Ones I can no longer do: Wrestling, hockey, rugby, Indoor Riccochet Death-Frisbee Still do: Baseball, golf Perpetually suck white boy-style at: Basketball
I do cycling, hiking(if thats even a sport), canoeing and kayaking(once again, not really a sport). I'm just bad at everything else, so I stick to what doesn't destroy my self esteem and/or allows me to enjoy nature,
When I was in HS, when it came to sports, I was a jack of all trades, king of none. And I don't mean that I was on all the major sports teams as a role player, more that I was the kid who was above average at everything in gym class, but undersized. I didn't hit a growth spurt until my freshman year of college, so that kind of prevented me from being good at football, basketball, and baseball (only because I didn't have sufficient power at the plate anymore.) Its one thing to be shorter, its another to be thin as hell at the time as well. Despite this, I was a very good soccer player but was held out of 2 years of club by my parents due to some temper and attitude issues (Napoleonic complex, what up), and that prevented me from developing to the point that would have allowed me to contribute for a HS team that won 2 state championships when I was there and sent 5 kinds from my class alone to D-1 programs. Instead I ran cross country and played golf. I was a fringe varsity runner and about an 8 handicap, so again, good not great. Once I grew to almost 6' in college, I continued that decent at everything trend but found my true "niche" in random sports. I'm an "expert" skiier despite limited access due to living in the Midwest and became awesome at broomball in college, enough that I got scouted and invited to play on our club team. I still play now in a league here in Chicago, and am one of the better players in the league. But I might as well be good at curling for all people know. I've been told by people that I probably would have been best suited as a Lacrosse midfielder, but I never even picked up a stick until college cause its a non entity in Wisconsin, or was. And knowing people that played at a high level, it does seem like it would have been a good fit. Oh well, thats for my children. Here's to marrying someone who's Dad and brothers are 6'+.
Muay Thai, surf badly. Muay Thai is a slight obsession that feeds a part of my soul that I didn't even know was hungry before I started. Surfing is the most scary and yet peaceful thing I've ever done in water.
I wrestled from 3rd grade through 12th and also ran cross country and track in high school. I was an average wrestler and runner but was in a very competitive conference for athetics, for example I ran a 4:59 mile in the conference championships my senior year and it was good for almost last. I didn't feel like competing in sports after I went to college but still trained like I was. Today I do a lot of hiking and canoeing in the summer and fall between hunting/fishing/camping but not for sport, otherwise my labrador retriever forces me to stay in shape. If golf counts as a sport, can shooting? I compete in rifle shooting matches and have for a couple years. I shoot in benchrest matches now and this coming summer I want to try 3-Position, smallbore prone, and smallbore silhouette matches for variety. Those are more physical disciplines because your form and muscle control will make or break your precision. This past year was the first where I was a middle-of-the-pack shooter and not holding down the bottom of the list, so hopefully I can keep improving.
From 14-18 I studied Taekwondo (surprise) and competed in semi contact kickboxing (point sparring). I got started because I was a puny girl who was getting physically bullied, and getting good at kicking people in the faces really did wonders for my confidence. Also, there's a physical rush of needing to win a fight. I was ok at first, winning local and regional tournaments. I thought i was hot shit when I started beating boys, and then even hotter shit when kids refused to fight me. When I was 15 and 17, I was on Team USA for world champs. Got 4th place both times, just enough to not medal because of course, and those were probably the best times of my life. Training 6 days a week, 5 hours a night after school. I ate, slept, breathed fighting. It's feasible for adults to continue that lifestyle, unless you're loaded and don't have to ever worry about school or work, but man do I miss those days. Nowadays, I try to get my physical rush from long boarding, crossfit, and the occasional BJJ class if I can swing it, wake boarding in the summer if I can. I'm actually one of the least graceful people I know, so most sports don't make sense to my body. (See: basketball)
Being that I'm canadian, I grew up playing hockey, eh. I still play hockey 3-4 days a week. I also play softball, do some running, and am not too bad at squash. I gave rowing a shot this summer, and it was a lot of fun. I also golf, but seeing as I usually drink far more calories on the course then I burn walking to my ball from the cart. I can't really consider this a sport for me.
