what sport is the most difficult to master skillwise?

[poofyhairguy]

I went with hockey. You have to know how to skate, play the actual game of hockey, and bar fight to master the sport.

 

[waggy]

I say Gymnastics. you have 4-5 (depending on sex) events.

2nd i would say golf or some style of wrestling or fighting.

 

[IronWing]

Golf used to be the simplest game in the world. Then some moron decided to ban dogs.


Anyway, after watching Chinese pinp-pong, I voted ping-pong.

 

[SP33Demon]

Baseball. A 70% failure rate is considered good.

This. I'd love to see any normal person try to master hitting a 90+ fastball and pro curve or splitter for a hit. You may get the bat on the ball, but to hit it hard enough where a fielder (at the pro level covers a ridiculous range) is not and not knowing which pitch is coming = good luck. Keep in mind that new pitching phenoms like Yu Darvish and Masihiro Tanaka are throwing 8-9 different pitches according to PitchFX metrics, so you really have no idea what's coming as a batter. Even when you do, certain pitchers are so good at their pitches (Tanaka splitter, Darvish slider, Mariano Rivera cutter) that even if you know it's coming it's still hard to hit because they put some crazy spin rpm's on the ball that <.01% of the world's humans can do.

Hockey is up there as well just because it's hard to score on skates with one or more defenders on you, and a netminder with lightning quick reflexes ready to stop your shot.

Basketball is more that you need a physical prerequisite (height) to succeed whereas you don't see that as much with other major sports (baseball, football, soccer, hockey) so it's more of a rarity to have that size and athleticism moreso than skill. Boxing is also similar (you need the reach).

Golf, practice makes perfect and many no names make it on the PGA tour more often than you think. Racing, that is a tough call but definitely tougher than golf due to reflexes and time to make decisions.

 

[edro]

i dont care how some book defines it
i define it as not a sport, for the same reason Sho'nuff does. Auto racing is more of a sport because the other people kind of have a direct impact on you, in golf no so much

You can define black as white if you want.

The English speaking world as a whole does not use your definition.
Sport is defined as physically competitive play with predetermined rules.

 

[Meghan54]

Racing a NASCAR race isn't as easy as it looks, the cars get VERY hot, there is no power assist in steering or brakes plus your running 200MPH 3-4 inches from other cars, then you've got to deal with breathing in all that C02 and carbon monoxide on the track as race engines lack any emissions control..

Pssst...NASCAR stockers do have power steering.

To quote Geoff Bodine from a 2007 article on IRL racing and power steering:

...former NASCAR star Geoff Bodine, who in 1969 installed power steering in his modified racer and brought the technology to the Cup series in the early 1980s.

"When I came in and put power steering in a car, Dale Earnhardt called me a wimp and told me to do some pushups," Bodine said. "When he put it in the first time, I said, 'I see you're a wimp, too.' He didn't have a comeback for that one. And power steering extended the career of Richard Petty."

http://www.sportingnews.com/nascar/...p-danica-and-other-small-drivers-road-courses (About halfway down the page.)



From an interview with Danica Patrick in the Jan. 2012 issue of Car and Driver (talking about how much more it takes to "manhandle an IRL car vs. a NASCAR stocker):

There is a technology called “power steering,” which IndyCar still hasn’t discovered but NASCAR has, so the effort level isn’t that high.

http://www.caranddriver.com/features/what-id-do-differently-danica-patrick-feature (Question #3)

 

[HumanRobot]

fencing.

 

[DougK62]

I recall some sports show or magazine analyzing the same question and their conclusion was that the hardest thing to do in sports was hit a baseball.

 

[mmntech]

Air racing. Not only do you have to be a skilled pilot, but you've got to be able to handle high g-forces.

 

[chitwood]

poll sucks, volleyball not listed

 

[KeithTalent]

poll sucks, volleyball not listed

Volleyball cannot be the most difficult sport. I used to play it with moderate success and I suck at everything.

KT

 

[ponyo]

I view the mastering as learning the basics. It's foolish to talk about elite level because the only the select few in any sports will get there. But every sports have the basics you must master to proceed and if we use that criteria, sports like golf, tennis, and baseball wouldn't even be on the list. You can teach someone to hit a golf, tennis, baseball pretty easily and everyone can grasp it. Hockey is little more difficult as there is skating involved. But I don't think any "sport" can compare to figure skating. Not only do you have to learn how to skate and skate very well but you have to learn the jumps and spins. That can take years just to learn the basics. And I don't think there's tougher sport mentally as well. For that 4 minutes you're all out there by yourself in the rink with the entire stadium focused just on you watching your every move as you skate to the timing of the music.

