Ways to prove which sport requires most skill

[aloiv25]

Earlier, I read on another forum about what people thought was the sport that required the most skill. Obviously a lot of people disagreed with each other and gave their own reasons why such as "just look at x sport!". When I really thought about the answer, I was caught in between a couple sports such as baseball, hockey, soccer, etc.

My question is besides having played all the sports to answer the question, what are some valid ways to actually prove which sport takes the most skill? As in, if you were on the forum, what indicators would you use to prove your answer is the most correct?

I thought about using how hard the learning curve is, the difference between pro players and the average player, or how many pro players there are in each sport but even then, I couldn't truly justify using it as fool-proof evidence.

Edit: I also know that each sport requires a different set of skill but the forum was speaking in a general overall sense as to which sport was hardest to play and excel at.

[grakes]

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.

[Taurous]

No idea. But from a personal standpoint, I have played Hockey, Basketball, Soccer, and baseball. I would say that hockey was the most difficult to get good at. (that's not just because I'm Canadian btw :P)

[Exxactly]

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.

You just indirectly stated soccer

[Naposim1337]

gymnastics is pretty hardcore sport overall

[Exxactly]

No idea. But from a personal standpoint, I have played Hockey, Basketball, Soccer, and baseball. I would say that hockey was the most difficult to get good at. (that's not just because I'm Canadian btw :P)

Vancouver being a huge hockey fan i despise u now!!! REDwInGS!!!!!!!!

[feigning]

I don't think you can. I've played all kinds of sports and they all play off of different skills. I can't exactly compare Squash to a game of Basketball. Both require different skills for the most part.

Personally, I'd say Squash is the hardest sport (for me!) to be really good at. It just requires you to be really fit and good on your feet while still having the strength and skill to get good shots.

[grakes]

gymnastics is pretty hardcore sport overall

Trampolining is Redic...

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=3546824392622

[Atrea]

Hockey requires two separate skills to master; skating and gameplay.
It could be argued that baseball follows suit too, with batting and fielding, and while both take a great degree of skill, there are plenty of professional players who are one-way players; meaning they're only good at one or the other. With hockey, you don't see NHL-level players who can't skate. Sure there are some who can't skate as well as others, but at that point we're splitting hairs.

Hockey is a brutal, extremely fast sport, which requires a great degree of manual skill, foresight and presence of mind, and of course, physical toughness.

And I fucking love it.

[g3o21]

Everyone will choose their favorite sport. I like football (soccer in US), but i think tennis requires more skill and effort. (hard to compare tennis to football but the amount of skill needed by 1 tennis player vs 1 football player is much bigger)

[Deleted]

Anything with a lot of practisioners is hard to excel at.
Some sports have different learning curves so you might ask what sport is hard to start and get decent at compared to professional practisioners.
I dont think any popular sport can be ranked with word like "skill". If a sport is hard and requires skill to start and or be great at it's going to be unpopular.

[herpecin]

one objective way would be which sport's athlete's get paid the most.

another would be what sport has the highest injury rate.

or which sport has the highest average attendance.

however there are easy to spot problems with all of these, there is no real way to see which sport takes the most "skill". soccer may take the most endurance, baseball may take the most hand-eye coordination, etc.. but something as broad as skill is too hard to define to make a judgement system out of it.

[Daggyz]

Out of the main sports that are displayed in the media in the U.S., I'd go with Hockey being the hardest to play, but it's also the most entertaining for me to watch. These guys are constantly going back and forth trying to make plays, and the scores never reach double digits so when one does happen it's detrimental, which makes it absolutely key to counter and make plays happen. Keep in mind they are doing this on the go and have seconds, if that, to react and on a much smaller playing field than most other sports.

[grakes]

You just indirectly stated soccer

Wrong... people screw up in soccer all the time... the ball gets stolen... oh well...

[Lord Bale]

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.

[Llarold]

Hockey requires two separate skills to master; skating and gameplay.

Oh really? What about Scott Hartnell?

[nachoo]

Have you ever tried skateboarding? Enough said.

[lokithor]

MMA - you screw up, your submitted
you screw up youre takin a nap.

[Sockmonky]

I would have to say being a Roman Gladiator, now I know what you're thinking, "Its just like boxing with swords and shit" but keep in mind they had no clean water back then so it got hot...oh yeah they also died.

[Sandraudiga]

Depends if you count personal athletic ability as skill or not. For instance rugby versus gridiron. Gridiron is more about strategy and rugby is more about athletic ability, of course they each require both but to degrees.

Personally, not a huge fan of any sport, but fan enough to have watched nearly everything from snooker to midget tossing i'd choose two as tied.

Those being Cricket and Snooker.