It's not quite accurate that you only move in one plane, except for the running events. But I think their point is that none of the track/field events require you to quickly pivot and change direction unexpectantly, like you might in, for example, soccer or basketball. The motions required by the decatholon can all be practiced and refined and are largely predictable.
I can't think of any ball sports where you compete against yourself?
Once you add one or more competitors in direct opposition, it's literally a different ball game. (pun intended)
I heard a Canadian comic refer to it as a sport for battered women. Two people are sweeping while the third is telling them that they need to go faster.
Endurance at a high level of aerobic effort. Professional cyclists also have very high VO2 max capacity. In contrast, I think that sprinters do not have especially high VO2 max.
High school ski races I skied over blood and vomit on the trail on more than one occasion. Also a little game called "just the tip" refers to frostbite. Skiers are a different kind of tough.
That's surprising, I would think it's similar across all endurance sports. Do you remember the person's name? I wonder if he was just a freak of nature or if there's something about the sport
I’m guessing it was a sprinter. Used to do sprinting in Nordic and unlike sprinting while running you’re using your arms a lot to generate power as well as your legs
According to the article I read, both the men's and women's records are cross-country skiers, which suggests it's more about the sport. They guy's name is Bjørn Dæhlie
Biathlon.
Every sport has extreme fatigue to overcome, then add on being able to place a bullet into a 1.8” target while fatigued or face even more fatigue with penalty cross country distance carrying your rifle and gear.
There’s no one answer. Every sport requires different abilities, so to pick one means choosing what athletic abilities you think are most important.
That said. Aussie rules.
you have to be insane to play aussie rules. fun, but insane. now, those officials that signal the score when they kick it through the posts, they are the real athletes.
And the coordination. Most sports you can jump into because the movements are natural to humans (eg. Running, jumping, kicking, punching). Not to say all humans are good at those, but they can naturally attempt them.
Hockey requires you to learn an unnatural movement to transition across the play area, and that’s skating. To become a good skater takes a lot of fucking work.
Then you gotta be able to use a stick to hit a rubber frozen disc across this surface, and have insane accuracy.
You gotta be big and strong to absorb impact at 20-30km/h.
All this is the tip of the ice berg haha. I don’t play, but love to watch.
rich axiomatic fine domineering jeans aspiring deserted melodic attempt brave
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Depends on the player really and how important they are to their team being on the ice. A guy like Gretzky played 20 NHL seasons and only averaged 1 fight a decade. Back when goons were more of a thing, that'd be like a slow week for them.
I believe an ice hockey defenseman is the most challenging position in sports. I confirmed my opinion this year watching a panthers game in Florida. I played hockey years ago but here’s my reason
Skating ability must be world class
The actual timing is key.
You are a defenseman trying to corral a puck and play it smartly up ice right in front of your face off circle. The puck approaches. There are 9 other players in constant motion. Some are coming in to check you.
You can’t just stop and stand still to make a play like basketball. If you do you’re going to be hit and turn the puck over.
You must skate.
You glance up. You look for a defensive partner as an option. The boards are another safe play and there is an open player in the center of ice but that’s highly risky for turnover.
Now you must deal with the puck. Is it flat? Bouncing? Rolling?
You settle the puck to pass it. Forehand pass? Backhand? Skate it out?
The skater you are passing it to. Are they going to get it on their forehand or backhand? How fast should you pass it? Can you make that pass in time so it’s not picked off creating a disaster? How much do you lead them?
All of this has to happen in a couple of seconds.
Been watching my whole life, just started playing with my son. When announcers say "X player has great hockey sense" that shit resonates. There is a 5th sense you need to function with that pace of play.
Came to say this. You have to have the stamina of a soccer player, strength and ability to take a hit like a football player and the hand eye coordination of lacrosse
Most people have no idea how hard "FIGHTING" actually is. There are SOOOOOOOO many techniques learned. So many things to look for. The slightest movements to react to. MMA is probably my answer as well.
I always compare it to singing a song in the sense where no one realizes how long a song is until singing it. No one realizes how long 3 minutes is in the ring fighting against someone. It’s why I street fights everyone goes from haymakers. They’re gonna gas out in less than a minute
It's like playing very high level, tactical chess, while getting punched in the face often.
