Ways to prove which sport requires most skill

[Irony]

Most skill? Hitting in Baseball. You're objective? To hit a small ball being thrown at 90+ miles per hour; the person throwing the ball, can thus manipulate the direction, speed and trajectory of said ball, and all you have to hit it, is a wooden bat 2 and 3/4 think in diameter. I pitched for 7 years of my life, and still baffled some people can hit the ball 1/3 of the time.

[Raure]

Yeah i would go with skateboarding too.
Injury, Repitition, Endurance, Technique, Style...
I skated those last 10 years... i eat alot of concrete to the face/tibia/knee/hands/back/back of my head/etc...
Just go and find out some Rodney Mullen video... imagine whats going in is head when he skates? At that point its not even a sport, its an art for him.
And yeah, i dont want to ever see skateboard at olympics... because its not about competition, its about knowing the limits to both you and your enviroment.
Imagine skaters wearing aerodynamics lycra suit... horrible.

[pOO flinger]

For me, its the sport that takes the highest conditioning, focus, and the sport that has the highest penalty for screwing up.

Everyone will have there own opinion... it will be impossible to come to a conclusion everyone agrees on.

I agree with this. I don't really believe there is one single sport that stands above the rest, each sport requires different skills and being skilled at one particular sport doesn't mean you will be good at another sport. A Soccer player might be good in his sport but not so good in say Hockey or Tennis while a Hockey player might not be good at Tennis or Soccer and so on.

For the sake of this thread I am going to throw MMA into consideration. I'm sure there will be people that disagree with me and that's perfectly fine.

MMA requires good conditioning, good diet and overall healthy lifestyle, physical strength, endurance, good discipline and be willing to make sacrifices, you must have the willpower to take the hits and keep coming back and do what it takes to win, be well rounded by training in multiple martial arts ( Muay Thai, Jiu Jitsu, Boxing, Wrestling, Kickboxing, Judo, etc.), and the ability to adapt to your situation.

MMA fighters will spend 1 month, 2 months, or more just training just for one fight and might only get 3 or 4 fights per year, not to mention they have to spend time away from their family training at different MMA camps.

MMA fighters will break all sorts of bones in fights and there have been times were they will break both their hands and just keep fighting until the very end and one example where Forrest Griffin broke his arm in a fight against Edson Paredao and still ended up knocking him out. I have seen fights were people will have their arms snapped and still not tap out.

MMA fighters have absolutely insane training regimens, train all day 6 days a week and devote their entire lives to training for their fights. It's not just a sport for these guys but a lifestyle. If you are a fighter in the UFC and you lose 3 fights in a row then you will be cut from the UFC, you can even be cut for having two fights in a row if they are not very impressive fights. For people in the UFC that are not top tier fighters their career is on the line every time they fight which can be very stressful mentally.

Like i said before though, just because an MMA fighter might be good at MMA doesn't mean he will have the skills to be a good soccer player, hockey player, NFL player and so on.

[aloiv25]

Take the most average player with his/her skill set from each major sport. How many years of practice do you think it would take for you to be as good as that person barring you guys had the same athletic ability? This makes it so it is strictly based on skill.

For me personally, just listing some major sports

Basketball - maybe 5?
Soccer - 7?
Baseball - not sure
Football - 2-4?

[stabetha]

down hill mountain biking



nuff said?

[Noemonad]

There's no way to truly tell, as everyon'es definition of "sport" and "Skill" are different. Some might think endurance-heavy sports like cross country or soccer involve more skill, or others may think that quick bursts of incredible speed like in short distance running or baseball require more hard work than longer but slower running. some might value tactics and a requirement of knowledge of the game over physical ability, such as in sports like football or basketball where a team has to come together to formulate a plan. some might think that solo sports are more skillful because one is alone, and others may find team sports to require more skill because good cooperation is needed.

I could continue to list different factors that could all formulate into skill. There's no objective way to look at it, it is all totally opinion.

[Prokne]

I would say one way to prove if a sport requires skill is to take someone who is average at the sport and compare them to someone who is great. If there is a huge difference between what they can do then the sport requires a lot of skill.

Another way would be to take someone who is athletic and teach him a sport he hasnt played(different from those he has played) and then see how he compares to someone who is great at it. Bigger difference, more skill required.

If I was to guess I would say tennis and fighting sports require a lot of skill. In tennis even top 100 players get shutout by top 10 players and in fighting lower ranked guys get knocked out pretty fast.

[aloiv25]

Players from other sports might not be able to do as well as they do in their own sport but what I'm trying to find out is how easy and well they can translate into another sport. A typical hockey player will probably have a better chance making it into pro golf (not that it is a good chance) or at least excel at than pro soccer because it is generally believed soccer is harder. Note: I am not saying Tiger woods level.

