Of course there is no best sport! But every sport has its advantages and disadvantages. I am really fed up with people calling gymnastics a girl sport, or soccer being the ‘gay’ sport. Every sport serves its purpose and each sport has its focus on the different parts of the body. I’m going to analyze sports that are either seen as a useless or excessively popular.
Let me start off with golf. It's unbelievable how many people think golf is the simplest sport out there. Golf is a sport of the mind. Have you ever been put under pressure by peers or parents to do something right? Golf is all pressure, concentration, and how stable your mental side can be. You see golfers stand at the tee surrounded in utter silence, staring at the golf ball, figuring out the perfect angle, feeling the wind, and making sure they take the perfect swing. You have to be almost perfect in golf if you want to be a good golfer. Golf is not an easy sport to play.
Football. I remember in the 4th grade, I hated football. It made no sense, all people did was run around, get hit, and start over! Now it makes more sense. Football is very strategic. You need team cooperation and communication. You must learn to anticipate and read the opponent’s minds. And even beyond the thinking, there is the physical play. You must be confident and strong to stand up to your opponents. If you’ve ever been bullied before, you know how it feels to have someone bigger than you to step all over you. Imagine how it feels to stand up and fight back. In football, you need to be strong and physical. Football is unpredictable. Statistics mean little in this sport.
Swimming is a great sport. I’m not saying that because it’s my best sport. Swimming requires teamwork but it also requires a little extra individual effort. When you get up on the block, you represent a team. But there is not a team up on the blocks, just you. The tension before a race practices your mind well too. But it’s great when you dive in and the cold water surrounds you. You no longer hear the crowd. You no longer hear the coaches. You no longer hear reporters or officials. All the tension is released and you just hear your breaths and your hands as they pound the water, forcing them to go above and beyond. When the race is over, you hear everything again. It’s a remarkable feeling.
Basketball requires endurance. You run a lot in the game of basketball. Basketball is probably the most fastpaced sport. In football, you take breaks and huddles. In track, you run dashes of about 100 yards or a mile, and then you get a big break. In basketball, you have to run and jump, make moves, steal, and you can’t let up. Even in soccer, you’re not forced to jump for the ball all the time.
Soccer is also a fastpaced sport. You basically have the same idea in basketball as you do in soccer. Only difference is, you need a great deal of agility. While in basketball you have massive Shaqs that runs like a freight train with nothing stopping him, in soccer you have to fake your opponent out because he can easily pursue you. Even if you get by him, you’ll likely be held up another opponent, and within a thrice, he’s in front of you again.
Tennis is a very fun sport. Again, in tennis, you have to move quickly and be willing to sacrifice your body for the ball. In tennis, if you’re not quick, your opponent can control you. Tennis requires fast decisionmaking. Do I backhand, set myself up for a forehand, hit to the left, hit down the line? You have to make the choices quick, or it will be too late.
Hockey is like a combination of every sport. You have to be quick moving (soccer and tennis), you have to strong and powerful (football), and you have to be able to endure the constant sprinting back and forth (basketball).
Volleyball is also fun. In volleyball, communication is essential. Imagine having to people run up to hit the ball, collide, and lose the point. Or when it lands right between to people and no one gets it. You also do a lot of body sacrificing and feeling the ball.
That’s it. I only wrote about the sports that I have played and have experience in playing it. I hope you realize that every sport is the same in a way. No sport is “better” than another. In the end, they all add up just the same. So don’t be so quick to judge golf as the simple sport or football as the pointless sport. If you don’t enjoy it, do not mock it, leave it.
