By Middle-School Bloggers Mason Conway, Calum Webster, and Elizabeth Greenwood
Here at thebirdonfire.org, we argue over everything–including Why my sport is harder than your sport! We thought we’d take it to the Palm Valley sidewalks. We asked people what they believe is the hardest sport and why. We know what the hardest sport is (Water Polo!), and we know everyone else is wrong, but wanted to hear their insights. Their answers surprised us, displaying a wide range of perspectives on the physical and mental challenges involved in different sports.
Mr. Kisling : “Open water swimming because if you stop, you drown.”
Ms. Maguire: “I think that decathlon is the hardest because you have to be able to run a marathon and do all of those sports really well, and I think that is really hard.”
Devlin Roosevelt: “Soccer because sometimes the refs are blind.”
Mateo Omier: “I think boxing or wrestling because you get beat up every single time.”
Maxwell Pretorius: “Boxing because you can get hurt.”
Ivana Vega: “I would say wrestling because you can genuinely die.”
Emmy Kaminsky: “Hockey because you have to skate while you are fighting while holding a stick while moving a puck.”
Jaden Ramer: “Ice Skating because you have to be precise.”
Brooklyn Hatrak: “I agree with Jaden because you have to be flexible.”
Sami Alnabelsi: “The hardest sport and why? I don’t know soccer because the refs are blind.”
Grace Ghaly: “Soccer because the coaches in soccer are mean.”
Ryder Gardner: “Hardest sport? Football because you have to do conditioning.”
Sarah Alnabelsi: “Soccer because it has a lot of running.”
Zoe Groendyke: “Ice Skating.”
Mr. Killeen: “F1 because you have to be short.”
Riley Jorgensen: “Football because it’s the most physical sport possible.”
Coach Jake: “I would personally say football.”
Julian Berumen: “Volleyball”
Cindy Wang: “Volleyball’’
Silvinita Garcia:” Volleyball or basketball.”
Now, Elizabeth says…
As you can see from the wide range of answers, everyone has a different opinion on what makes a sport difficult. Whether it’s the physical demands of hockey or the precision of figure skating. It’s clear that all sports require hard work and dedication.
And, Calum adds…
In my opinion, water polo is the hardest sport for a couple of reasons. First, you have to be treading water for a long period of time. The game is 50 minutes long with only 13 players and 7 playing at a time, and you can only get subbed out after a goal or a time out. So you are for sure going to be tired after the game. Secondly, you can only use one hand at a time. You can not pass in from hand to hand. You either have to dribble it or drop it in the water. This can be really hard because you are going to have to have a really good grip on the ball. The ball is constantly in the water, which means it is going to be wet and slippery. In addition to that, you can only shoot from 5 meters or farther. Finally, it can be a very physical sport. There is a lot of fighting that goes on under water that the ref doesn’t see. That is why water polo is the hardest sport.
Finally, Mason concludes…
I’m going to agree with Calum on this one, I can barely swim, so imagine swimming for that long. If I was to try to play water polo, I would be at the bottom of the regulation 20-feet deep pool. Some people like to drag the players when the refs are not looking, which sounds terrifying; I’d die. I also believe lacrosse is one of the hardest sports solely because you’re allowed to break your stick over someone; the sticks they use are made out of carbon fiber and hard plastic, which I imagine would hurt a lot.