What sport requires the most skill?

semi-pro waster said:
Do you mean you play it badly or that you are so fit that 5 a side doesn't compare with what you do normally?

A sport, to me, must have some form of fitness(i.e. some sort of speed also and possibly power) and skill involved but the interesting part is where you draw the line otherwise you basically say that everything can constitute a sport because it involves some movement, if we take your definition to it's logical conclusion when I read I could be partaking in sporting endeavour because I am turning pages. To hopefully forestall the next argument over definition - competition also isn't necessary for something to be classed as a sport, sure it is often involved but when I go snowboarding I compete against no-one unless I choose to and I don't see how it could fail to be a sport.
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What I am saying is that you can only measure a sport by the amount of skill involved, not physical exertion.
 
weescott said:
Did I say It required no Skill? No!

To me sport requires athleticism. Snooker requires none of that!
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You get fat unathletic rugby players even at the top of the game. Does that mean it isn't a sport?

Of course snooker is a sport. I don't know if I agree with it requiring the most skill though.
 
cheets64 said:
The greatest skill in sport is not to lose.

To say what sport requires most skill would be something envoling an engine, as if you dont have the skill it will kill you i.e F1, rally etc. takes decades to become a master and a true champion at motorsport.


So I say motorsport.
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'The greatest skill in sport is not to lose', absolute genius, like that a lot mate!
 
Too hard for me to call.

I guess one way you could look at it though, is to say that the most skillful sport is the one which is least affected by external factors (luck, performance of your opponents etc). I.e. the only deciding factor on how well you do is skill.

One thing I would say, however, is that in my opinion snooker does require a lot of skill, especially compared to similar sports/games like pool. By which I mean that any different in skill level in snooker will be evident in the scoreline... player X who is a little better in snooker than player Y will nearly always win (say 8+ frames out of 10), but a player who is a little better at pool can often lose quite a few frames to a slightly inferior opponent, depending on how things go.
 
Football.

Just kicking a ball 40yards to someone feet or head takes some skill...

Nevermind the rest of it.

At the top level it requires great fitness and amazing skill to play at the highest level.
 
Darts has to be the most skilled sport out there. It incorporates javlin throwing, abliet on a smaller scale, and a degree of accuracy unprecidented in any other sport :p

IT also has produced Englands greatest ever sportsman ;)
 
Basketball gets my vote. Not only do you need great hand/eye coordination, you need to have pace and power as well. Michael Jordan at his peak seemed to have absolute contol of his body - turning in the air to line up shots or just get massive hangtime by weight distribution. Add to this the physical pressure of opponents as well as a shot clock you need the utmost skill to play it well.
 
i think snooker must be the hardest sport to become professional at. theres thousands of pro rugby players and football players but maybe only a few hundered pro snooker players in the world. its not as mainstream obviously though.
 
Nickg said:
i think ice hockey requires the most skill, athleticism, and ability to make it to the top.
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I agree with you, Nick.

I tried to take up ice hockey a few years ago, and while I could play it, other people I was playing with were light-years ahead in terms of skill.

Ice hockey requires a completely unique blend of strength, balance and agility. It's as rough as rugby, and yet you need to be as agile as a gymnast. These two factors, combined with the fact the whole thing takes place on ice skates (requiring an insane level of skill over the ice skate's blade), makes it, in my opinion, the most skilled sports on the planet.
 
Clerkin said:
i think snooker must be the hardest sport to become professional at. theres thousands of pro rugby players and football players but maybe only a few hundered pro snooker players in the world. its not as mainstream obviously though.
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I would say the opposite. Football is probably the hardest sport to get in to (along with athletics) at the top level because most men who are athletic will have tried for teams in their youth and peak, whereas specialist areas like snooker/hockey..etc are only ever played by a few outside of school.

Hard to put it in to words, but if anyone is naturally gifted at football, they are far more likely to be picked up/start playing football, whereas someone maybe naturally great at something else, but never think of playing it at a high level and never achieve their potential.
 
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Badminton IMO

Physically the most demanding sport I have ever played.
The requirement of power, technique and finesse is immense and your stamina has to be insanely high to play competitively at singles.

Trust me, anybody who has played this sport to a high level will tell you the same.

For the record I have also played football, Gaelic Football (hardest training you will ever do btw) at a very competitive level, was capable of 60-70 breaks in snooker and do a lot of cycling and mountain biking as well, so I can draw some comparison.
 
Having played (and watched!) various sports & activities I'd probably say tennis actually, as you'd have to excel at both skill & athleticism to succeed, not to mention it's a 1-on-1 game so there is no team to carry you. I suspect other, similar ball sports are up there too but tennis is the one that strikes me the most. In which case I guess that would make Federer the 'greatest' sportsman around at the moment, something which I wouldn't argue against too strongly I have to admit!
 
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