Toughest high school sport
 

I tried a search to see if anyone had posted this before, and i justed wanted some honest opinions. What was or is the toughest high school sport? At my school it was no doubt wrestling, and i played football, baseball, and did weightlifting. I never played soccer and my school didnt offer rugby. Everyone knew all the football players but the respect definately went to the wrestlers. So, tell what you guys think or what the circumstance at your school was or is.

I'd say wrestling. Mainly because of my own experience with it, definitely the most rigorous work out in HS and toughest match experience. Rugby was outside of school until I got to college (George Mason this spring) I play open-side flanker, probably the toughest position in the sport because you have to do EVERYTHING. But yeah, wrestling definitely gets the big ups for being the toughest HS sport as far as physicality goes. Football gets it for competitiveness.

i gotta go with tennis because you have to use all of your athletic capabilities: changing direction, stopping on a dime, acceleration to get the ball, jumping on serves, power for the ground strokes, accuracy, endurance for the 3-5 set matches, and i played it in high school and college.

I voted for soccer. Man, those practices were hell. We started out almost every single practice with a two mile run. After losses, our coach would run us until someone puked. That was really the only bad part about it though, everything else about the sport wasn't too bad.

Played rugby in high school and damn was it fun! I played hooker. Nothing like getting tackled and then having people walk all over your back in metal cleats. Also no substitutions till half, so once you're in you're in. A game where you're constantly getting the snot beat out of you. My only safety equipment was my mouth guard. Oh... and I got hard toe cleats... thank goodness for hard toe cleats.

I'm sure everyone from the Great White North to New England will lay claim to Hockey as being the toughest sport to play in high school. Most of my winter days were at the rink trying to stay warm in building with below zero temperatures while taking and giving hits. Sprints were also a ton of fun with the cold air burning away your lungs while some angry white guy yells at you for not trying hard enough.

Wrestling, you need the endurance of a distance runner, quick decision making of an NFL quarterback, strength, agility, explosive strength, flexability, no protective gear other than a cup and headgear, and a lot of practice.
Then it is a sport with no glamour and everyone questioning if you are doing it to grab other guys.

Voted "Other".

I would say Water Polo. The training we went through was so intense that other teams used to work out with us so that they could be in better shape (i.e. football and basketball)

I mean, have you ever treaded water, back and forth across the pool (25 meters) holding a one-gallon jug full of water over your head the entire time?

I played several different sports and water polo was by far the toughest, in my opinion.

At my old high school (in Canada),it was definately Hockey, probably followed by rugby. Nothing like high school hockey bleacher brawls. They ended up designating 1 side to each school and didn't allow fraternizing with the other school. I think a few games also got cancelled becuase of this (or spectators weren't allowed or something)

I've only played hockey and soccer, but I'd say football.
soccer wasn't very hard, running isn't really that difficult, and all of the "shoulder to shoulder" contact was usually with someone who, like you, weightd like 160 pounds.

When you throw the physical contact in( I mean football, hockey, rugby..etc) with BIG kids is when it becomes difficult. getting hit when you're already sore or tired really is a bitch

Amen brother, my second position is hooker, but I love flanker, Richie McCaw is my hero. I model my playing style after his, and I'm so close to duplicating his ball stealing tactics perfectly.

I played Football and Baseball, but by far the hardest was Wrestling. I saw those guys train and all the crap they had to go through, and I know I could never go through it. A close second I think would be soccer, just because of the running. But Wrestling, you would never mess with a wrestler, thats for sure.

wrestling cutting weight is a bitch and you have to train all year... there is no off season or a easy time

I was a basketball & soccer player. After practices I'd see the wrestlers coming out of the wrestling room, which had a 7 ft ceiling & held the boilers for the whole gym building. They'd be wearing their plastic sweatsuits, and going out for a vomit-inducing run. They had it the worst. Plus they had to touch other guys wobbly bits.