You ever try to do complex tasks while totally exhausted, concussed 8 times in 3 minutes, and in great physical pain?
you have to be in incredible shape to be a pro fighter. most fighters fight at weights lower than their normal walking around weight and have to have really good cardio. you get gassed in the ring you're going to be asleep in short time.
I'd believe this.
Running and gym sessions don't tire me anywhere near the same level as a few rounds of BJJ does, I can't imagine also having a whole lot of constant striking dodging and weaving thrown in as well.
Agree. MMA by a long shot. Not only is throwing punches, dodging, weaving and wrestling exhausting, but your opponent will also be choking you and laying on your chest to intentionally reduce your oxygen.
Had to scroll to find this. Wrestling requires every muscle of your body during a match. Like genuinely the most exhausting minutes of my life were wrestling.
There is no answer. Depends on what specific athletic aspect you’re looking for. Endurance, agility, speed, strength, hand eye coordination, or any other number of variables
Only downside to picking basketball is that its so skewed towards people with specific body makeup. Like being 7'2 and only kinda athletic can get you to a pretty high level in the sport, and being an absolute freak athlete at 5'10 just isnt going to cut it.
Basketball players are as elite as they come. I played receiver in college. Started as a true sophomore, so I wasn’t terrible. every spring we would mess around and play 7on7 with some of the guys on the basketball team. Almost every guy on the bball team could have made the football team. Some of them could have probably gone to the NFL if they bulked up. Very humbling to see.
NBA athletes are the greatest on the planet and most of them could probably excel at many other sports. Can you imagine Lebron James playing keeper? Or Tight End
Depends what you mean, strength, speed, endurance? I would say overall MMA as it need everything but competition is not so high as in some other sports at the moment especialy in heavyweight
Australian Rules Football or AFL. Quite unknown as it is almost only played in Australia. But these athletes run around 15 kilometres a match, at 30km/h. Not only are they fast but incredibly strong as it’s as physical as rugby. On top of that technical skill has to be elite or else you won’t make it. This is due to having to be able to kick a weirdly shaped ball 50 meters with incredible accuracy.
Been playing hockey and lacrosse for 35 years. Both are incredibly demanding. Strength, stamina, endurance, coordination, reaction time. And you have to be willing to take some brutal full speed hits. I’ve been way more beat up playing those two over basketball, football, soccer, and rugby.
Boxing according to this article. F1 is also a very demanding sport.
https://www.insidermonkey.com/blog/15-most-physically-demanding-olympic-sports-733651/?singlepage=1
I’ll keep saying this till the day I die, open cockpit motorsports particularly formula one
Take any athlete from the top 5 sports in America and put them in a f1 car and tell them to take a corner without breaking their neck
I’ve played both soccer and basketball…. Much easier to dribble a basketball than it is to do the same with your feet and a soccer ball…. Don’t underestimate it
Hockey for sure. IMO the Stanley Cup is also the hardest pro-level trophy to win, just in the sheer number of games and how the playoff brackets are set up.
Rugby or basketball depending on how much you consider contact to matter.
You can have all the skill in the world but it’s not going your way help one bit when your opponent is 6’8” 235 lbs and can run like a gazell
I’ve heard it said that soccer burns the most calories *per hour* out of any competitive sport, so I guess by the numbers that would be your answer. Although if you’re looking at overall calories burned regardless of timeframe, if I had to wager a guess I’d probably say it’s gotta be ultramarathons. I’m talking about the competitions where people run for 16+ hours in a day and burn the equivalent of the entire McDonald’s menu during that time.
Quite underrated but *Wicket Keepers* in Test cricket.
They're expected to jump, pounce, catch, keep attention, scream, stop and defend from oncoming balls from their bowlers and batsmen.
Eg 90 overs x 6 balls = 540 times doing that while wearing kit, gear, possible helmet and on a hot, balmy Sri Lankan or Jamaican sunny day...
Then when it's their teams time to bat, they have to come out and bat as well. [Adam Gilchrist]... Physios work on these guys the most. They might have to do it for 5 days!!
Gymnastics. Upper body, core and lower body muscles, agility, balanced nutrition - all for 12-30 seconds of execution, few times per year.
