Most skillful sport?

[ThatPurpleGuy]

Recently me and a friend of mine got into a bit of a debate about what we think is the most skillful sport.

My friend thinks soccer (sorry to english people, I'm in Australia, we call it that here) takes the most skill. His argument was that it was only because you can use your feet as its not natural for people to control things without their hands. Don't get me wrong, I think all sports take a fair degree of skill and soccer is definitely up there but to me Ice Hockey is the most skillful team sport.

Hear me out..I'm not a hockey fan, noone plays it here in Aus so there is no bias in my comments. I think a sport that requires you can ice skate as good as you can walk or run plus be able to control a lightning fast puck at least I think it takes alot more overall skill than soccer because you have to be at a top level in two things that are already hard to do (ice skate and play hockey).

I actually think that individual sports are in a whole other category because at the top levels there really isn't much between the players as far as technical ability goes, the skill aspect of controlling your mind while under pressure is a huge aspect of individual sports, whereas in team sports a player having an off day can be pulled along by a good team.

What do people think? Is my friend right? Is foot control of a ball the most skillful thing in sport or do you think a sport like Ice hockey requires more skill or do you think there are other team sports out there that I haven't mentioned which would make the two sports I mentioned look like childs play?

 

[Marter]

I would say something like golf takes way more skill than soccer does.

Baseball is also really, really hard.

 

[SturmDolch]

Yeah, I was going to say hockey for the same reason. It's like soccer, but the ball is a small piece of rubber, instead of kicking it you whack it with an oddly shaped stick, and you skate around on ice while doing so.

And not at all because I'm Canadian. And Canada rocks at hockey. Or because I'm Swiss. And they rock at hockey, too. Not at all.

Edit: Oops. Super G is pretty intense, as well. Skiing down a hill at 120km/h while going through gates? Damn. I would shit bricks at half that speed.

And every sport takes skill. It's pretty hard to say which is most skillful. Of course, there's some sports I don't like, but even they take some sort of skill. I mean, with Volleyball, you have to... Um... Er... Ok, well, Football is... Baseb- wait, no. Well, there's soccer! Curling! Ringette! Lacrosse! Speed skating, luge, bobsled, cycling, swimming, etc. I can even admit that the most boring activity in the world, golf, requires skill.

 

[Skorpyo]

Racing.

No, not NASCAR; good, ridiculously fast, F1 racing!

One slip up and BOOM! 13 guys are in a mangled pile of fire and broken fiber-glass.

EDIT: It appears I've forgotten Rally Racing. Odd, since it's one of my favorites. :S

 

[Manicotti]

I would say anything you have to do on ice skates, or gymnastics.

 

[ThatPurpleGuy]

I would say something like golf takes way more skill than soccer does.

Baseball is also really, really hard.

Yeah if we are talking individual sports, I say golf takes the crown, hands down..Its one of those games you could play for 20 years and still be terrible at it. Most sports aren't like that.

 

[thewinner194]

I'd have to go with the luge. It's like F1 racing in that if you slip up your screwed, but this time you're on a sled, hanging on for dear life. Oh, and luge races are routinely decided by hundredths of a second.

 

[ThatPurpleGuy]

Racing.

No, not NASCAR; good, ridiculously fast, F1 racing!

One slip up and BOOM! 13 guys are in a mangled pile of fire and broken fiber-glass.

Motorbike racing. Yes. Car racing, while still very skillful, the car does do alot of the work for them, particularly in F1.

Im a racing and F1 fan so I am not having a dig at it, I just think electronics now takes away alot of driver error

 

[Trivun]

Personally, I'd say the most skill is required for sports where you need to focus on doing several things at once. My best example would be water polo. Now that is something of a test of endurance, because not only is it similar to sports like rugby, but you also have to focus on staying afloat and that takes up a lot of energy during a game. You need to be able to endure that, especially when you have people coming after you if you have the ball, having to swim all over the place to avoid the other team getting the ball or to try and score or pass the ball, and it can get pretty rough in the water too. Overall, I'd say that's something where you need much more skill than the likes of football or ice hockey.

 

[warrcry13]

I say Tennis it is really hard to learn how to do. The rules aren't hard, but actually playing it is.

 

[ThatPurpleGuy]

Personally, I'd say the most skill is required for sports where you need to focus on doing several things at once. My best example would be water polo. Now that is something of a test of endurance, because not only is it similar to sports like rugby, but you also have to focus on staying afloat and that takes up a lot of energy during a game. You need to be able to endure that, especially when you have people coming after you if you have the ball, having to swim all over the place to avoid the other team getting the ball or to try and score or pass the ball, and it can get pretty rough in the water too. Overall, I'd say that's something where you need much more skill than the likes of football or ice hockey.

Good call, thats a sport I didn't think of..In your first sentence you said most skill required for sports where you need to focus on doing several things at once so I would think this would put in the same category as Ice Hockey, considering ice skating that well where it is second nature is tough plus controlling the puck and other players coming at you. Your last sentence just seemed like a bit of a contradiction? Not meant as an attack in anyway, just saying.

 

[Souplex]

No sport requires more skill than fencing.

 

[ThatPurpleGuy]

Yeah, I was going to say hockey for the same reason. It's like soccer, but the ball is a small piece of rubber, instead of kicking it you whack it with an oddly shaped stick, and you skate around on ice while doing so.

And not at all because I'm Canadian. And Canada rocks at hockey. Or because I'm Swiss. And they rock at hockey, too. Not at all.

Edit: Oops. Super G is pretty intense, as well. Skiing down a hill at 120km/h while going through gates? Damn. I would shit bricks at half that speed.

And every sport takes skill. It's pretty hard to say which is most skillful. Of course, there's some sports I don't like, but even they take some sort of skill. I mean, with Volleyball, you have to... Um... Er... Ok, well, Football is... Baseb- wait, no. Well, there's soccer! Curling! Ringette! Lacrosse! Speed skating, luge, bobsled, cycling, swimming, etc. I can even admit that the most boring activity in the world, golf, requires skill.

Yeah all sports take some degree of skill but some definitely take more than others. Of course 'skill' is quite a subjective term as people see skill in different ways..Im sorry, while a sport like luge or bobsled does take alot of balls, no way does it require more overall skills than something like ice hockey or even soccer..It more a matter of perfecting a small set of skills rather than becomeing overall good at a wide range of skills. Well thats how I see it anyway.

 

[shreedder]

tennis. So much of that game is very subtle movements. Everything from your eyes down to your feet have to be in the right spot to make the right shot.

 

[RandallJohn]

Tepak Sakraw. [http://www.travelblog.org/Photos/4684722]

My vote was going to be for football/soccer, but I completely forgot about Tepak Sakraw. I once tried to play it and... yeah, that didn't go well.

 

[viranimus]

Cheerleading!.... Oh wait, just remembered a prior stance. nm

Boxing! They dont call it"the sweet science" for nothing.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

I am going to say billiards, since I am of course a fan of billiards.

And I would not generally lump physical endurance and strength under the heading of "skill".

 

[Hader]

A lot of sports entail one sort of discipline that takes a lot of skill in to be really good at. I don't think I could say any one sport requires more overall skill than any other though.

Being a hockey player, I would say being a goalie on ice is much harder than anything else the regular players have to do. Goalie in any sport is quite a special position, and entails a lot more pressure.

 

[Canid117]

Soccer? Hah! Pshawww!