The Most Demanding Sport

[bison1]

What is the most overall demanding sport, both physically and mentally?

Personally I feel football is. You need to be in very good shape and you need to be extremely prepared mentally. Hours of watching film and studying the other team. Hours of practice to learn plays and learn to work as a team.

Wrestling requires EXCELLENT physical fitness but I feel the demand of a smart football player outweighs the extra physicality wrestling demands.

If I would put them in numbers from 1-10...

Wrestling
Physically - 10
Mentally - 5

Football
Physically - 8
Mentally - 9

Combined I gotta give football the upper hand. Wrestling is 90% strength and practicing technique. Not much changes from meet to meet.

Football requires many last second changes and at times can call for a completely different gameplan from week to week, even play to play if the circumstances change. Football has many more variables that all come into play.

[Gunner18]

soccer:
mentally: 10
physically: 9

always thinking for urself, u dont have a QB telling u what to do every 8 seconds, telling u wear to run or who to block. also having to worry about 11 opponents plus 10 teamates at a time, not just urself and one opponent as with in wrestling.
also being able to run, jog, sprint for 80 minutes on a field that is 112 yards long 65 yards wide.

so with out a doubt, soccer is the most demanding sport! :lol: :lol: :lol:

[captain dean]

I dont care how strong and in shape a wrestler is he will never beat anyone without knowing what to do. A mat smart wrestler will always beat him. You'd be surprised how fast a big dude can be put on his back (as ham will probably find out). Wrestling is all experience and knowing what to do.

[gottaluvit]

bison1, "if you knew anything about wrestling" you would have given it more than a 5 for mentally. to be a good wrestler, you have to constantly think while you are wrestling. you have to realize when your opponent makes a mistake and capitalize on it while making sure you dont make a mistake. you have to recognize whats coming and counter it (in a 2 min. period) you don't get to stand in a huddle and discuss it. you don't get to hand it off to someone else to do it for you. when you're on the mat, you usually dont hear the coach telling you what to do. they might be telling you stuff, but you don't always hear it. there is only you and your opponent. then you have the added stress of trying to keep your weight within a certain limit. if you get on your back you fight with every ounce of strength you have to not get pinned. i have seen my son come off the mat more wrung out from wrestling 6 minutes, than he has from walking off the field after a football game. and its not because he didn't play, because he does and is pretty good at it too. he played both offense and defense. so here is my rating for most demanding sport.

wrestling:
physically- 10
mentally- 10

football:
physically- 8
mentally- 7

soccer:
physically- 7
mentally- 7
i've seen some rough soccer games, and it really surprised me on how much stamina and endurance they have to have. neither of my boys play soccer, but i felt i had to give it credit simply because you guys dis it so much.

[bison1]

I have a few comments for gottaluvit

1. How can we take what you say seriously if you're rating sports just because others dis it??

i felt i had to give it credit simply because you guys dis it so much.

and

2. I do know a thing or two about wrestling. You prove a few good points; however, I'll stick with my original post. Wrestling is a 5 mentally. Allow me to elaborate:

Half of what you spoke of comes from repetition and practice. Those two things are very crucial but we aren't comparing these sports on which is more time consuming(which would still be football due to hours of watching tape on top of the same practice time wrestling has.)

You also say a few things which show us all that you are most definitely a mom. I don't expect you to understand the amount of thinking that goes into the game of football. I'm not talking about what is said in the huddle. I mean from when the qb says set......until he says go. What goes on in a football players head between set and go is something you'll never have the privilege of knowing.

i have seen my son come off the mat more wrung out from wrestling 6 minutes, than he has from walking off the field after a football game. and its not because he didn't play, because he does and is pretty good at it too. he played both offense and defense.

Yet another excellent point. HOWEVER, no where did I say wrestling wasn't physically demanding. Of course your son was tired after coming off 6 minutes of intense action. No one has debated wrestling requires excellent physical condition. Although good job arguing a moot point just the same.


And finally, I'd like to address one more thing you said that somewhat irks me.

to be a good wrestler, you have to constantly think while you are wrestling.

I disagree. If you spend your time thinking you'll get beat. A good wrestler reacts long before he has time to carefully plan out a strategy. He reacts through instinct. He's been in that situation before and he knows what to do the second the oppurtunity arrives. Any hesitation while he thinks and the oppurtunity is gone. A wrestler that spends his time thinking will spend his time on his back.

However, once again, you did a good job inadvertantly remphasizing the dedication required to be a good wrestler.

[gottaluvit]

i'm just curious on how you figure "watching" hours of tape is so demanding. don't they use practice and repitition in football?
do you or did you wrestle in high school? are you or were you any good?
as for my comment about soccer,IT WAS A JOKE, jeez get a sense of humor. since when do you usually hear a parent of a high schooler say dis, without it being an attempt at humor. i see my attempt fell flat where you are concerned. to clarify it "Humor-appeal to the comic sense. " thats why i put a razzberry at the end. though i still would give soccer the rating i did. i have watched about 2 1/2 seasons of soccer and was impressed.

[Eaglealum]

I'm involved pretty deeply in football.And I love the sport,more than others .But I'll be the first to acknowledge,wrestling is by far the most demanding sport.In some ways it's kinda not fair to compare different sports.Because if you're not ready physically and mentally in football you're gonna get chewed up.But the thing about F-ball is that you have to have all 11 guys on the same page at the same time.You can't say that about any other sport.
Now,Soccer?Please.I'll give you an 8 for physical.(you need to be in pretty good shape).What the heck is the mental toughness required about kicking a darn ball?Oh,yeah,I can't use my hands.I'll give mental a 2 for that much anyway.

[gottaluvit]

ok eaglealum ill concede on soccer...lol

[Gunner18]

y must everyone hate the original football? mentally...u have to constantly think on how to beat ur opponent...what moves u can do to get by him or what moves will stop him on defense..have u ever seen some of the pros and the footwork they do...that takes alot of thinking to be able to pull off those feats in the "face of danger" watch the brazilians sometime, u will simply b amazed. fact is soccer is the most demanding and best sport there is! :lol: :lol:

[theunknown]

yea i will give soccer a lil credit they do have to think but wrestling is by far the most mental....not just the thinking part of it ( but if you want to go that way what do you think ya do out on the mat not think?) but losing weight and hard intense practices really takes a toll on your body and if your not mentally tough you wont be able to lose weight and keep it off or perform while tired after losing weight. there is alot more to this sport than some of you know. losing weight is part of the sport and it could be a sport in itself. without being metally tough you could just say bye bye to wrestling