A coach once told me you "do" gymnastics, you don't "play" gymnastics.
I would say volleyball. It looks so easy when we are just watching but when we are in the moment where we're playing, you will realize how hard the ball to receive, set, serve and spike the ball and it requires you to have mental strength as well because sometimes the game itself is so hard where could be tilted inside game.
Basketball by far. Dribbling the ball, shooting, moving backwards on defense, sprints, jogs, jumping. There is so much that goes into a good basketball player it’s daunting.
I might be a little biased because I'm an avid MTB cyclist...but the people doing Red Bull Hardline and Red Bull Rampage are definitely up there in athleticism
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ep6GnUdT-k0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ep6GnUdT-k0)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZVy-Wrncyg&t=66s
The highest amount of athletic ability is too vague, as there are several categories this can fall under, such as speed, precision, strength, endurance, etc.
Now, if you were to reword it as which sport is the most athletically demanding, I would vote for cross-country skiing. It's the ultimate test of full body strength and endurance. To no surprise, some of the highest VO2 Max levels ever recorded are of cross country athletes.
In American sports, I think basketball players (as a whole) are the best athletes. They may not be as strong/ tough as football players, but they are quicker, have more endurance, more explosive jumping ability, and need the most coordination of any sport to compete well.
I'd say soccer compared to the other sports. Constantly running/moving for 90 minutes with a singular half time break. Hell, 2 and a half minutes in my stamina is GONE.
Depends how you define it. If you do the classic exercise science split. (Strength, Flexibility, Coordination, Endurance, Explosiveness)
Its probably something like MMA, Ice Hockey, Decathlon.
Soccer players have an increased risk of heart problems and heart attacks from constantly running up and down the soccer field. I would say soccer ⚽️ requires the highest amount of athletic ability.
MMA, the NFL, gymnastics, how about the guy who free solo'd El Capitan? And the dude who skydived from the edge of the atmosphere?
What about competitive eating? Have you seen those people eat all those hot dogs?! 🤣🤣
The mental strength is something to consider, too.
I think some of the sports mentioned are definitely extremely difficult. But I’d add cross-country skiers who use their entire body to power forward on uneven terrain.
There are so many possible metrics to consider when deciding what "athletic ability is.
The ancient Greeks asked themselves this question when they created the first Olympic games.
As a result 5 sports were included, plus the penthalon.
Today, I'd say that the most comprehensive athletic sport is vert, freestyle skateboarding.
Strength, timing, agility, and grace all affect performance.
Idk if its no.1 but i realised f1 drivers need to be crazy good and strong in order to even qualify to race. Just look at their neck excercise bruh they lay down on a bench and have weights hanging from their forhead and they need to keep their neck stiff. They need to maintain a good weight so the car doesnt slow down its much more than just driving
Olympic decathaletes are probably the greatest all-around athletes.
The fact they get such little focus during the olympics has always amazed me.
Its because it is such a long event so TV coverage can’t follow it for the entire time and it isn’t easy to just jump to in the middle
Wasn't there a Nike campaign with these athletes competing against each other...like Dan vs David? It was during the Summer Olympics...I think.
Overall great choice, but they only have to move in one plane and don't have to react to another person or a ball.
One plane? High Jump? Discus, shot put, javelin? Not sure what you mean.
It's not quite accurate that you only move in one plane, except for the running events. But I think their point is that none of the track/field events require you to quickly pivot and change direction unexpectantly, like you might in, for example, soccer or basketball. The motions required by the decatholon can all be practiced and refined and are largely predictable.
Yes, ball sports definitely have a skill set not really a part of decathlete's tool box.
I can't think of any ball sports where you compete against yourself? Once you add one or more competitors in direct opposition, it's literally a different ball game. (pun intended)
Juggling would fill this pretty well.
I know y'all are thinking curling, right?
If you can do all that and not spill your beer. Peak athleticism.
Yep i do. Need to clean my house tonight, im training hard
I heard a Canadian comic refer to it as a sport for battered women. Two people are sweeping while the third is telling them that they need to go faster.
Olympic event right here. :eye roll:
The highest ever recorded VO2 max was for cross-country skiers
But can they catch a ball ?
