Which team sport is the most “fair”?

[Anonymous]

In the sense that when you’re playing it’s anyone’s game to get out there and have an impact and you’re not just relying on the playbook of a coach or the positions selected by a coach?

[Anonymous]

A sport with individual times. Swimming or track/cross country. The clock chooses the winner.

[Anonymous]

None of them. Do an individual sport if you want this.

[Anonymous]

In some sense baseball/softball - everyone who gets to bat has the same opportunity to impact their batting average/on base percentage. If a kid hits well there will be a place for them in the field (if they are basically competent fielding).

Beyond that, though, plenty of room for favoritism in who gets to play what position on the field.

[Anonymous]

No, not baseball. The bats grow cold if you don’t get a chance at the plate.

Tired of coaches with “depth charts” too. Show an ounce of creativity. A different player may be the key on any given day. A game is like a mosaic of talent, not a math problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, not baseball. The bats grow cold if you don’t get a chance at the plate.

Tired of coaches with “depth charts” too. Show an ounce of creativity. A different player may be the key on any given day. A game is like a mosaic of talent, not a math problem.

This. The batting order really matters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A sport with individual times. Swimming or track/cross country. The clock chooses the winner.

Also include golf and tennis. Scores do not lie.

[Anonymous]

Which are the less fair?

[Anonymous]

All team sports are NOT fair because the coach can come up with any BS reasons to exclude someone from the team.

[Anonymous]

Wrestling... it's individual but very team oriented, team scores of course.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All team sports are NOT fair because the coach can come up with any BS reasons to exclude someone from the team.

in 99% of cases, the reason is that the kid isn't good enough

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A sport with individual times. Swimming or track/cross country. The clock chooses the winner.

Also include golf and tennis. Scores do not lie.

But a LOT of golfers cheat. I’d take that out of contention for this thread.

The fairest of all is track & field. No clubs $$$ coaching or politics required. You can train for free, pay $30 and enter a meet. Then the clock or measuring tape determines who wins.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All team sports are NOT fair because the coach can come up with any BS reasons to exclude someone from the team.

in 99% of cases, the reason is that the kid isn't good enough

In early youth sports, age or size bias can be a factor. Less so later but I’ve seen this often.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All team sports are NOT fair because the coach can come up with any BS reasons to exclude someone from the team.

in 99% of cases, the reason is that the kid isn't good enough

In early youth sports, age or size bias can be a factor. Less so later but I’ve seen this often.

Eh I know a family frozen out from the higher level teams because the dad pissed off the wrong higher up in the club. It's an outlier situation, and generally I agree that coaches do the best they can, with biases at play for size/speed/aggressiveness.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All team sports are NOT fair because the coach can come up with any BS reasons to exclude someone from the team.

in 99% of cases, the reason is that the kid isn't good enough

Really? In our experience in the younger years, the coach’s kid’s friends seem to have a different experience than other kids. As they get older, sometimes kids with irritating parents pay the price or in HS, kids whose parents are a pain get more leeway so the coach doesn’t have the athletic director on their back.