Hardest, most demanding sport in the world?

[Akemi Homura 7,680]

From your experiences, what is the hardest sport you've ever had to suit up for and play?

 

I've made a poll of all the well-known sports here so give it a go. Anyways...

 

For me, football is the hardest and most mentally-demanding sport I've ever had to play. I've played all the sports here -- hockey, some golfing, basketball, baseball, even some cricket... and all are tough, believe me. They're all fun to pick up and give it a go and they're enjoyable with friends. Now obviously, you can pick up a football and throw it around. That's not the entire game. You know how people say football players are [insert slang word used to describe female genitalia] because they wear pads?..

 

That couldn't be more irrelevant. It is true that all you do is just find the guy with the ball and hit them. Except they could be 225 pound running backs with shifty moves coming right at you. How do you stop that?

 

The worst part about it is that that's not even one tenth of the whole game.

 

There's so much mental preparation needed when you suit up for a football game. From understanding hundreds of your own plays to knowing all of the plays the other team might run. It's so demanding that there's two separate squads for offense and defense, respectively -- not like basketball where you're graded on both of them at the same time.

 

When the ball is about to be snapped, you have to stay perfectly still. Any movement prior to that will screw you and your team over. And that little lapse in time will throw you off rhythm which is NOT something that you want. And all those hits you keep dishing out/receiving isn't just a one-time thing... that goes on for dozens of times. You keep getting hit and hit until you get sore. Sometimes... you get hit really hard which knocks you out (concussions) or gives you a major injury like an ACL tear.

 

Knowing what the other team might do is a huge component in football. The game is more about field position than anything, and one mistake could cause you to lose your man and thus letting him score. But it's easy, right? All you do is find him and stick to him... except you're not really allowed to touch them until after they catch the ball. And how about those big offensive linemen? As a defender, can you get by their massive 6'4, 300+ pound frames, skillfully crafting your own moves to get past their awesome footwork?

 

How about timing yourself just right so that you can knock the quarterback's pass down, at the same time disallowing your wide receiver to make that catch?

 

And how about trying to take down that speedy and shifty receiver as he's running at full speed?

 

How about it?

 

How about being able to diagnose the defense and being able to execute all of your scoring plays? Getting past the defense to get even a few yards? Or pushing that defensive line back to get some tough running yards?

 

How about when you're sacked or brought down behind the line of scrimmage, you shrug it off and continue to have faith in your ability to get something out of it? Taking all those hits and being pounded and being able to move on? Knowing that one play -- just one play -- can turn the fortunes of an entire team around?

 

And how about doing all of this for not sixty minutes (the game-clock, don't be fooled)... but for three whole hours?

 

Can you do that?

 

Are you up for it?

 

Oh... how about being able to run down the entire length of the football field for one play where the design is to "go long" and catch the ball? Can you defend that, or if you're the on supposed to catch the ball, can you make it? If you drop it, you'll have to do it AGAIN. Try doing this exact thing at least five times. You'll run out of energy quickly. Not even 2 minutes into the game and you're already tuckered out.

 

That's how freaking brutal the game is.

 

What's even worse is that if you go to any professional player and ask them about it, they'll speak a lot more on how tough it is than I can. So to say it's hard is an understatement.

 

So let's hear it from you -- if you can manage to top this, I'll applaud you.

Edited March 3, 2013 by Espeon

[Scootalove 10,689]

The hardest, most demanding sport in the world that I've ever played is American  Football. You need to always be at your A-game, and be able to tackle, throw, and make touchdowns. But, basketball is a close second even if I have a better connection with basketball then football. That's why I earned a basketball trophy for dedication & teamwork. Football has always had the negative effect on me.

[Standard User 2,127]

Two words.

 

Cross country.