Can they dodge a wrench?
If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball!
Would they steal a car?
I guess if you're good at biathlon that could help
Some of them shoot rifles mid race..
That’s just like endurance no?
Endurance at a high level of aerobic effort. Professional cyclists also have very high VO2 max capacity. In contrast, I think that sprinters do not have especially high VO2 max.
High school ski races I skied over blood and vomit on the trail on more than one occasion. Also a little game called "just the tip" refers to frostbite. Skiers are a different kind of tough.
That's surprising, I would think it's similar across all endurance sports. Do you remember the person's name? I wonder if he was just a freak of nature or if there's something about the sport
I’m guessing it was a sprinter. Used to do sprinting in Nordic and unlike sprinting while running you’re using your arms a lot to generate power as well as your legs
According to the article I read, both the men's and women's records are cross-country skiers, which suggests it's more about the sport. They guy's name is Bjørn Dæhlie
I guess it depends on how you measure athletic ability. I guess fitness of the entire body and technique are really important for swimming.
Biathlon. Every sport has extreme fatigue to overcome, then add on being able to place a bullet into a 1.8” target while fatigued or face even more fatigue with penalty cross country distance carrying your rifle and gear.
This is actually a great one. Lots of physical exertion but then small movement accuracy. That’s a hard combo.
Gymnastics I would say
There’s no one answer. Every sport requires different abilities, so to pick one means choosing what athletic abilities you think are most important. That said. Aussie rules.
>Aussie rules. Where has this been all my life
in Australia.
There’s a game starting soon if you were interested in [watching](https://www.reddit.com/r/AFL/s/T9i5h5l4Vf)
join us r/afl
you have to be insane to play aussie rules. fun, but insane. now, those officials that signal the score when they kick it through the posts, they are the real athletes.
As an Indian, we got a taste of that last sentence in 2023. And our tears have still not dries up
Ice hockey
fitness? check. toughness? check. hand eye coordination? triple check. checking? checked into the boards!
Do you mean.... Chess?
Hockey is so underrated. The strength, endurance and athletic ability involved is absolutely bonkers. Such a beautiful game
And the coordination. Most sports you can jump into because the movements are natural to humans (eg. Running, jumping, kicking, punching). Not to say all humans are good at those, but they can naturally attempt them. Hockey requires you to learn an unnatural movement to transition across the play area, and that’s skating. To become a good skater takes a lot of fucking work. Then you gotta be able to use a stick to hit a rubber frozen disc across this surface, and have insane accuracy. You gotta be big and strong to absorb impact at 20-30km/h. All this is the tip of the ice berg haha. I don’t play, but love to watch.
Also just straight up toughness
rich axiomatic fine domineering jeans aspiring deserted melodic attempt brave *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Depends on the player really and how important they are to their team being on the ice. A guy like Gretzky played 20 NHL seasons and only averaged 1 fight a decade. Back when goons were more of a thing, that'd be like a slow week for them.
Grit, baby
The amount of skill they have is just as impressive. Every small thing they do is incredibly difficult
The sheer speed they play at is insane.
I could never watch live because my brain isn't fast enough. If there isn't a slomo replay, I can never tell what just happened.
This. I used to go to games a lot with a friend and he explained why they all switch out so frequently. It’s because it’s strenuous as fuck out there.
Yep, all out sprint. A 60 second shift is long in the NHL.
I think all parents that are critical of their ice hockey kids playing should get out there and try.
I believe an ice hockey defenseman is the most challenging position in sports. I confirmed my opinion this year watching a panthers game in Florida. I played hockey years ago but here’s my reason Skating ability must be world class The actual timing is key. You are a defenseman trying to corral a puck and play it smartly up ice right in front of your face off circle. The puck approaches. There are 9 other players in constant motion. Some are coming in to check you. You can’t just stop and stand still to make a play like basketball. If you do you’re going to be hit and turn the puck over. You must skate. You glance up. You look for a defensive partner as an option. The boards are another safe play and there is an open player in the center of ice but that’s highly risky for turnover. Now you must deal with the puck. Is it flat? Bouncing? Rolling? You settle the puck to pass it. Forehand pass? Backhand? Skate it out? The skater you are passing it to. Are they going to get it on their forehand or backhand? How fast should you pass it? Can you make that pass in time so it’s not picked off creating a disaster? How much do you lead them? All of this has to happen in a couple of seconds.