I voted other, for Track/Cross country. I am always partial to individual endurance sports over team sports.

cross country, those ppl always look like they are starving.

I was a swimmer thru high school and college, getting up for 4:00am practices, swimming in sweatpants. or swimming several laps with a person latched onto your waist, or having the coach give you 10 laps for every minute you were late to practice... Good times.

For boys sports, lacrosse always looked pretty brutal...

I played the big three in high school and I think for me basketball was the toughest because of the physical endurance aspect of it. Sharing a gym with the wrestlers....those boys had it rough.

Wrestling--Cutting weight is a bitch. Especially when there is an all-state person at your weight class, so you have to go down even more. I hated having three hour practices after barely eating all year.

Okay, I voted for baseball. However, the one year I wrestled was a bitch. Training for wrestling was more rigorous than any of the other sports.

In high school I played most of these sports and baseball was the one I had the least amount of success in:

Football - 3 years (7 years total from age 10 to 17)
Baseball 2 years (1 year on High School team - 1 year Legion ball--Played off and on from age 6 to age 18))
Wrestling - 1 year in high school.
Soccer - 2 years Club soccer (and on s touring team--played 8 years total from age 8 to 16)
Tennis - 3 years in high school (started at age 5 or 6 with lessons -- played 4 years D3 college, taught for 2 years)
Rugby - 2 years on a Club team in college.
Basketball -- Never played in high school, made it to last cut both freshman and sophomore years. (played in city league from around age 9 until 11, played on Jr High team from 11-14, 4 years of IM ball in college)
Track (Shot put & discus) - 1 year in high school.

I've also Golfed for about 10 years recreationally.

On a side note, I practiced with the women's softball team for 3 years in college because they started practicing before we did in tennis and one on my professors was the coach. They needed extra catchers (I was a catcher in baseball) to help get the team ready for the season and I wanted to get a jump on conditioning for the tennis season, so we were helping each other out. But trying to hit a fast pitch softball from 45 feet!! That's near impossible!

So there's my 2 cents. Take it for what it's worth.

IMvoting wresteling as far as physically, but skill wise the hardest to pick up I htink is volleyball. I mean hitting is a farley easy concept, but theres good deal of skill in that. BUt it's even harder to pass and dig, Volleyball is underated as a difficult sport

Chock up another one for waterpolo.

i was the team captain of one of the best football squads in the state...

the wrestlers had it much tougher than i. the hours were longer in football (practice, weight training, film, nursing the ol' wounds) but the actual time spent devoted to sport was much more intense when i worked out with the wrestlers in the off-season. those guys went through hell for little recognition around campus. they sure had my respect.

Basketball in our state is pretty bad. We have to wake up around 5ish every day for practice.

Cross Country! duh.

I'd say pole vaulting. It requires a lot more strength than people think it does plus speed, flexibility and it's freaky at first. Unlike most other HS sports, there is little or no way to get exposure to it prior to high school. Kids play football, soccer, baseball, tennis, Bball, etc at early ages. Wrestling and most track and cross country events are introduced in middle school.

It's really difficult to get to the level where you can vault 14' in high school. I did but in the entire state there was about 20 people at that level when I was competing. Most were seniors.

By toughest, I am saying toughest to compete and succeed, rather than toughest workout.

Wrestling is definately the most physically demanding.

on that list i thought rugby... but we don't have wrestling and american football down here... so i don't know.


but, i think the most physically demanding of all high school sports here is ROWING.

Water Polo by far. Just think about it and what's involved.

Like swimming - 5AM practices
Endurance, weight training for strength, teamwork, physical play (alot of kicking and punching underwater where the refs can't see it).

As far as intensity in training it would probaly be a tie with rowing + wrestling

but i would say wrestling is tougher... just


its funny how the 2 toughest sports get very little respect as compared to a soft sport like american football (pads!!?? having a break every 20 seconds?!!?? )