 

Actually, long-distance running in general. On the face of it, you have running a few miles as fast as you possibly can. An Ethiopian holds the world record (I believe) for the 5,000 meters at 12:37. If I did my math right, that averages out to just over one minute per 400m, or one minute around an outdoor track. Now run that for twelve and a half laps. But that's the world record, right? From what I've seen, to do well at even the high school level you need to be running under sixteen minutes. 

 

So I know what some people are thinking: well, football and hockey and all that jazz are contact sports and contact sports are hard hoo-hah. Guess what? XC is a contact sport in the woods. A kid elbowed me in the stomach during my district race so I tripped him and he got trampled. A year earlier, I saw one kid push another one off of a cliff. And don't get me started on road races, where the best injury you could hop for is serious road rash.

 

So what about marathons? Ultra marathons?

 

Let's say you lose your football game. Aww, tough luck. Try again next week. Now you lose your ultra marathon. Aww, too bad. Maybe next year. Training for even one marathon can take months, and the recovery time is immense.

 

Distance running: the one true sport. @@~/XC- BRONY\~ can back me up.

Edited March 3, 2013 by Kolth

[Harmonic Revelations 8,835]

I'd say that out of all the sports that exist, the most demanding among them would be one so savage that it takes many lives a year. But it's worth it for the love of the game.

 

Of course you know what I'm talking about...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extreme_ironing

[Yes-Man 597]

Where's World of Warcraft on this list?

I takes years of training and concentration to get to Level 90, and even longer When they raise the level cap with their Cowboys and Huns expansions.

[Fox 5,330]

Even through my own experiences with demands for athletes regarding sports has been always a larger request for American Football. In North America is a more popular sport. With living in Canada I'd say it's second or third favourite sport to be appreciated by Canadians; stereotypically hockey being number one. 

 

It takes practice to really achieve the elite status of an accomplished athlete in the sport your playing. Except some people are really built for the sport sometimes. Generally being tall usually. Although, you can't determine people's physical traits or abilities and apply them to the sport. It really does break down to actual skill. 

 

I actually got asked to join my High School Football team, but dismissed the offer because my mom didn't want me to participate in rough sports. Hence the reason I quit my school's rugby team. So, much more of a reason to think that American Football teams are looking for more people. Maybe everyone is scared of getting injuries. American football injuries are very brutal, but I express much more fear that some accidents that take place in rugby. 

Edited March 3, 2013 by Fox

[Akemi Homura 7,680]

Two words.

 

Cross country.

 

Actually, long-distance running in general. On the face of it, you have running a few miles as fast as you possibly can. An Ethiopian holds the world record (I believe) for the 5,000 meters at 12:37. If I did my math right, that averages out to just over one minute per 400m, or one minute around an outdoor track. Now run that for twelve and a half laps. But that's the world record, right? From what I've seen, to do well at even the high school level you need to be running under sixteen minutes. 

 

So I know what some people are thinking: well, football and hockey and all that jazz are contact sports and contact sports are hard hoo-hah. Guess what? XC is a contact sport in the woods. A kid elbowed me in the stomach during my district race so I tripped him and he got trampled. A year earlier, I saw one kid push another one off of a cliff. And don't get me started on road races, where the best injury you could hop for is serious road rash.

 

So what about marathons? Ultra marathons?

 

Distance running: the one true sport.

 

 

That is pretty impressive. However football players (more specifically running backs) run ultra-marathons every single day just for preparation. It stresses all of the physicality you would find in Olympic-level long-distance running and short-distance running to better condition yourself for the plays that can come up. Cross-country becomes a cakewalk from then on because you do it for so long. You run conditioning drills which include 

 

Distance running is something football players do every Sunday, in essence. And you only have one week to prepare for every one of them. At that point, you're training for years because of how demanding it is.

 

And, at that point, it's not even about winning one game. A football season is much more stressing and much more demanding than one ultra-marathon.

[Betez 1,734]

The only sport I've only really ever done is Cross Country. It is pretty demanding, but you don't really know unless you've done it. However, it doesn't really do much for your upper body, so I wouldn't say it's the hardest most demanding sport ever. I've heard some stuff about Rugby, so I voted for that.