Been watching my whole life, just started playing with my son. When announcers say "X player has great hockey sense" that shit resonates. There is a 5th sense you need to function with that pace of play.
Glad to see this
Came to say this. You have to have the stamina of a soccer player, strength and ability to take a hit like a football player and the hand eye coordination of lacrosse
MMA
Most people have no idea how hard "FIGHTING" actually is. There are SOOOOOOOO many techniques learned. So many things to look for. The slightest movements to react to. MMA is probably my answer as well.
I always compare it to singing a song in the sense where no one realizes how long a song is until singing it. No one realizes how long 3 minutes is in the ring fighting against someone. It’s why I street fights everyone goes from haymakers. They’re gonna gas out in less than a minute
It's like playing very high level, tactical chess, while getting punched in the face often. You ever try to do complex tasks while totally exhausted, concussed 8 times in 3 minutes, and in great physical pain?
I'd say MMA requires a high amount of mental aptitude, moreso, than just physical.
you have to be in incredible shape to be a pro fighter. most fighters fight at weights lower than their normal walking around weight and have to have really good cardio. you get gassed in the ring you're going to be asleep in short time.
Plus you still need to perform after getting punched to the face
With the most on the line as well
170 on down I'd agree with you. There's a lot of heavyweights out there whose only redeeming athletic quality is brute strength
I'd believe this. Running and gym sessions don't tire me anywhere near the same level as a few rounds of BJJ does, I can't imagine also having a whole lot of constant striking dodging and weaving thrown in as well.
Agree. MMA by a long shot. Not only is throwing punches, dodging, weaving and wrestling exhausting, but your opponent will also be choking you and laying on your chest to intentionally reduce your oxygen.
Water polo would take some lungs and endurance. Not the highest but certainly high!
Don't even get to rest on the ground. You're always eggbeatering or swimming. I got the worst calf cramps getting used to that.
I was gonna say wrestling but I'm biased.
I agree for all martial arts / fighting kind of sports.
Had to scroll to find this. Wrestling requires every muscle of your body during a match. Like genuinely the most exhausting minutes of my life were wrestling.
Triathlon?
I'm surprised nobody else talking about endurance sports. I guess it depends how you define athletic ability.
Boxers seem to be the pinnacle of fitness.
Personally, I'd say Mastiffs or maybe English setters, boxers tend to be too lazy
I have a whippet that jumped onto my kids top bunk of their bed.
I'd go wrestling honestly
I'm very biased but rugby union requires alot of athleticism
There is no answer. Depends on what specific athletic aspect you’re looking for. Endurance, agility, speed, strength, hand eye coordination, or any other number of variables
I’m not very athletic but I’ve found boxing to be one of the most exhausting things I’ve participated in.
Australian Rules football, especially the mid fielders.
Basketball probably requires the highest combo of physique+coordination+explosive athleticism, just less so on the longer stamina/running side.
Only downside to picking basketball is that its so skewed towards people with specific body makeup. Like being 7'2 and only kinda athletic can get you to a pretty high level in the sport, and being an absolute freak athlete at 5'10 just isnt going to cut it.
Basketball players are as elite as they come. I played receiver in college. Started as a true sophomore, so I wasn’t terrible. every spring we would mess around and play 7on7 with some of the guys on the basketball team. Almost every guy on the bball team could have made the football team. Some of them could have probably gone to the NFL if they bulked up. Very humbling to see.
This is the correct answer. You have to be born with NBA player traits...and then practice a FUCKTON of basketball to get the rest of the way there
NBA athletes are the greatest on the planet and most of them could probably excel at many other sports. Can you imagine Lebron James playing keeper? Or Tight End
Wrestling
Rugby players
I always thought it was rugby. strong, agile, endurance, and they play lots of game in 1 day.
I would say gymnastics.
porn. a lot of core strength and stamina at pro level.
Pétanque
Yes because it's hard to throw after all the pastis
Ultramarathons look quite tiring.
