The 15 hardest sports to play
83The 15 hardest sports to play.
This is my opinion of the 15 hardest sports and a little bit about why. Some of them have cool videos to go along with them. Take the poll at the end to let me know what your opinion of the hardest sport is.
#15 Volleyball
Volleyball requires leg strength and some agility. There isn't a whole lot of endurance or real physical challenge, that's why it is number 15.
#14 Baseball
What makes baseball hard on the skill side of it, is actually hitting a ball pitched 90 mph or faster. Baseball both batting and playing the field requires very fast reflexes. Baseball players also must be able to sprint very fast. Lastly I think core strength and upper body strength is crucial to the game. Half of your time though is just spent sitting down and watching. That is why baseball is only 14.
#13 Tennis
Tennis can be a very long game. tennis also requires speed and agility. While playing tennis you need to be able to turn on a dime. I don't feel like tennis really pushes you to the limit in more than a few parts of your body.
#12 Basketball
Basketball is a very draining sport to play. Don't get me wrong, you can work up a pretty good sweat playing. But you really only have to push yourself 100% when you have the ball. Also due to the size of a basketball court, you don't have to run more than maybe 30 or 40 yards at a time. Basketball also because of its positions does not require everyone to be lightening fast or have the ability to jump really high. Basketball can be an intense workout, but not enough to be ahead of these next sports.
#11 Football
Football requires a lot of sprinting. The skill required is catching the football and throwing it for one player. One of the things that make football the hardest is you must have the ability to think on your feet and make or change decisions in a split second to make the play work. You must be able to read the other team and adjust as a team accordingly. You have to not only watch what the other team is doing as a whole, but you have to be on the same level mentally as your team so that you think just like they do. Football is a hard hitting sport and requires great strength and agility and speed. However not ALL of the players need to be Iron men.
#10 Lacrosse
Lacrosse has an extreme amount of running and sprinting involved. Lacrosse on the other hand does not require a whole lot of physical strength. Lacrosse can be very rough at times and does require a great deal of athleticism. You got to run, jump, catch, throw, block, and defend. Lacrosse physically is almost on the same level as soccer.
#9 Rugby
Rugby will get you roughed up. It's harder hitting than football and you don't wear pads. Rugby also requires great lower and upper body strength. Rugby however does not require a lot of speed. You do need to be fast but not as fast as other sports may require you to be.
#8 Bull Riding
Bull riding obviously does not require you to be very strong or fast or even in that good of shape. If you look at a bull rider though they usually are, and for good reason. The stronger you are the better you chances of holding on are. Bull riding requires a lot of core strength as well. You have a 2,000 pound bull that is pure muscle trying to buck you off. You will be using your abs and lower back the whole time trying to keep your balance and stay on. You also better be fast for when you do get off the bull unless you want to become a skewer.
#7 Nascar
Nascar is a little under rated in my opinion. Most people will say that all you do is drive a car in circle, but it is much more than that. Think about times you have gone on a long road trip. How did you feel at the end of it? I know that when I drove from South Carolina to West Virginia I was tired, eyes wanted to shut, my body was sore from sitting in the same position, my legs were stiff, and your drained mentally from being at a high state of alertness. Now imagine driving 500 laps at speeds around 200 mph. Since you are going that fast then you must pay even more attention and the car is that much harder to control. Your whole body must be tense just trying to steer it. The heat that fills the inside of the car is extreme, not to mention your wearing a nomex suit and racing helmet and your head is virtually immobile. The sweat and fatigue that will overcome your body is much more than you would ever probably imagine. The other reason I put Nascar as #7 is because of how hard it is to actually win.
#6 Golf
Golf requires a lot of physical strength and flexibility. I played 18 holes of golf before and did a lot of driving on a range. I'm not a golfer though. I have no club, no golf balls (i almost left out the word golf, ha ha), and can only name like 3 golfers. Like i said though I have played. I can't tell you how many times my body snapped, crackled, and popped playing. I sound like a fresh bowl of rice crispy treats, and I think i pulled several muscles. Now driving the ball 400 yards requires both strength and perfect swing. Did you know Tiger Woods can bench press 300 pounds? The main reason golf is #6 is because of the skill required to excel at it and how hard it is to play.
