What is the most difficult sport to play at a high standard?

[Chubb]

Yes it is incredibly demanding physically.. but again I question the mental side of this sport.

Like rowing for example, a lot of the work is done before "match day" and requires a massive amount of training. There are no real tactics (other than overtaking and pacing yourself), or quick decisions to be made. I believe that it is the ability of a cricketer to make spontaneous decisions that makes the game so interesting. This skill is completely null in cycling (to my little knowledge anyway)

ah, simmy, I'm afraid that isn't true. There are loads of tactics in cycling, from knowing when to start your sprint in a bunch finish, knowing when your opponent is weak and you should attack and break him, knowing when to begin a breakaway so you have a chance of succeeding, and loads more. Team coordination is also extremely important in cycling, Armstrong could not have won seven TdeFs without his team helping him all the way. It's both a demanding tactical sport and an incredibly tough physical one.

Neil is right, watch a mountain stage and you'll see just how tactical it is, and how you have to make quick decisions. It's brilliant entertainment.

 

[simmy]

Hmmm.. OK.. I can accept that I suppose having never seen the game.

How long is a "tour"?

 

[Neil Pickup]

Hmmm.. OK.. I can accept that I suppose having never seen the game.

How long is a "tour"?

Depends where of - the tour of Britain or the tour of Flanders for example are 4 or 5 days long, but the three grand tours (Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and Vuelta e Espana) are all three-week affairs.

 

[simmy]

Depends where of - the tour of Britain or the tour of Flanders for example are 4 or 5 days long, but the three grand tours (Tour de France, Giro d'Italia and Vuelta e Espana) are all three-week affairs.

I fully accept your argument...

Let me ask you this... Who should hence get "Overseas Sportsman of The Year" this Winter on the BBC's Sport's Personality of the Year? Warne or Armstrong? They are both the front runners.

 

[Chubb]

The Tour de France, the Vuelta a Espana and the Giro d'Italia are three weeks long, with two rest days. They can expect to cycle anything up to six hours a day. The mountains have a grading system, 4 is a big hill, 3 a mini-mountain, 2 a small mountain, 1 a big mountain, and an Out-Of-Category climb is an absolute monster, like the Col du Galibier. go to www.letour.fr- Route 2006 and "Consult the profiles of the mountain stages" to get an idea.

 

[Chubb]

I fully accept your argument...

Let me ask you this... Who should hence get "Overseas Sportsman of The Year" this Winter on the BBC's Sport's Personality of the Year? Warne or Armstrong? They are both the front runners.

Lance has won that a lot, and whilst he deserved to, I'd like Warne to win this year, because it's highly likely that Flintoff will win SP of the Year, the whole team'll win Team of the Year and Fletcher'll be Coach of the Year so then we could have a cricket clean-sweep.

 

[simmy]

hell yeah!

 

[luckyeddie]

I fully accept your argument...

Let me ask you this... Who should hence get "Overseas Sportsman of The Year" this Winter on the BBC's Sport's Personality of the Year? Warne or Armstrong? They are both the front runners.

Warne - no contest (that's just the cricket fan in me talking).

 

[shankar]

The only factor that determines how hard it is to 'play a sport at a high standard' is the total no. of people that play it - because 'high standard' is only a relative term. However easy a sport is, it is as easy for everyone who plays it. So it is as difficult to be counted amongst the top players of that sport as any other sport. Of course there is only a critical mass till which the benchmark for the 'high standard' keeps increasing i.e. adding more players is not going to improve the quality of the sport at the highest level beyond a point.

 

[Pratters]

Table Tennis is extremely difficult. Professionals are freaks at it.

By personal experience I cann tell you TT is not that difficult. It may seem difficult to some one who may never have played it but if you try it a few times, you will know its not as difficult as it looks.

 

[luckyeddie]

I should say, from a completely unbiased viewpoint, that the hardest sport of all to play to national or international standard is, er, tenpin bowling.

 

[steds]

Not Lawn Darts?

 

[Neil Pickup]

You've not been around long enough to hear tell of Eddie's tenpin exploits, have you?

 

[steds]

It appears not

 

[Chubb]

By personal experience I cann tell you TT is not that difficult. It may seem difficult to some one who may never have played it but if you try it a few times, you will know its not as difficult as it looks.

But I have played it... I have poor hand-eye coordination, so it's no surprise I am terrible at it. I do think it's good fun though. interesting thing is, my Great-grandfather, grandfather and uncle were all accomplished table tennis players as well as brilliant cricketers. It really helps with the hand-eye coordination. I am better at squash, but I think it's an easy game to play adequately. One of the easiest.

 

[Smudge]

Football has to be the easiest sport to play in the world, as there's so little range of skills involved. To play it at a high level, you only need to be able to kick, fall over and be a pansy.

I suppose the hardest sport in Britain to reach a high level is yawnion, as if you either
a) Aren't fat
or
b) Can't kick
there's no room for you in the British game. It will also be one of the least demanding games to play, as you know the team playing against you will do one of two things: give it to one of their big heiffers to stick up his jumper or kick. Although, from what I've seen, outside of Britain it's different.

IMO, Tennis and Rugby League would be the most challenging athletically, whilst cricket is a much more specialist skill based. It depends which of those you view is more difficult, but I'd guess it goes summat like

Tennis
Cricket
Rugby League
"Kiwi style" Yawnion
Snooker
"British Style" Yawnion
Socey

EDIT: I interpreted "High Standard" as professional level

Rugby league (or State House Rugby as it's known in NZ) challenging? Anyone can do shuttle runs every 60 seconds for 15 minutes then take a rest for 10 minutes on the bench.

 

[simmy]

I agree... any team that is allowed to fall back and form a line of defence should never let in a try...

Union is a better, more challenging game in my opinion!!!

 

[nick-o]

There's a bit of comparing apples and onions going on here.

One, tennis or golf in their usual forms are purely individual sports, whereas a lot of the skill in soccer or rugby is in team coordination and knowing where the other guy will be intuitively. There's no point in being able to send a pinpoint pass if no one's there to receive it.

Two, the time span involved doesn't compare. A footballer may play one or two matches in a week -- say three hours of competitive play in seven days; in a Grand Slam, a tennis player has up to seven matches, maybe three hours each, over two weeks; golfers four rounds of what, five hours each, over four days... How can you compare the stamina required? How can you compare running 100 meters to running a marathon?

Cricket crosses these barriers; it's about individual performances within a team context, played over long sessions; so all the different components of skill, team work and endurance are required.

I imagine if you were to define 'difficult' as the difficulty per individual per minute, then winning an Olympic Gold in the 100 meters would be the most difficult. But Roger Federer needs to do more to be No. 1 in the world over a year...

If you discount individual sports and only include team sports, using 'difficulty per individual per minute' I think soccer wins.

But if you think of difficulty per individual per week, cricket is probably only challenged by baseball, and given that baseballers are rotated between games, cricket wins.

 

[simmy]

Thank you... very well summed up!

 

[simmy]

You think that baseball is as difficult as cricket?

They never hit the bleeding ball! Mind numbingly boring sport to watch as well.