[XUNUSEDXXX 3,459]

Either American Football or Association Football.

 

American Football is very demanding for all the reasons you mentioned.

 

Association Football (soccer) is demanding in the sense that you have absolutely no control over the ball aside from your legs/feet and, generally, your chest and head. Your main asset of control, your arms and hands, are an immediate foul if ever used aside from the Goalkeeper position.

 

Dribbling with a football is harder than it looks. Even the most advanced dribblers in the world (Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta, Cristiano Ronaldo, etc.), still lose the ball multiple times to world class defenders.

 

Strength is something that is required in only certain positions (usually a central defender, holding midfielder, but it's not 100% necessary)

 

Weak foot also comes into play. You have to have the ability for many positions to shoot, pass, or dribble with both of your feet, which takes much time to master.

 

Knowing your teammates and how they move is extremely important as well. Watch Barcelona on YouTube and you'll notice how the play "tiki taka" aka one touch passing. That takes extreme "chemistry" (not in love sense, but your ability to adjust and cooperate your play style to your teammates) to pull off. If players don't know eachother, they ain't going nowhere with the ball.

 

Also, another factor is that you have to be extremely fit. Unlike American Football, Association Football gives you no time to rest besides the few seconds between throw ins, corners, goalkicks, etc. unlike American Football where you get a rest between plays. The only rest that is longer than a minute most of the time is halftime.

 

Most of all, association football is one of the sports that demands a cool head the most, especially as a forward. Take note of this video of Lionel Messi, statistically the best player in the world at the moment:

 

Being able to go very fast speeds while still keeping the ball close to your feet is much harder than it looks, especially under the pressure of 2+ defenders like he was. You absolutely CANNOT panic in your position on the field or it will cost you.

 

Another class player named Xavi Hernandez is arguably one of the best playmakers (passers, for those who don't know what that means) in the world. His intelligence to keep hold of the ball and the vision (another key factor in a midfielder) he has to pick out passes is absolutely brilliant. He has to make smart decisions on the ball and pick out a great pass while under pressure.

 

Another class playmaker, Wesley Sneijder, makes a great pass to Arjen Robben in the 2010 Netherlands vs. Spain World Cup Final (he's in the orange jersey) shown here (at 0:10):

 

Notice that he has but a split second to trap the ball after winning it, look up, and make a great pass to Arjen Robben (whose shot gets saved by Iker Casillas, the best goalkeeper in the world at the moment).

 

Also, teams have games during the season usually more than once per week, and especially since there are no pads in soccer aside from shin guards, injuries occur frequently. Some teams miss their top players for very long periods of time due to injures. Example, Real Madrid are missing Iker Casillas for a month due to a hand injury and had to go as far as buying a new goalkeeper (Diego Lopez) to replace him.

 

One last clip I would like to show you is another video related precision. Here's Zinedine Zidane, a fantastic passer of the ball, in a compilation. Notice how he has to get the strength and direction (and sometimes even curve) exactly right during his passes and assists to get the striker through on goal:

 

Annnnnnnnd that's why I think Association Football is another sport that is extremely difficult to master.

Edited March 3, 2013 by Scootabloom

[Алексей 110]

For me, paintball. The amount of gear I have in tow, the amount of sprinting and diving, the element of pain(for some people, not me, because I am a badass like that), the need to be strategic and to work with your team, and etc.

 

Although, the physical fatigue isn't such a big deal until after a day's play. I am hopped up on so much adrenaline, I can't even feel it. But, the following morning, I can definitely feel it.

 

American football is pretty mentally and physically tough, but, I haven't ever played it that much, and when I did, it was mostly touch/flag football, not tackle. And, when I have played tackle, I had fun, but I didn't get to do much, since I was pretty bad at football(I could easily run touchdowns when I got the ball, but, being near-sighted, I could never catch well, and I didn't have contacts at the time).