 

[glenn1]

This. I'd love to see any normal person try to master hitting a 90+ fastball and pro curve or splitter for a hit. You may get the bat on the ball, but to hit it hard enough where a fielder (at the pro level covers a ridiculous range) is not and not knowing which pitch is coming = good luck. Keep in mind that new pitching phenoms like Yu Darvish and Masihiro Tanaka are throwing 8-9 different pitches according to PitchFX metrics, so you really have no idea what's coming as a batter. Even when you do, certain pitchers are so good at their pitches (Tanaka splitter, Darvish slider, Mariano Rivera cutter) that even if you know it's coming it's still hard to hit because they put some crazy spin rpm's on the ball that <.01% of the world's humans can do.

Here's what an MLB fastball looks like (100 MPH equivalent)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymMCt0oqogc

 

[smitbret]

I recall some sports show or magazine analyzing the same question and their conclusion was that the hardest thing to do in sports was hit a baseball.

This is the generally accepted theory among sports minds.

 

[brainhulk]

I view the mastering as learning the basics. It's foolish to talk about elite level because the only the select few in any sports will get there. But every sports have the basics you must master to proceed and if we use that criteria, sports like golf, tennis, and baseball wouldn't even be on the list. You can teach someone to hit a golf, tennis, baseball pretty easily and everyone can grasp it. Hockey is little more difficult as there is skating involved. But I don't think any "sport" can compare to figure skating. Not only do you have to learn how to skate and skate very well but you have to learn the jumps and spins. That can take years just to learn the basics. And I don't think there's tougher sport mentally as well. For that 4 minutes you're all out there by yourself in the rink with the entire stadium focused just on you watching your every move as you skate to the timing of the music.

 

[MiniDoom]

Pro cycling. A fatty can win a golf round, but you won't see a fatty win a bike race. In fact, it's so hard that everyone in cycling has to dope to win.

 

[Ns1]

Pro cycling. A fatty can win a golf round, but you won't see a fatty win a bike race. In fact, it's so hard that everyone in cycling has to dope to win.

obligatory:

 

[ponyo]

http://youtu.be/LoAMUArWqNg

 

[ioni]

i dont care how some book defines it

i define it as not a sport, for the same reason Sho'nuff does. Auto racing is more of a sport because the other people kind of have a direct impact on you, in golf no so much

Is the book be lying and making you pissed?

 

[KeithTalent]

Golf is not a sport because it lacks one of the fundamentals of a sport, namely defense.

Damn, should shut down the Olympics then. No skiing, running, track and field, swimming, etc, etc. since they are apparently not sports.

KT

 

[Sho'Nuff]

Racing a NASCAR race isn't as easy as it looks, the cars get VERY hot, there is no power assist in steering or brakes plus your running 200MPH 3-4 inches from other cars, then you've got to deal with breathing in all that C02 and carbon monoxide on the track as race engines lack any emissions control..

Agreed. Still not a sport. And for the record I said in my post that I was NOT saying that racing was easy. Picking 1000 grains of sand off a plate one grain at a time using only your hands is hard too. But that difficulty does not turn sand picking into a sport.

 

[Sho'Nuff]

Damn, should shut down the Olympics then. No skiing, running, track and field, swimming, etc, etc. since they are apparently not sports.

KT

They aren't. They are athletic competitions. Very entertaining to watch. But not sports.

 

[Ns1]

They aren't. They are athletic competitions. Very entertaining to watch. But not sports.

sport [spawrt, spohrt] Show IPA
noun
1.
an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature, as racing, baseball, tennis, golf, bowling, wrestling, boxing, hunting, fishing, etc.

:whiste:

 

[Sho'Nuff]

I view the mastering as learning the basics. It's foolish to talk about elite level because the only the select few in any sports will get there. But every sports have the basics you must master to proceed and if we use that criteria, sports like golf, tennis, and baseball wouldn't even be on the list. You can teach someone to hit a golf, tennis, baseball pretty easily and everyone can grasp it. Hockey is little more difficult as there is skating involved. But I don't think any "sport" can compare to figure skating. Not only do you have to learn how to skate and skate very well but you have to learn the jumps and spins. That can take years just to learn the basics. And I don't think there's tougher sport mentally as well. For that 4 minutes you're all out there by yourself in the rink with the entire stadium focused just on you watching your every move as you skate to the timing of the music.

Figure skating is not a sport either. In fact it is less of a sport than golf, because it lacks both a DEFENSE and an objective basis for winning (i.e., a score that is not based on "judgment").

 

[KeithTalent]

:whiste:

This.

KT