#5 MMA
MMA is a very very tough sport. You have to without a doubt have complete full body strength, you have to know the moves, you have to be able to think fast about what you need to do as far as offensive moves and counters. Endurance and Stamina is everything especially when the fight goes to the ground. It is obviously a rough sport considering smashing someones teeth in is part of it. I'm also certain being kicked in the kidney does not feel so great. The conditioning and strength training these fighters goes through is absolutely brutal. If you have seen an MMA fight or some of their training you will see why I placed it here at #5.
#4 Swimming
It is scientific fact that swimming is the best exercise you can do. It is a great cardiovascular workout. You would be surprised how much you sweat swimming. You however don't know your sweating for obvious reasons. Swimming also gives your muscles a pretty good workout. The resistance and amount of cardio required for swimming gives your body a great workout and when you swim for competition your going to use as much energy and burn as much calories in 20 minutes than you would in an hour in most other sports. This is why I put swimming at #4.
#3 Soccer
If you have ever played soccer on a legit team in a legit league with a legit coach you will know that soccer practice is probably one of the punishments Satan makes you take part in while your in hell. The sprinting, jumping, drills, and other exercises in soccer is insane. You will fall into a narcoleptic type sleep immediately after a 3 hours soccer practice I assure you. Truth be told the practices are more running than an actual game, but the games are just as hard. During a game you use speed, agility, jumping, cutting, defending, and all sorts of things. If you have seen a professional soccer players legs and calves, you'll instantly know how much they run. I can guarantee you they don't lift weights to look like that. That is from pure running and drills they do for practice. The other thing that makes soccer hard is how far you have to run. You can run the entire length of the field throughout the whole game. Soccer fields are also larger than football fields in length and width. One more thing to consider is that EVERYONE on the team needs to be pretty much in the same physical shape and run the same amount. This is why soccer is number 3.
#2 Wrestling
I put wrestling as number 2 because you exert so much energy during a match. The practices are usually 3 hours, and the practices are in gyms with heaters that make the room 105 degrees. You need speed. Full body strength. No matter your size or weight class, you do the same training, and have the same things expected of you. Every person gives the same amount of effort and participation. It is not uncommon to lose 14 pounds every practice in just water weight. The reason I put wrestling as harder than MMA is because in MMA you have the option or ability to knock someone out or make them submit. In wrestling you have no choice but to grapple them, shoot on them, and take them to their back. You must out muscle and outsmart your opponent. There is no easy way around it. You must give everything you got to pin them. Six minutes of wrestling with someone will have you sucking wind.
#1 Ice Hockey
Ice Hockey is in my opinion THE #1 hardest sport to play. In ice hockey you will need to be in tip top shape. Your cardio has to be at a very high level. The whole game you will be skating back and forth and changing directions at 100% speed. Hockey also requires muscular strength. Hockey players are a lot stronger than you think. Most of the players, even the ones that look small weigh over 200 pounds of pure muscle. Hockey requires you to be fast, be able to accurately shoot the puck, be able to catch the puck, be able to read players, agility, endurance, toughness, the ability to jump, hitting power, and not to mention this is all done one Ice skates. Are you kidding me? You take elements from all of the other sports and then you have to do it all standing on two thin blades and standing on ice? There's no way any sport is harder or has better athletes than hockey. If you don't believe so i suggest you go play a local pick up hockey game if possible. Hockey like football and rugby is also a very rough sport do to the hitting or checking involved. While you do wear pads your body is still going to take a beating. I guess at least if you get hit really hard and get a bruise at least you already got ice on it. Oh and one last think. You can fight! That's part of the sport, they let you fight. OK so now you can be at a hockey game and a fight breaks out? and this is perfectly normal? I bet you will never be at a fight and have a hockey game break out. All of these reasons are why I put Ice Hockey at #1
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What about gymnastics Thats Tough ...
i agree with almost all of them except for tennis. there are so many different strokes and techniques u have to use, its very difficult to learn and get good. also nowadays tennis requires extreme physical fitness
DUDE!!!!!!!!
where is gymnastics!!!!!!
that should be # 1!!!!!
