<p>plus, swimming is the only sport that takes the body out of its natural place.</p>
<p>football, basketball, wrestling, lacrosse, etc. are all on dry land. Humans were not designed to be water animals. In the water, no matter if we wear aquablades ot fastskin suits, we’re still slow, clumsy, and clunky.</p>
<p>You’re missing the point, I in no way said swimming is not hard. However, much like XC is is a repetitive motion, unhindered activity. Waterpolo I would definitely give props to for being one of the “hardest” sports since you have to deal with people trying to drown you while you’re playing, but not swimming. the mental toughness required for swimming can be found in any dedicated athlete that competes at a high level.</p>
<p>fair enough. point taken</p>
<p>tomadog I agree with you…but cross country can get violent, esp. in the woods where there are no race officials. I’ve been spiked, thrown into trees, elbowed, tripped so many times haha but I get what you’re saying.</p>
<p><<the mental=“” toughness=“” required=“” for=“” swimming=“” can=“” be=“” found=“” in=“” any=“” dedicated=“” athlete=“” that=“” competes=“” at=“” a=“” high=“” level=“”>></the></p>
<p>i respectfully disagree. in swimming you have to motivate yourself while submerged in water, with only the voices in your head there to push you. to say the least, its a less electrifying atmosphere than one you would find in a crowded football stadium or basketball court. also, its perhaps the most individualistic sport out there. you only have yourself.</p>
<p>I’d say that physically, some of the hardest sports are rugby, football, water polo, gymnastics, and ballet. However, of the above, gymnastics and ballet are much harder skill-wise, and while marching band isn’t too physically demanding, it definitely takes a lot of skill. For those of you who don’t do marching band, marching 200 beats/minute around the field, backwards, four to five stride, while playing an impact - that’s way harder than any football-type sport.</p>
<p>Definitely gymnastics–have you ever seen a football player ever come close to doing gymnastics skills? I haven’t. However, I have seen gymnasts play football.</p>
<p>Cricket. I want to see some of you guys playing a test match for 5 days (around 5-7 hours a day).</p>
<p>I don’t think any sport compares with tennis psychologically, except boxing. I’ve sometimes just lost it on those courts. If you’re not hitting right, you can’t get two balls in the court and it’s the most frustrating, infuriating thing in the world.</p>
<p>I don’t think any sport compares with boxing. Not even close. You get long breaks in basketball and normally don’t even have the ball. Same with football. You play for 5 seconds, stop for a minute, then play again. Boxing is in a different league. It’s an awful sport, but people are willing to fight.</p>
<p>As a gymnast myself, though, I would have to say it’s pretty darn mentally tough to tumble on a four inch wide beam while you can feel the eyes of the judges, audience, and your teammates examining you from head to toe waiting for you to make even the slightest mistake. Then, you have to deal with the frustration of seeing younger gymnasts learn skills it took you forever to learn on their first try, and you have to overcome the fear of trying a skill which, if performed incorrectly, could kill you. Then, which is the strangest part, there is a lot of drama that plays out between different coaches and teams…</p>
<p>all right, every is now saying is that his/her sport is extremely tough. i’m a swimmer, so i’ll nominate a different sport.</p>
<p>what about some of the really long triathlons? i’m not sure if i spelled it correctly, but hey, it’s gotta take something to swim 2.5 miles, bike 200 miles, and then run a marathon all in one race.</p>
<p>heck, some of the shorter triathlons are still like, a mile swim, 25 miles biking, and 9 miles running, that’s no piece of cake either.</p>
<p>OK Now it’s my time to shine! I am a triathlete, and I love it and have competed in many races, but I am willing to say that skill-wise, it’s not that difficult. It is an individual sport, and most races are no-draft on the bike, so tactics don’t come into play-it’s basically balls out. It is intense, long, painful, and sometimes deadly, but it wouldn’t be a triathlon if it weren’t-as in it wouldn’t be worth doing. Just for clarification an ironman is 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.2 mile run. I’m doing a 1/2 ironman next sunday :-O. Triathlon in my opinion, as I’ve already mentioned, is the coolest though! You can lose composure in any sport. I have seen games where Reggie Miller couldn’t hit a single 3, and he is the greatest 3 point shooter in NBA history. I have felt like $hit from the first few hundred meters of some races, but I keep going. Losing/not your rhythm occurrs in every sport.</p>
<p>flipchick I think you pointed out one of my harshest critiques of gymnastics: judges. Any sport that is decided by judges loses some credibility in my eyes if only because you are dependant upon another person for the ultimate outcome. Yes, I realize that other sports do use referees, judges etc, but for the most part the outcome is decided by the individual athlete or team. Again, I have nothing ill to say about gymnastics, I have friends who have competed at a high level. However, I still say, there is no greater opponent then another human being. Any sport that does not include someone physically trying to stop you from achieving success cannot be considered the hardest.</p>
<p>Side note: football players arn’t capable of gymnastics? Ever seen someone tightrope down the side line while running full speed or snagging a ball one-handed with someone pulling you down whill spinning in mid-air? Their not called acrobatic for nothing.</p>