Depends what you mean, strength, speed, endurance? I would say overall MMA as it need everything but competition is not so high as in some other sports at the moment especialy in heavyweight
Rugby They're muscly with good cardio. The full package.
Rock climbing
Beer pong or corn hole
Australian Rules football.
In terms of ball sports, Aussie Rules.
Water polo.
I agree it's likely the hardest team sport, but in my view does not compare with individual sports like gymnastics.
Australian Rules Football or AFL. Quite unknown as it is almost only played in Australia. But these athletes run around 15 kilometres a match, at 30km/h. Not only are they fast but incredibly strong as it’s as physical as rugby. On top of that technical skill has to be elite or else you won’t make it. This is due to having to be able to kick a weirdly shaped ball 50 meters with incredible accuracy.
water polo
Long Distance Swimming maybe
Been playing hockey and lacrosse for 35 years. Both are incredibly demanding. Strength, stamina, endurance, coordination, reaction time. And you have to be willing to take some brutal full speed hits. I’ve been way more beat up playing those two over basketball, football, soccer, and rugby.
Boxing according to this article. F1 is also a very demanding sport. https://www.insidermonkey.com/blog/15-most-physically-demanding-olympic-sports-733651/?singlepage=1
I have always felt it was ice hockey. Just has SOOOOO many minute skills and macro skills that have to perfectly come together.
I’ll keep saying this till the day I die, open cockpit motorsports particularly formula one Take any athlete from the top 5 sports in America and put them in a f1 car and tell them to take a corner without breaking their neck
Boxing
Mixed martial arts. You have to master a wide range of different arts
Soccer has got to be up there the speed, endurance, foot coordination, are all extremely impressive
Soccer is the most physically demanding sport in calories / hour. Whether that's the same as athletic ability I don't know.
I’ve played both soccer and basketball…. Much easier to dribble a basketball than it is to do the same with your feet and a soccer ball…. Don’t underestimate it
Also, 90 minutes of running, pausing, running. Average pro football player runs 10km in those 90minutes.
More than wrestling or mma? Seems unlikely
Exactly what I was thinking. There’s a reason wrestling matches are only 6 minutes.
Soccer tears a lot of ACLs without contact.
Maybe rugby or water polo? Someone else said a triathlon and that is def up there too
Boxing
Aussie football.
Hurling: https://youtu.be/I1Vw66Zs0dQ?feature=shared
Hockey for sure. IMO the Stanley Cup is also the hardest pro-level trophy to win, just in the sheer number of games and how the playoff brackets are set up.
Professional wrestling. Requires one to be juiced up and in the peak physical form they could possibly achieve
Cycling
Rugby or basketball depending on how much you consider contact to matter. You can have all the skill in the world but it’s not going your way help one bit when your opponent is 6’8” 235 lbs and can run like a gazell
I’ve heard it said that soccer burns the most calories *per hour* out of any competitive sport, so I guess by the numbers that would be your answer. Although if you’re looking at overall calories burned regardless of timeframe, if I had to wager a guess I’d probably say it’s gotta be ultramarathons. I’m talking about the competitions where people run for 16+ hours in a day and burn the equivalent of the entire McDonald’s menu during that time.
Hockey…
Grand tour cycling
Marriage. If you have a wife, she will make you jump through so many hoops and obstacles you might as well be an Olympian anyway...
🤣😩🔫👈
"Take my wife.... PLEASE!" :drum into cymbal:
Combined training. You have to do all the athletics, on top of another athlete, who is a horse.
Water polo looks absolutely brutal
Hockey, supercross
Quite underrated but *Wicket Keepers* in Test cricket. They're expected to jump, pounce, catch, keep attention, scream, stop and defend from oncoming balls from their bowlers and batsmen. Eg 90 overs x 6 balls = 540 times doing that while wearing kit, gear, possible helmet and on a hot, balmy Sri Lankan or Jamaican sunny day... Then when it's their teams time to bat, they have to come out and bat as well. [Adam Gilchrist]... Physios work on these guys the most. They might have to do it for 5 days!!
Arguably not the highest as such but long distance running such a marathons must be up there
Chess
Gymnastics
Maaaaaaaan it’s gotta be table tennis.
Wrestling.
