What’s the the Toughest Sport you have been in and how did it turn out?

Water Polo

I’ve competed in football, basketball, soccer, swimming, wrestling, judo. The toughest though, was definitely water polo. It’s like a combination of wrestling, swimming, and a ball sport. You get held under water at times, and it’s essentially a combat sport. I was good because my best sport was swimming.

(water polo game age 16).

But good god was it hard. I was so exhausted and thought I was going to drown when I first started out. I’ve been choked multiple times underwater, punched, kicked, everything. For me, it’s water polo, final answer.

Judo

 Though I did not possess a lot of upper body strength, or was not all that agile, I did enjoy some modest success in that sport. Perhaps my greatest asset was the ability to think under stress, and react quickly.

Running marathons

That’s over 26 miles for those who don’t know. Toughest ones’ did was in Prescott, AZ. The entire run was at altitude…over 1 mile high. We had to climb a 7200′ summit twice during the run: once at the 9-mile mark and then again on the way back in at mile-16.

I was under-trained for the marathon, too. Deciding only to do it about a week before it took place. Up till then I’d been doing only around 12–15 miles a week, which is more along the lines of 10K training.

Of all my race finisher medals I value the Whiskey Row Marathon one the most!

Wrestling

I played football, baseball, and wrestled in high school. Wrestling was by far the hardest sport I did. We wouldn’t eat anything but ice for a day or two to make weight if we were over, our practices took place in a 90 degree room, we ran at least two miles a day, and I can’t even begin to explain the injuries I suffered, including a dislocated shoulder and busted nose. Leaving practice everyday I was either bleeding or bruised.

From my own experience with sports, and I’ve played a lot of different sports… I personally believe that Golf is the most difficult. Sounds silly, I know… but if don’t believe me, you’ve probably never tried to play 18 holes of Golf. And no, playing mini-Golf doesn’t count. You literally have to hit the ball perfectly every single time to even have a chance at finishing below par.

I’ve always heard that common saying of, “Hitting a baseball is the most difficult thing to do in Sports!” It’s hard enough to hit a 55-mph baseball with an aluminum bat, and completely different when you’re trying to hit a 95-mph fastball and/or an 80-mph curveball that flies at your face before breaking downwards and curving into the strike zone… and with a wooden bat nonetheless! Especially when you don’t know which pitch is coming next!

From a purely physical standpoint, Rugby or American Football are probably the hardest sports. Rugby athletes don’t even wear a helmet or pads… ouch!

Tennis

Ice Hockey can’t be easy. Playing a super-physical sport while ice skating sounds difficult.

Tennis is one of the more difficult and toughest sports to learn, but one with wonderful benefits. Yes the scoring is easy, and conceptually you go out and hit the ball over the net back and forth. But the hitting skills take a minimum of a year to obtain if you practice every other day. The playing skills take at least two years of playing regularly to pick up. Then you start playing for real.

Most novices need at least 6 months of teaching before they can even play the game at a very basic level with their peers. At 1 year they are beginning to get a handle on their serve. At 2 years perhaps they can start to think about strategy on the court. I’m sure there are a few exceptions and a fit, enthusiastic, athletic youngster could learn more quickly, but most novices quit long before they become ready to play in any sort of competition.

The trick in tennis is to learn to enjoy the hitting and running, so the first couple years, which are mostly practice, become enjoyable enough to learn the basic skills before you are good enough to actually play.

 Motorsports

I would choose a sport in which one may lose life by the end of the game.. No matter how many times you may have been the champion. Yes, I am referring to motorsports as one of the toughest sport.

When I saw this movie Rush, which depicts the real life characters of two F1 Racing Drivers. Set in the 70s. I came to know about the life of the F1 drivers. F1 cars are not something you get to drive in our regular life. We may have access to a less faster cars, but even to drive them 200km/hour is not a Joke. One minutest of mistake and you are gone.

Lets assume we pass that. Then there are faster cars you need to drive to get to that level. OK you get out from there as well safely. Then you have the International stage. Then you have these insane drivers to compete with who have already conquered fear.

You do good in one season. You want to take this to a new level. Still you don’t know what is in store for you. One might feel you need to have a displinary diet, exercise regime for other sports. But here you have to deal with most difficult sense of all. The Mind.

You have to avoid accidents, you need to have the complete knowledge of the circuit. You need to be aware of were to push you accelerator. Even you are good at all of them. It cant guarantee you the podium. You never know when your car will break down.

There could be a lapse of one second while changing the car tyre. You are out. I mean so many things to handle and the decision making has to be highly precise, is by no means an easy sport. In a sport where experience prevails. And the most experienced are seriously injured are succumbed to death. It becomes the most dangerous sport. Add to that pressure of winning, would make it one of the most difficult in sports.

Free Solo Climbing

That means no safety gear. No ropes. Once the climber is above 50 feet or so, a mistake means death. There is no other sport that requires the mental fortitude of free climbing. Every day when they say goodbye to their loved ones and head to the cliffs they all know it could be the last time. They can’t have a bad day because it will be their last day. And they can’t be distracted because it requires complete concentration.

They are the strongest athletes pound for pound. Who else can hang their entire body weight from a single finger and lift themselves a thousand feet using holds that you and I couldn’t even grip for a second? They have the endurance of marathoners.

Distance Running

I may be biased, but I think that the toughest one  is distance running.

Why?

Because in distance running (pretty much anything over 800m) there are no breaks, no one to help you, no teammate to fix your mistake, and no one to push you further. In terms of how physically challenging it is brutal. For most professional runners they can spend 4–6 months of 7 days a week training just to prepare for one race.

In running, you have to be locked in at all times. Every week you are going to be doing 2–3 workouts, each one brutally difficult, designed to simulate racing (more or less). While running might not have the sheer brutal aspect of boxing or American football, but if you do it right you will finish with literally nothing left to give.

At the professional level, it is not uncommon for athletes to pass out from sheer exhaustion at the end of a race.
From a mental aspect, if it did not claim the title of hardest sport from physical it clearly wins the mental.
If done correctly, running a long distance race will be the hardest thing you have ever done. I’m not even joking, when racing you’ll want to quit from the pain within the first few hundred meters, and the rest of the race just gets tougher and tougher.

The thing that sets distance athletes away from every other sport, is that there is no backup, no one to help you.
In a race it is literally just you, only you can push the pace, only you can decide if you want to go for glory.  soccer or other sports, you have teammates who can mess up, carry the team, or just do nothing. In running, the only thing that stands in your way on your quest to greatness is yourself. This is why distance racing is the hardest sport, in every aspect.

Boxing By a Knockout

The purpose of the sport is to deliver massive concussive brain injury to the opponent, or to so damage the opponent’s body so as to prevent the continuation of the fight. Unlike football — another wonderful sport for concussive brain injury — pro boxing features no headgear. There’s no union with a pension plan for retired fighters, either, to pay for medical injuries sustained.

Take a good look at the sweet science. To be any good, you have to box thousands of rounds — taking physical damage — just to HOPE to become good enough to be a pro. That’s a minimum of 30-50 amateur fights, plus thousands of rounds in the gym training and sparring.

To break in, you need to partner with a major promoter – who likely is going to rip you off for about 33-50% on your income. You also need to bankroll your entire entourage, trainer, cut man, coaches, sparring partners… that’s coming out of your pocket.