 

But, I've never really done sports other than paintball, so.

[Windy Scamper 403]

I'm suprised gymnastics didn't make the cut. Though gymnasts make it look easy (that's our job) it physically demands from every part of your body, and this isn't like normal sports where you learn how to play the game then just have to get faster or stronger; gymnastics doesn't stop. New skills have to be conquered constantly, and once you finally get that skill you've been working on for oh soo long, you have to learn a new one. My favorite quote about gymnastics toughness is, "Gymnastics is 90% physical and 90% mental. Because it takes 180% of what you've got to pull it off."

 

The only tougher sport, of course, is extreme ironing.

[Akemi Homura 7,680]

I added an "other" option to the poll seeing as how the list for other users will clearly be expansive. I guess you can't really know what to make of one sport until you've tried out all of them, but... in my experience, the amount of running, pushing, spinning, and hitting I did just practicing for a football game (multiplied by many others) was insane a few years ago.

[Yes-Man 597]

Like I said, World of Warcraft is the most difficult and challenging sport of all time to play, and even much, much, MUCH more time to master.

[FortyShadows 217]

Piano playing.

It takes several years to master the piano just to be able to play some pieces, including physically demanding ones:

http://youtu.be/SfN7xf6JymQ?t=2m5s

Look at all that sweatin. (Calorie burnin)

 

More seriously, I'm not a sports person.

[Zygen 6,066]

Is thumb twiddling a sport?... No?

I'm in marching band if that counts, but honestly I don't know anyone who plays a sport who considers marching band demanding, always says its easy. Well if it whatever I could never play sports and never can.

 

Seriously I am absolutely terrible at all sports, I actually played baseball and soccer when I was little, I played football with friends and in P.E and a little bit of basketball with friends, but I'm so sucky at them all.

 

For instance, when I was playing soccer I was the slowest person on the team, and the worst at shooting passing everything. So all the other kids tended to keep the ball from me during games, i literally scored an average of 1 point a season. And I hardly ever got the ball, in most cases it ended in terrible circumstances. And when I did score everyone made such a big deal outta it. Its as if I was like stupid or something, It didn't even feel rewarding, I just felt dumb and like they set it all up.

 

I also played baseball, but I was pretty terrible at that to. I still am, even in P.E now a days when we play everyones like "Oh comeon you can hit the ball you got this!" Sarcastically.

 

I also did karate if that counts for anything. Although thats not really a competition, and I quit because of time constraints with other things I was doing.

 

For the casual basketball and football I played I still am treated as the worst player, and I know I am. I'm so terrible at sports, I've played some other sports in P.E like Tennis and stuff but even in those we're teamed up and I'm always a handicap.

 

So yeah, now I'm a band geek I guess , atleast I'm somewhat good at it, but I still feel like i'm one of the worst if not the worst player.

 

Maybe I just have terrible self confidence, maybe my terrible skill at, about everything is the reason why . Who knows. Regardless I think in atleast sports its obvious I suck. . So if sports are more demanding then yeah I guess I'm just a weak person . Because I suck at sports. Could never do them, and in highschool its way to late to even try to get good at them.

 

I'll stop my rant about my low self esteem now . I think Football is a pretty demanding looking sport, but I've never played it. So I don't know.

[Titan Rising 2,156]

I'd say boxing...  Have any of you ever seen Rocky???  That man will keep fighting till hes dead just for a title and a belt.  You've gotta keep going while getting punched in the face.  

 

Football players are a bunch of wimps too, I would say hockey is more demanding than football or basketball.

[Akemi Homura 7,680]

I'd say boxing...  Have any of you ever seen Rocky???  That man will keep fighting till hes dead just for a title and a belt.  You've gotta keep going while getting punched in the face.  

 

Football players are a bunch of wimps too, I would say hockey is more demanding than football or basketball.