Dumbest Evaluation ever. Sport Science has already proved that Football is harder that Rugby because of the level of athletes. Im sorry and wrestling is not harder than Football, i was a nationally ranked judo fighter(alot like wrestling) and I can tell you from experience, not even close. And Water Polo needs to be up there for sure. MMA definitely up there. Ice Hockey obviously is number 1. But honestly Football and Or MMA should be number 2. Because 1) Football players are the most balanced athletes in the entire world. The Level of play is ridiculous, I mean soccer has 17 year olds playing in proffesional leagues. A 17 year old in the NFL would be killed. There is no comparison Because there are so many phases to the game. Throwing, Catching, Tackling, Running... EVERYTHING. Its a mix of all attributes that add up to the word Athleticism and it takes smarts now a days with the constantly evolving game. Professionally it is the most physically demanding and difficult sport there is no matter which way you turn the table.. And Have you ever seen a soccer play switch between baseball or basketball? No, because Football players are the best athletes and have proved time and time again that they can play anything they want cause of the talent they possess. Cough Cough BO Jackson, of the best at TWO sports. I rest my case.
Soccer is very hard
what about gymnastics!!!! that should be #1!!
U r all dumb. Sports such as soccer and basketball shouldn't even be on the list. I've played basketball, soccer, I ran cross country, and I even wrestled... But the hardest sports out there.. Without a doubt.. Are water polo and swimming. Swimming is like running.. But underwater. Water polo is like soccer/basketball/wrestling but in the water. Plus someone's trying to drown you at the same time. So volleyball players please cut the crap. Oh and gymnastics is pretty hard. Baseball and softball are difficult only during the hitting.
Wrestling is the hardest sport out there in my opinion and whoever thinks football is harder than wrestling is stupid because in football you have a ton of breaks and you barely have to run anywhere. In wrestling you are giving everything you got.
What about polevault?
Wrestling is the hardest. I play both wrestling and football. I know football is harder than rugby and soccer though. And I know water polo is hard but it is not a combat sport like football or wrestling. There is not as much as hitting as everyone says. I know what i am talking about because I have seen many water polo games and I have a brother that plays water polo.
That is just a little ridiculous! Gymnastics take dedication, hard work, strength, grace, balance, speed, and power. You are always sore if you are a gymnast. you hands have calluses and skin rips off your hands. It is also a individual and team sport. I am not even on a high level and I practice 10 hours a week.
why is golf on the list golf takes 0 athleticism
How is golf the 6th most challenging sport?
Nascar is hard
But F1 is much harder
boxing hands down. The footwork and skill needed to exceed, not to mention the stamina needed to go 12 rounds of punching and getting hit. the reflexes, the mental alertness and the toughness you need to get through it is unmatched
yeh surfing above all is given. How it could not? mentally and physically speaking it is at another level
MX is the most demanding sport out there, or bmx racing i suppose , from start to finish no breaks in the middle nonstop as hard as you can push yourself to be the winner
I am a soccer player, but ice hockey is definitely the hardest game. very fast,physical,running on ice and bumping into each other like car wrecks. really hard game. I LOVE IT
Swimming is definitely the hardest sport.... It is probably also the most underestimated sport.... I'm a competitive swimmer and I've done A TON of other sports ... By far, swimming is the hardest. Everyday, I know I'll be sore from what we do at practice 2 and a half to three hours each day. It is a scientific fact that you burn the most calories at swimming within an hour.... 1000 calories. Many people think it's easy because all they do in the water is float around, play games , dive, and do biggest splash contests in the water.... AND ONLY DO IT IN THE SUMMER!!!! Id like to see somebody who plays a different sport come to one of my practices... It'll make you change your mind of the difficulty of swimming....