<p>TOMADOG02,</p>
<p>you should read my post again. i said if you make a talented tennis player switch with a talented football player FOR A MONTH or so (not from 5 years old given that thats kind of impossible) then the tennis player would be better at football than the football player would be at tennis by the end of that short period of time. i believe its because tennis players require more skills than football players do to play thier respective sport. and the comment that “tennis is a sport based upon countless repetitions, so in that way, yes, I suppose it is ‘harder’ to become a good tennnis player then football player. However, this does not make the sport itself harder.” so you’re saying its harder to become great at tennis, but tennis that doesnt mean tennis is harder to play? ok yeah whatever. “Anyone with the requisite natural talent and mental toughness can turn themselves into an excellent tennis player.” haha. yeah thats bs. and you just said it was harder to become great at tennis. and how can you jugde how difficult a sport is by how much “physical punishment” is absorbed? i could make up a sport where you run up a mountain naked as fast as you can while getting shot at with paintballs in the crotch and getting beating by fans with sticks. so would that be the hardest sport? doesnt require that much skill though now does it? </p>
<p>and yes i said “tennis players use more coordination with their body to transfer their wieght into the shot to create a lot of power behind the ball [then basketball players]”. its true. </p>
<p>you said “Try weaving between two defenders and then pulling a 360, fall away, switch hands lay-up. If you’re saying that doesn’t require as much coordination as starting from a solitary, standstill serve you’re on the rock.” yeah tennis players START from a standstill position, but do basketball players. tennis players have to serve to start the point. after that its sprinting all over the court and switching directions while using a racquet to hit a small, unpredictable, fast ball to the otherside with aim, pace, and depth (or angle, or slice, or topspin…) yeah basketball players have to have great coordination to do the 360, FADE (not fall) away, switch hands shot. but do they do that A LOT in one game? not really. those are in the highlights. most of the shots in the nba are field goals thrown from a STATIONARY position or a routine lay up. i’m not saying its not hard, but tennis players CONSTANTLY hit EVERY TYPE of shot from every type of position from every where on the court. </p>
<p>i have an idea to settle this argument…why dont we just list what we think the top 5 hardest sports are…</p>
<p>in no particular order (yeah right)…</p>
<p>tennis, basketball, uh…wow i cant think of anymore…</p>
<p>ok lets make it the top 3</p>
<p>tennis, basketball, and …soccer i guess.</p>
<p>Boxing, wrestling…and some other sport that you can get killed in.</p>
<p>Tennis, basketball, and football are nowhere near.</p>
<p>aim, those are more simplified sports.</p>
<p>of course boxing and sh** is harder, but those are not sports and instead “beat me up” things. and talking about beat me up things, why not mention hockey? who wants to be wrapped up in heavy coats, on ice, move fast, and face a mini-bowling ball that goes faster than the speed of light when hit from far away!</p>
<p>tomadog–yes, the judges do sometimes cause a problem, especially when they know the person performing and either really like them or really hate them, but for the most part, they judge very fairly. Certain judges are harder than others, but during a meet everyone will be judged by the same judges on each event. Plus, there are two judges (at least) for each event and if their scores differ by too much they have to review all of the deductions they took to find out where they differed. It really is pretty fair. Also, if the score, for any reason, seems rather wrong then the coach can inquire the judges to see what deductions they took and make sure they didn’t make a mistake. I’ve been to hundreds of meets, and it’s always the girls who perform better that get the higher scores. That’s all there is to it.</p>
<p>As for the football thing. I didn’t say they couldn’t do any small acrobatic moves. But have you ever seen any of them balances upside down on a four inch beam, walking on their hands across the field or tumbling (in a controlled way) at all? I sure haven’t. Sure, there may be some football player who is the exception, but not many. And I don’t consider catching a ball with one hand a gymnastics move, it’s just good hand-eye coordination and concentration, which are qualities that gymnasts must also have, but there is much, much, much more to it.</p>
<p>if it’s about skills…it’s definitely soccer. it’s much more difficult to dribble the ball with ur legs than with ur hands. also, you can’t just push your way through people to get to the other end…! bball seems easier for taller ppl, football easier for the hulky type…soccer is only for the skilled :D</p>
<p>“soccer is only for the skilled”…that aren’t quite skilled enough to play tennis. haha.</p>
<p>and i was just thinking. boxing and wrestling are really painful sports, but they are probably the most natural sports there are. when humans, predominantly the male species, get angry and aggresive, what happens? they start punching and wrestling each other on the ground or whatever. so boxing and wrestling are sports that are just natutal aggresive human behavior with a bit more technicality and training to it.</p>
<p>tennis harder than soccer? u must be kidding…
i’m better at soccer but I wudn’t still say it’s the easier one… I seldom play tennis and yet am reasonably good at it.</p>
<p>but maybe it’s teh opposite with u… these things are mostly subjective anyway…</p>