 

I've played all three of them. The things you have to prepare and learn in playing football are much more taxing than in ice hockey or basketball. It's not like basketball or hockey where it's more free-flowing... in football, it's incise and your execution has to be perfect to get even one play right.

 

You can make a case on every athlete being a wimp in any sport just because they don't get how hard it can become.

[Standard User 2,127]

That is pretty impressive. However football players (more specifically running backs) run ultra-marathons every single day just for preparation.

 

Wait...you do know what an ultra-marathon is, right? Any distance longer than a marathon. And a marathon is 26.2 miles. You don't run that every day. Cross-country laughs at other teams who boast that they run 100 miles a week because they inevitably hurt themselves.

 

What makes cross-country truly challenging is that it is all on you. With football or soccer or baseball, you have an entire team on the field backing you up. Out in the forest or in the mountains or in the last 800 before the finish line, the pressure is one-hundred percent on you. 

 

Man, I really want to go run a race now...I'm getting all jittery. 

[Akemi Homura 7,680]

Wait...you do know what an ultra-marathon is, right? Any distance longer than a marathon. And a marathon is 26.2 miles. You don't run that every day. Cross-country laughs at other teams who boast that they run 100 miles a week because they inevitably hurt themselves.

 

What makes cross-country truly challenging is that it is all on you. With football or soccer or baseball, you have an entire team on the field backing you up. Out in the forest or in the mountains or in the last 800 before the finish line, the pressure is one-hundred percent on you. 

 

Man, I really want to go run a race now...I'm getting all jittery. 

 

You don't... unless you're a football player. Hurting yourself because of it is a wash -- how else will you build up stamina? After all, all you need to do is run an excess of virtually 100 yards in every play covering your man or going up to catch the ball. Coaches will tell you that if you don't run those kinds of distances every day (particularly 26 miles) you won't have the conditioning requirement down which is insane to pull off.

 

Most athletes of the "freak of nature" stature are football players. J.J. Watt, Jason Pierre-Paul, and Julius Peppers to name a few. Make no mistake -- you don't necessarily have to be one in order to succeed, but the hours and hours of conditioning drills they have to get through is mind-boggling. Greats like Darrell Green and Chris Johnson specifically are couple of the fastest guys in the world because of all the work they had to put in. Jeff Demps, Darrius Heyward-Bey, DeSean Jackson, etc. also fit the bill. They run ultra-marathons every single day just to stay in shape.

 

It's also the reason why many NFL players are Olympians, but not the other way around.

 

I do agree with you that running long distances is much harder than it looks, though. Not even close...

[Mightymags 1,053]

This is a tough one. Everyone is going to claim that their sport is the hardest, or at least one they've tried. However, I think the toughest, manliest, most demanding sport is rugby. I've never tried rugby (and honestly I would be scared to) but it looks INTENSE. It's like taking all the hardest parts about every other other sport and combining them into one plus some missing teeth...and doing it all without any protection. 

 

 I'll just briefly talk about each one I've tried and what I think. 

 

Soccer: Soccer takes mostly skill and endurance. It's hard and sometimes can get really physical, but it's about the skill of the player and team more than it is about strength. I'm not saying it's easy at all, it's incredibly tough, but not the hardest thing I've done. 

 

Marching Band: I've marched and played an instrument at the same time but never really been in a marching band. It seems extremely demanding. Practically running while playing something you memorized is nearly impossible. I've heard it's really demanding but I can't attest to that personally. 

 

Cheerleading: The most dangerous "not-a-sport" sport out there. Most people won't agree with this. I'm not a cheerleader anymore but for the short time I was on the team I payed a lot of attention to everything about the sport and the professional teams. No one understands the hours/weeks/months/years put into creating a routine that's 2 minutes and 30 seconds. If one person messes up the whole team suffers. I don't get how people can say that lifting up a person thats over 100 pounds above your head, while moving them, then throwing them as hard as you can into the air before catching, all while smiling and shouting at the top of your lungs isn't hard. Cheerleading is harder than people give credit for, but I don't know if it's the most demanding. It is, however the most dangerous. 