the person who made this obviously forgot to mention that Wrestlers and MMA fighters have to CUT weight. That means, that after you lose a bunch of weight during practice, you can't eat or drink anything and you gotta lose more weight at the next practice! And the rest of you has the nerve to say that your sport is harder than wrestling or MMA? All I gotta say is that your sport will never be harder until it gets as violent and torturing as wrestling/mma. For those of you who believe that hockey or water polo is just as violent as wrestling, you idiots don't realize that wrestlers and fighters are in a Constant struggle against each other, not just every once in a while like you would in hockey or water polo . Also, there's Hundreds of moves and combinations that fighters and wrestlers need to learn to just survive on the mat, not just a few physical techniques that one would learn in swimming. And if you swimmers think that you have it the hardest, you must have forgot that there is no TRUE impact that is involved in your sport. In other words, wrestling/mma is harder because you're either facing somebody trying to beat your face in or you're facing somebody that's trying to rip your neck off and twist you in a damn pretzel!
gymnastics should be #1!!!!!! swimming? really? oh godness, look at that girl go! i wonder what their parents do during that junk. gymnastics is way harder! im sore everyday, got calluses, skin torn all over, ankle injuries, wrist injuries, back aches, and my abs hurt! the only thing i can think about swimming that hurts is a cramp. there is the most braggiest swimmer in my class and i can always out do her by just sayin what i did at practice. obviously the director of this website dont know how much harder gymnastics is than swimming, golf(really?),hockey, & soccer. purty much all them sports. im so sorry 4 all the gymnasts out there who like me have to read that list and gynmastcs aint up there. well guess what mr. producer, youd better put it up there cuz everybody knows that swimmings the easiest dang sport there is! :( you gots a frowny mr producer
oh, i forgot. "hadley" you cum to 1 of my practices and see how much harder it is than "swimming" or should i say " stupidity ". what injuries do you have? hot feet from getting out of the pool? oh im so sorry put som Olay on it and it'l feel better 2morrow. tara stevens- btw never talk 1 bit to her about anything cuz swimming will come up. i hate it!!! its so stupid who wants to do that? all u do is wave ya arms back and forth and when tara says sumthin about distance, 6,000's i said tara i have no idea wat u talkin about. so shut up!oh and boxing, wow, i saw sumthing about footwork, what about gynmastics? think about the footwork there! and another thing. im not really bragging. im knocking sum sense in ya minds! dont yall see?!!! gymnasts have to do twistng backflips on the beam ( 4inches wide ) and landwithout falling or even wobbling! one word. hard. and btw if tara reads this NOT UR FRIEND! so STOP following me!
all u do is float in the water
Gymnastics is the only hard sport out there and I'd you don't believe me then go get on a 4 inch wide beam and do a backhandspring and not kill your self
How could sports like rowing and water polo not be ranked, i have been on soccer teams, swim teams, baseball teams and more and by far the hardest sport i have ever done is rowing, come to a practice watch us erg until we throwup then we get back on and do it 5 more times, when we are on a boat not only is it completely a mental battle to make sure you are pulling hard and are technically correct, but you also need to make sure you are completely in sync with all of the rest of the guys in your boat, this is not to mention that we can burn over 2000 calories in a 2.5 hour practice
I agree with Luis.
Author isn't knowledgeable.
Reading your comments I can tell that everyone who says swimming isnt hard has never been on a team. It's different if you swim with your friends in summer than being on an actually team. Yes gymnastics is hard, relax girls we will acknowledge you too. And whoever said golf isnt hard is a moron. Try hitting a tiny ball into a hole the size of half my foot 300 yards away. In conclusion, if you haven't played the sport for a team before, you don't have the reasoning to say that sport is not hard.
Idk how anyone can say there sport is harder when in MMA you go in to train everyday and get hit in the face, body, legs, you have to defend against people who are trying to break off your legs or arms or trying to make you pass out. Then after all that your still cutting weight and have to spar
All of you are dumb as hell. I agree ice hockey is #1 but all of you saying football is harder than wrestling? Hahahahaha. You football fags dont know shit until your a wrestler. Dedication, strength, power, agility. Etc. Football cant compare to wrestling. Everything is easier in life after you wrestle. We are in the best shape out of amy other sport.
bull riding is not a sport.
are you dumb?
