pick one of those sports over another when they deal with such different attributes? Basketball players do seem to be the perfect athletic specimen by features, but if they were perfect wouldn’t they be able to succeed in every sport and not just basketball. When Michael Jordan, debatably the best player of all time, took a shot at baseball he was not nearly as successful. Comparing every single sport out there to find the most athletic just seems like a very difficult task.
This is an extremely hard subject to prove, if possible at all. I have a hard time thinking of any way to compare sports to each other. There is no good way to compare two sports who are not similar at all. How can you possibly figure out if being a football running back is more athletic than being a basketball point guard. Coming from a three-sport athlete, every sport takes its own amount and type of athletic ability. Many can not even be measured. Football players need to be strong and agile. Soccer players need to have increased endurance and speed. Baseball players need to have great hand-eye coordination and less endurance. Hockey players need to be tough and agile. You can not measure and compare many of these attributes, so the best solution is to just appreciate each sport’s athletic ability for what it is.
Do you not think that hockey players are as athletic either? You only mentioned baseball, football, and basketball. I think that hockey players are some of the best athletes in the world, especially goalies. A goalie needs to be quick, agile, and very flexible in order to do his job well. Hockey is one of the hardest, most grueling sports to play.