 

Running (of any kind): The last one I'll talk about is running, whether it's distance or sprinting running is hard. But, it's not the hardest sport. It is demanding, but anyone can train themselves to run. The hardest part about running would probably be getting the motivation to do it. But since there's not an entire team relying on you there's not as much pressure, the success is defined by the individual. 

 

These are just my thoughts on the sports I've tried. Out of those I'd say it's tied between Cheerleading and Soccer, but I'm still sticking with rugby. 

[Twiliscael 3,960]

I'd say boxing...  Have any of you ever seen Rocky???  That man will keep fighting till hes dead just for a title and a belt.  You've gotta keep going while getting punched in the face.  

 

Football players are a bunch of wimps too, I would say hockey is more demanding than football or basketball.

Whoa whoa whoa, them's fightin' words.

 

As a football player myself, I'd be lying if I said I didn't take offense to this.

What exactly makes it a wimpy sport to you? The fact that we wear pads? Buddy, the padding we wear is so that we don't break something every game, and it happens alot more than us as players would like to imagine.

 

As to hockey. Hockey is a physically demanding sport as well, however, it lacks that ultra concentration and knowledge necessary to succeed in football. Like OP said, it requires a knowledge and understanding of 100's of your own plays, 100's of the other teams, you position, field position, wind speed and direction, footwork, and so much more that it'll make your head spin.

Take it from an New Jersey football state champion that it is not an easy sport, and much less are we wimps for playing it.

Edited March 3, 2013 by Twiliscael

[Cupcake Ice Cream 436]

That is pretty impressive. However football players (more specifically running backs) run ultra-marathons every single day just for preparation. It stresses all of the physicality you would find in Olympic-level long-distance running and short-distance running to better condition yourself for the plays that can come up. Cross-country becomes a cakewalk from then on because you do it for so long. You run conditioning drills which include 

 

Distance running is something football players do every Sunday, in essence. And you only have one week to prepare for every one of them. At that point, you're training for years because of how demanding it is.

 

And, at that point, it's not even about winning one game. A football season is much more stressing and much more demanding than one ultra-marathon.

i'm sorry...running backs run over 26.2 miles every single day in the season? And football players don't do distance running...they do short sprints for each play. Bear in mind I am not saying it isn't hard...I sure couldn't do it but running backs don't run long distances each game. Adrian Peterson ran 296 yards in one game...long distance doesn't usually get considered long distance until 1-3 miles (depends who you are asking)...Peterson didn't even run that in once session...it was constant plays...now again...I want to stress that I could NEVER do this...especially with people tackling me all the time...but 300 yards is not long distance

 

Also, I am gonna have to say no I don't believe running backs run more than 26.2 miles every single day

 

could you show me where you got this info?

 

With that said I would say ultra runners or soccer players...soccer players were estimated to run between 10-15k each 90-minute match...and they are always switching directions...and after running my marathon (Duluth in 2005) I discovered just how hard that actually was

[khaine21x3 789]

I'd probably go with starcraft:brood wars since the success rate is even lower than any other sport and it demands 15 hours of practice in a barracks everyday.

[Virulence 254]

Yeah when I was a mere freshman in HS, we had to play hockey. Not ice, but like street. Let me just say, those sticks are great poking weapons. I would poke/stab the other team so much... I got banned from hockey

[Acoustic Cloud 2,202]

The definition of sport: An activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others

 

With that definition in mind.  I would say that war is the hardest most demanding sport. It costs the most to everyone, participating and not.

 

(Also I'm surprised Jai-alai wasn't on the list)

 

Anyways, I'm sticking with war.

Edited March 3, 2013 by Rainbow Dashey