What Sport Has The Best Athletes

by Adam Kessler, Sports Conditioning Specialists

Posted on December 18, 2007

Recently, I was in a discussion with someone about what sport has the best athletes. Immediately, basketball jumped to the top of my head, but let's think this through. Because obviously my decision will shift the way millions of people view and watch sports. Yeah right.

There are only a handful of sports that can compete in this topic. But first, let me ask then answer this question, what constitutes a great athlete?

I think you have to take the particular skill of the sport out of the equation. So being able to dribble well doesn't make you a great athlete, but the hand-eye coordination it develops does. So here are my criteria for a great athlete:

1. Overall strength
2. Overall power
3. Overall explosiveness (like a vertical jump)
4. Overall speed
5. Overall agility and quickness
6. Overall hand-eye coordination
7. Overall balance
8. Overall x-factor (athletic ability)

Some of those can be crossferable, but you have someone who excels in all those components, you have a great athlete.

Here are the sports that I came up with that could lay claim as having the best athletes. Now bear in mind, there are probably individuals in each sport that have superb athletes, but I am looking at the sport as a collective whole.

1. Baseball
2. Basketball
3. Football
4. Gymnastics
5. Soccer
6. Track and Field
7. Swimming
8. Tennis

There might be some others, but this is what I'm going for. Here are my positive and negatives for all of them.

Baseball - There are some great athletes, who are strong, who are quick and fast, but overall there are just too many fat pitchers and first basemen, slow catchers, and not enough studs to say this sport has the best athletes.

Basketball - This sport gets my vote. The overall quickness and speed these athletes possess is incredible. They explode off the floor and their hand-eye coordination is amazing. What some of these athletes can do in the air is incredible. Their strength isn't as great as some of the sports, but these athletes are stronger than most. You take these athletes and train them in other sports and they could excel as well in those sports as they do in basketball.

Football - The skill players are comparable to any athlete out there, but there are too many big oafs to say these are the best athletes out there. They might be good compared to other people their size, but it isn't enough as an overall group.

Gymnastics - This was a tough call, but I think the thing these athletes lack is the speed and quickness you could use in other sports and that athletic factor. Could you give a gymnast and through the same course of time hand him a racket and be just as good. It is debatable, but I don't think so.

Soccer - Soccer fanatics are so offended when you say anything negative about their sport. I think they are great at what they do. A lot have speed, quickness, and endurance. But I think their overall strength and power is lacking, plus I can't give a sport more credit than basketball, whose athletes fall on the ground in pain at the drop of a hat just to get a call.

Track and Field - If we just look at the runners, possibly they could be the greatest athletes, but the problem is their speed is one way. They don't show the quickness or agility and their overall athletic presence might not be transferable.

Swimming - They really get in shape and have great physiques, strength, and endurance, but lack in the other areas.

Tennis - Their quickness and hand-eye coordination is unparalleled. Andre Agassi introduced the tennis world to strength training, but most have never seen the weight room.

So to sum up, I feel that basketball players are the most athletic and could transfer a lot easier to other sports than those other types of athletes could. Just a fun little debate you can have with your sport buddies some time.


Adam Kessler is owner of Sports Conditioning Specialists in Gahanna, OH. You can download his free report entitled, "You Can't Improve Speed" And Other Lies You Have Heard About Getting Faster at http://fitnessplanning.com/scspecialists.htm.

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