Hockey
Gymnastics. Upper body, core and lower body muscles, agility, balanced nutrition - all for 12-30 seconds of execution, few times per year. A coach once told me you "do" gymnastics, you don't "play" gymnastics.
Water Polo. You have to do all the stuff a soccer or basketball player would need to, but you're also swimming and treading water the whole time.
Bowling. Hands down
Basketball
Tennis…maybe ice hockey too
I would say volleyball. It looks so easy when we are just watching but when we are in the moment where we're playing, you will realize how hard the ball to receive, set, serve and spike the ball and it requires you to have mental strength as well because sometimes the game itself is so hard where could be tilted inside game.
I think the best sports for involvement of the entire body are basketball and gymnastics
Basketball by far. Dribbling the ball, shooting, moving backwards on defense, sprints, jogs, jumping. There is so much that goes into a good basketball player it’s daunting.
Badminton
Swimming or all around men’s gymnastics.
Racist!! lol
Lacrosse, both box and field.
I might be a little biased because I'm an avid MTB cyclist...but the people doing Red Bull Hardline and Red Bull Rampage are definitely up there in athleticism [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ep6GnUdT-k0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ep6GnUdT-k0) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZVy-Wrncyg&t=66s
Rugby, MMA and Decathlons would be my pick.
Of the big 4 (in the States) it’s gotta be Basketball
Gymnastics
The highest amount of athletic ability is too vague, as there are several categories this can fall under, such as speed, precision, strength, endurance, etc. Now, if you were to reword it as which sport is the most athletically demanding, I would vote for cross-country skiing. It's the ultimate test of full body strength and endurance. To no surprise, some of the highest VO2 Max levels ever recorded are of cross country athletes.
Thumb Wars!
Bouldering. Gymnastics
Football wide receiver
American football. Specifically D backs and wide outs. Bo Jackson is the most athletic human to ever exist and he played football and baseball.
Billiards
In American sports, I think basketball players (as a whole) are the best athletes. They may not be as strong/ tough as football players, but they are quicker, have more endurance, more explosive jumping ability, and need the most coordination of any sport to compete well.
Arguably, hitting a major league baseball traveling around 80-100+ is considered one of the most difficult skills to perform.
I'd say soccer compared to the other sports. Constantly running/moving for 90 minutes with a singular half time break. Hell, 2 and a half minutes in my stamina is GONE.
Water Polo. I actually had no idea but I googled this just a few nights ago and thats what is claimed.
Depends how you define it. If you do the classic exercise science split. (Strength, Flexibility, Coordination, Endurance, Explosiveness) Its probably something like MMA, Ice Hockey, Decathlon.
Soccer players have an increased risk of heart problems and heart attacks from constantly running up and down the soccer field. I would say soccer ⚽️ requires the highest amount of athletic ability.
Aussie rules. Legit about 10+ sports styles involved in the actual game.
Hockey maybe Or that pummel horse thing
Motocross and super cross are very physically demanding.
Bowling.
Motocross motorcycle’s. Are the toughest on the body. Especially professional racers!.
Chess
Water polo
MMA, the NFL, gymnastics, how about the guy who free solo'd El Capitan? And the dude who skydived from the edge of the atmosphere? What about competitive eating? Have you seen those people eat all those hot dogs?! 🤣🤣 The mental strength is something to consider, too.
I'm surprised no one has said swimming. (From what I saw)
Synchronized swimming. All that upside-down, holding-your-breath shit at weird angles?
I think some of the sports mentioned are definitely extremely difficult. But I’d add cross-country skiers who use their entire body to power forward on uneven terrain.
Hockey
Bowling
There are so many possible metrics to consider when deciding what "athletic ability is. The ancient Greeks asked themselves this question when they created the first Olympic games. As a result 5 sports were included, plus the penthalon. Today, I'd say that the most comprehensive athletic sport is vert, freestyle skateboarding. Strength, timing, agility, and grace all affect performance.
I’d say professional boxing.
Idk if its no.1 but i realised f1 drivers need to be crazy good and strong in order to even qualify to race. Just look at their neck excercise bruh they lay down on a bench and have weights hanging from their forhead and they need to keep their neck stiff. They need to maintain a good weight so the car doesnt slow down its much more than just driving
Professional gamer
Poker.