Another thing I think is that your physical attributes such as endurance or strength cannot be considered a true "skill" to me, at least. This is because once you gain something like endurance, it takes no actually skill to exert it. To shoot a ball every time, it takes coordination every time. To life 100 pounds, if your body has been trained to do so, it can. True skill is also something you don't lose with age like doing soccer tricks with a ball. (Not talking extremes here like when you're 80 because that is when your body won't allow you to, not your skill)

[aloiv25]

Players from other sports might not be able to do as well as they do in their own sport but what I'm trying to find out is how easy and well they can translate into another sport. A typical hockey player will probably have a better chance making it into pro golf (not that it is a good chance) or at least excel at than pro soccer because it is generally believed soccer is harder. Note: I am not saying Tiger woods level.

Another thing I think is that your physical attributes such as endurance or strength cannot be considered a true "skill". This is because once you gain something like endurance, it takes no actually skill to exert it. To shoot a ball every time, it takes coordination every time. To life 100 pounds, if your body has been trained to do so, it can. True skill is also something you don't lose with age like doing soccer tricks with a ball. (Not talking extremes here like when you're 80 because that is when your body won't allow you to, not your skill)

[Woebegone]

Since this is pretty much completely subjective, I'm going to go with hockey.

You're trying to stickhandle a tiny black object, on ice, with sharp blades on your feet, going at speeds above 25mph, in a tiny closed rink, with ten other guys. Five of them trying to crush you into the boards.

The only objective answer would be "whatever sport has the most active players". The skill level in a sport played by millions is inevitably going to be higher than in one played by thousands, as the talent pool to choose from is so much larger. In this case I'd go with soccer.

[Deleted]

It also depends on how fast a player can pick up on a new sport , for example i'm pretty good in soccer , swimming, mountainbiking and 100 meter sprint , but i'm so uselles on a skateboard , or snowboard or even just skieing , i just can't get the hang of it ...
But what for me (at the looks of it) is the hardest sport to do i must go with hocky or baseball.

[Taurous]

vancouver being a huge hockey fan i despise u now!!! Redwings!!!!!!!!

i now have a nemesis!!

[Warlight]

I would say skydiving. Holy shit I thought that was basically falling and that's that. Hell no, I went indoor skydiving once and I started off fine with a good balance and all that shit, but I moved my hand a slight hair and before I knew it, I was crashing into the glass head first with no control.

[The Casualty]

For me, its the sport that takes the highest conditioning, focus, and the sport that has the highest penalty for screwing up.

Everyone will have there own opinion... it will be impossible to come to a conclusion everyone agrees on.

Free soloing. Harshest penalty I can think of and insane physical requirements; demanding high levels of dexterity, strength, balance, and endurance.

[ptwonline]

Hockey is probably the hardest (combination of power, speed, endurance, physicality, mentality, skill), but it doesn't necessarily take the most skill. It's a heart game, which is why it's playoffs are so great.

[AppleBobApple]

Chess Boxing is most likely the hardest if you think about it.
You need to remember how the chess game is going while fighting and not get knocked out.While in the chess round you actually need to be smart at the same time.All while trying not to exhaust yourself.And even worse in a time limit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kK5TQSKmS3o
Just for you guys who have never seen it before.

[DraconusIX]

Baseball probably requires the fastest reflexes and best hand-eye coordination of any of the US sports.

However, conditioning sees less returns in baseball then it does for most other sports.
If you want overall "conditioning" then something like a triathlon would be the most brutal where contestants burn 12k calories in competition.

[belfpala]

Baseball without a doubt. If it wasn't for 95 MPH fastballs, I would say Football. Just imagine trying to hit one of those things.

This, pretty much.

A batter in baseball is pushing the threshold of human reaction time (about 200 milliseconds) to decide whether to swing or not, and then has 300 more milliseconds to actually swing the bat and try to make contact. I'll call that the single most difficult thing to do in any sport. (Just for example, ignoring air resistance, a 100 mph fastball from Justin Verlander reaches the plate about 410 milliseconds after he releases it... then he'll throw an 80 mph curve ball. good luck).

As for the most difficult sport to play? American football or hockey, no doubt.

[Zoma]

The Decathlon.

100 meters
400 meters
1500 meters
110 meters hurdles
Long jump
High jump
Pole vault
Shot put
Discus throw
Javelin throw

[belfpala]

The Decathlon.

100 meters
400 meters
1500 meters
110 meters hurdles
Long jump
High jump
Pole vault
Shot put
Discus throw
Javelin throw

Except... I thought this thread was about skill? I can do all of those, in one day if necessary. The last six I would even consider fun and relaxing. (Edit: not at a competitive level, of course, just "do" in the sense that I could).