It is tough to say which sports are the most skillful given that every sport in existence requires a degree of skill to be successful. Any list of the most skillful sports will likely be shot down. That said, as a sports fan I’m going to give it a go:
Overall, the most skillful sports are rugby union, basketball, ice skating, and golf. These all require a diverse range of skills to be performed, perceptive judgments to be made, and specific fine and gross motor skills to be executed consistently accurately.
Our list is based on the premise that for a sport to be skillful it must contain all three elements of skills: Cognitive, perceptual and motor skills.
Cognitive skills related to thought processes, e.g. following a strategy. Perceptual skills relate to how a situation is interpreted, e.g. shot selection, when to shoot, and motor skills are the physical execution of a skill, e.g. the perfect pass. These can be gross motor skills, i.e. whole body movements, or fine motor skills, i.e. delicate movement patterns.
Our Top Ten Most Skillful Sports List
Our choice of the number one most skillful sport is at the end of the list complete with a video just in case you disagree!
#10 – Golf
Anybody that has ever hit a golf ball will know that it isn’t easy. You would think that it is a case of just launching the club at the ball, but nope. Even the most skilled of golfers will miss the ball every so often.
Golf is a game about reading your environment. You need to have the skill to know how the wind is going to impact the ball. You need to know the trajectory the ball is going to have when it is launched off of certain surfaces. You need to know the way in which a putting green is angled to stand the best chance of pocketing the ball.
A lot of thought goes into golf, and while you may not see players running up and down a course, they are easily some of the most skilled players.
#9 – Baseball
If you are facing a good pitcher, hitting the ball in baseball is tough. Chances are that you will struggle to hit the ball. We see this with the top baseball players in the world.
It takes a phenomenal amount of skill to be able to read the way you need to be able to hit that ball…and you have just a split second to do it. You then need to ensure that the ball is being hit in the right place, and you need to make your move to the first base (and hopefully beyond!).
Pitchers don’t have an easy job either. They need the skill to shake up the way in which they are pitching the ball. This may be based on conditions or the batter that they are facing.
#8 – Soccer
Soccer is by far the most popular sport in the world. A good decade or so ago, we watched a sports video that stated that soccer players are among the most intelligent people in the world. Perhaps not due to their academic achievement, but their ability to make split-second decisions while on the field.
Tactics and teamwork are everything in a game of soccer. Sure, individual performance plays a role, but every player on that field needs to be skilled enough to work in tangent. You need to know where your teammates are, even if you are not able to see them.
The way in which a player moves is vital in a game of soccer. They need to be able to dart around players. They need to be able to pass. They need to be able to tackle. Of course, they also need to know the opportune moment to launch a ball towards the goal.
That said, all the skills are related to kicking and heading so arguably it lacks the variety of skill that some other sports offer
#7 – American Football
In recent years, football has focused more and more on plays. Teamwork skills are essential in the game. The ability to be able to shake up plays is also vital for scoring those touchdowns.
Of course, players also need to be fast. They need to have endurance. They need to be able to tackle hard. At the same time, every player on that field needs to be agile, have superb throws, and have a constant read of the situation.
We know that some people get selected to play football because they are ‘big’. However, trust us. If you want to succeed at the upper echelons of the game, then you need to have so much more than brute strength.
#6 – Snooker and Other Billiards Sports
We know that there are some people that would argue that billiards is not a sport. However, since the Olympic Commission is planning on introducing billiards to the Olympics, we are going to argue that they are…and they require a huge amount of skill. It won’t be the same sort of skill that you get with the other sports, though. It isn’t about endurance. It is about physics, math, and having a read on the table.
Have you ever tried to pocket a ball in snooker or pool? Hard, isn’t it? You may get some balls in the pocket, but it can be a challenge sometimes. Watch pros, and not only will they make most of their shots, but they will do it quickly. This all comes from years and years of developing their skills of reading the balls.
#5 – Darts
Have you ever been to watch a professional darts match and seen in person the level of consistency that darts players operate at. The margins they are working with are tiny. Yes, it is a closed skill and there are not the distractions in the environment that exist in team sports but to hit the 12.7 mm diameter bullseye time and time again can’t involve any element of luck, that you may be able to get, rely on even in a team sport.
#4 – Basketball
There is a lot of gross motor skill needed in basketball. It is a fast paced game with a lot of repeated skills with a huge emphasis placed on when to execute those skills depending on the game situation.
Perhaps basketball does not have the range of skills that rugby union has but it is still a tough sport to master.
#3 – Ice Skating
Oh my goodness, the intricacy of the footwork, timing, pace and rhythm required to excel in ice skating is borderline otherworldly. Simply balancing on thin blades will be beyond most people until a number of weeks of practice have been completed.
Some of the most memorable moments of the Olympics ever have come from the ice rink. Who could forget Torvill and Deans wonder show here.
You might also be interested in reading: What Is The Easiest Olympic Sport To Qualify For And Play, here.
#2 – Martial Arts
There are a plethora of different martial arts to pick from but we are going to lump them all together for the purposes of this debate. In all of these sports reading your opponent is critical success and as the opponent is another human rather than a fixed golf green, dart board or ice rink, we consider this sport to be more skillful than sports not competing against another human.
The speed of combat and competition means that moves have to be ingrained so that the fighters/contestants are operating automatically as they compete. In fact it is said that you have to lose yourself in order to find the zone and compete at the highest level. A truly skillful sport.
#1 – Rugby Union
Rugby is our choice as the most skillful sport in the world. Not only do you have gross motor skills required in the form of a variety of tackle types, but you also have the delicate finesse of a pop pass, off load, chip kick and dummy to master.
In game play, rugby is all about making the correct judgments, knowing what is going on around you and then devising and executing a strategy to succeed there and then which all requires great perception skills.
The skills needed to be good at rugby fall into 5 distinct categories, which are: handling, running, passing, tackling, contact, and kicking skills. Some of the most common skills are the: side step, hand off, spiral pass, pass off the floor, side on tackle, head on tackle, smother tackle, hit and spin, punt, drop kick and place kick.
You can read our full article on the 31 Skills Needed For Rugby Union, here and as promised, just in case you don’t believe that Rugby is the most skillful sport then check this out:
So, there you have it the most skillful sports in the world! If you want to learn more about the great game of rugby and make the life enhancing decision to start playing rugby then check out our guide to The Basic Rules of Rugby, here.
Image Credits
Fanny Schertzer, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons, Jonny Wilkinson place kicking, US Oyonnax – Rugby Club Toulonnais, 28th September 2013.
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Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Michael Jordan.