I think its well known on here I play hockey. I play on two teams and I coach as well. I'm on the ice anywhere between 4-6 times a week. I grew up playing the sport, apparently I don't suck at it, and I enjoy it. I've been skating since I was 5, so I've been on the ice for about 23 years now. I really do enjoy the ice, its my happy place. I still golf, play tennis, and play indoor soccer. Growing up I played baseball, soccer, golf and tennis. The one sport I can't play is basketball. I think its a good game, however I just suck at it. Also, my older brother and older sister swam competitively, for me however swimming is more about not drowning. The one sport I wish I played was lacrosse, but unfortunately my school got a team my junior year, and by then I was committed to tennis and hockey.
I lettered in 3 varsity sports in high school (football basketball and track), which means nothing as I went to a small private school with no ethnic diversity. I was a decent discus thrower in track and made it to state as a junior but after having shoulder surgery my senior year I was done with those sports. Now diving, fishing, hunting and some offroad stuff on ATVs are the only "sports" I participate in.
I am a firm believe that if you are a hockey player, it pushes all natural basketball talent out of your body and deposits it in Steve Nash. I was a good hockey player. I wanted to be good at basketball-- it was becoming popular, all my friends played it, its a cheap spirt to br involved in, so I got a net for the driveway and practiced every single day. Bricks, shanked lay-ups and air ball a-plenty. It's science. If you're good at hockey/basketball you suck at each other. Just look at the way they fight. Hockey players have hands carved in stone and fight like punches cause spontaneous orgasm. Basketball players fight like drunken noodle-armed midgets standing on a broken stepladder. And if you have a kid remember: basketball cheap, hockey insanely expensive. Be prepared.
Never did much in High School, the heart and all. I prefer no team sports. Right now I do Kendo and Archery. Does fucking count? ** Thats not me, just an example. I don't compete.
Per Angel, yes. The IOC did not respond to my application for having it as a demonstration sport at the Rio 2016 Olympics, though.
I've been playing rugby since 1996 and competing in strongman competitions since 2004 with nearly 50 competitions under my belt. I made Select Side (rugby version of an all-star team) 7 or 8 times and at one time was considered one of the most skilled guys in the region at my position. I've also won my fair share of strongman competitions, but after a year long hiatus to figure out this whole "fatherhood" thing, I'm getting back into it. I recently "retired" from playing rugby, but being retired only means that I don't go to practice for 6 hrs a week and that I only play in 5-6 matches per year, rather than 20. I'll be 38 next week and it hurts these old bones to be bashing heads with the young kids on a daily basis.
Played hockey my whole life. Still do. Wish I played more. Played two summers of box lacrosse and got my skinny ass kicked bad (including a near neck break). Also played way more soccer than I'd care to admit, thanks to the many Brazilian and Spanish kids I grew up with. Had a friend in junior high who grew up playing basketball like I played hockey. I'd end up kicking his ass in both because I had a height/reach advantage and am good at playing defense in general, but holy fuck do I suck at taking shots. Right-side lay ups are ok, which is why I'd end up winning, but all other shots are bricks. I know it pissed him off more than he let on. Tip for anyone who wants their kids to be good stick handlers: let them play in the garage and basement with a tennis ball. To this day I do tricks that surprise my friends. Sadly for me, I'm as clueless as I've ever been re: how to become a good skater.
Been skiing since I was three years old, so that's my shit. I'm pretty good at most racquet sports since I played tennis growing up. I boxed for 4ish years before I joined the military. I played in intramural football (American football, not what these pansy Eurotrash call football) here in Germany at one of the nearby universities, first time I've ever played football but it was a blast and I hope to do it again next year. Of course I life and run, but as it's bulking season I only run like 3 miles two times a week just to keep that baseline cardio up.
I'm a basketball fan and have always casually played the sport (thanks to height and long-ish arms I can always at least hold my own defensively). However, distance running is my sport and love. I main strength is that, as I call it, I can "out suffer" people. During high school I ran cross country, and by senior year my times were good enough to run collegiately. However, senior season, I broke my back during a run, and that put me on the shelf for a long bit. Then an unrelated surgery caused me to lose a bunch of weight (which was mostly in my legs because of running) while in the hospital, and when I came out of it I dislocated my knees a few times each. Those dislocations wrecked the tendons and limited me to doing 1-2 mile runs, which just wasn't cool. Almost a decade later, I'm finally able to get back into the bigger stuff it. I can still run 7-10 miles at about a 7:30-8 minute/mile pace when I'm "out of shape," and my goal is to get back to around a mid-to-low 6 min/mile for 3-5. Once I do that, I'll be happy. Have also spent some time cycling while my back was healing. It's a great sport. Can hold my own playing soccer, tennis, swimming, and basically anything else where I can use my endurance.