If bull riding isn't a sport then everybody could do it. It takes an incredible amount of athleticism to ride ride a 2000 pound animal whose main goal is to ultimately hurt you. On a side note, I have played soccer for 15 years and without a doubt it is a tough sport. All sports have a special place in the hearts of the people who play them and truly play them for the the passion of the game and nothing else. Hockey is without a doubt though the hardest. It takes amazing skill to do what those guys do.
Who ever said football is harder than soccer has obviously never played soccer. In soccer you need much more skill and endurence because in football the players get a rest almost every 7 seconds and in soccer who knows how long coach will keep you in the game?
To the people who are saying football is harder than rugby have obviously never played competitive rugby, probably the most they played was high school. Once you get to an actual competitive league it is incredible tough and you do actually need to be quick contrary to what this article says. Furthermore, those who base their opinion off of the sport science rugby vs football should realize that it was extremely one sided. I mean come on, taking an NFL pro and a club rugby play from the US? The US has a horrible rugby program, bring Sonny Bill Williams in and he will kick most Football players asses.
Why isn't track and field up there? It's one of the purest sports that require everything ranging from speed, endurance, durability, muscle and athletic fitness.
I'm a sprinter running at a collegiate level and its no joke. We have practice 6 days a week like all other sports. But what we do that barely any other sport does is lift in addition to the practice everyday! It's one of the most mental toughest sports also. How do you go to practice knowing that every second of the workout is pain. Because that's what track it making your body reach its limits and pushing through. Until you have ran a 400 meter race at full speed you might not know what pain is. The last 100 meter you barely feel your legs and if you performed your best you will collapse. To mentally prepare yourself for that is insane. and physically also. There is no possible way you can be good unless you train hard everyday. Even your diet and how you sleep affect such a large part of the sport. In team sports like soccer, lacrosse you have your teammates to help if you drop the ball or miss a shot. In track your in that lane by yourself, the help you get from your teammates is cheering, then everything is on you. I'm not sure why it isn't up in the top hardest sports. People think because it's "running" its easy. Have they ever tried "competitive running" whole new world! Anyways I'm not saying its the #1 hardest but it does deserve consideration, especially considering the fact that if you look at professional track athletes they have the BEST BODIES ever!
Uhm... golf? Nascar? Sorry, but no. There's no athletic talent required in either of those. No physical demand. Might as well add competitive poker on there too, then. And chess. World professional... frisbee or something. Those are right up there too.
10 hours a week what a joke ... In wrestling season I trained 5 hours a day mon-sat and on sundays 2- 3hours .... Also I would love to see all the other "sports" have their players cut weight and still perform at the same level.
Why would you put tennis there? Tennis tires out your body more than you think. Dont act like you know about the sports if you never played it. The reason why people dont think tennis is tiring is because they dont play it properly. You actually need instruction. And not just for a month. You need it for years. Tennis tires out your whole arms, quads, calf, shoulder, forearm, wrist, and is exhausting. When you play bad you lob it, causing it to be easy to get. The pros serve well over 100 miles and hour, and there strokes are almost just as fast. I do cross country running and long distance track, and it is exhausting. Not to mention it is the one of THE MOST hardest sport to learn.
Proper English Please.
and gymnastics isn't on the list because
the sport has no cardiovascular involved in it at all
"Gymnastics is the only hard sport out there and I'd you don't believe me then go get on a 4 inch wide beam and do a backhandspring and not kill your self" Are you honestly retarded?!? The "only hard sport" sports are only as hard as you make them, tell me one thing that gymnastics do that other sports cannot.
Try gymnastics. I am honestly surprised that you didn't even put it on this list!
Lol don't you think baseball should be in the top 5, I would like anyone that plays hockey or wrestling or mma or soccer or NASCAR or golf to hit a round baseball thrown by Aroldis Chapman who pitches 105 mph with a round bat. good luck to all of you.
Insurance Discounts Online 16 months ago
I definitely agree with you that ice hockey is the toughest and hardest sport out there..