Anonymous wrote:Wrestling? I feel like the kids who didn’t succeed in any other sport start wrestling in high school. And no cardio required.

Walk into a high school wrestling practice and tell us about the lack of cardio

If you had to order these youth from most to least physically demanding, how would you order them?

soccer
lacrosse
pop football
water polo
basketball
swim team
tennis
baseball

Anonymous wrote:Wrestling? I feel like the kids who didn’t succeed in any other sport start wrestling in high school. And no cardio required.

How could there be “no cardio required”?

Look…1/2-assed athletes can claim any sport is easy. If you suck and get pinned in 20 seconds every match then wrestling may not be that physically demanding.

However, I gather we are talking about sports where kids go the distance most matches vs benchwarmers.

I rowed crew and wrestled and wrestling is more demanding from a match perspective (that go the full time), while I thought day-to-day workouts/practices are more demanding for crew. Of course, much of that can depend upon your coach and training programs.

I think also the one-on-one full attention aspect of a wrestling match makes it more overall psychologically draining vs the team aspect of crew.

Water polo is a lot of swimming, plus throwing and the other team trying to drown you.

I think swimming is the toughest- working out while holding your breath is tough

Wrestling? I feel like the kids who didn’t succeed in any other sport start wrestling in high school. And no cardio required.

Wrestling hands down and you didn’t even list it!!

I played multiple sports. Rowing is more demanding than all of them. It looks so repetitive but there is so much more than meets the eye

Anonymous wrote:If you had to order these youth from most to least physically demanding, how would you order them?

swim team
water polo
basketball
baseball
soccer
pop football
lacrosse
tennis

You forgot rowing. The winter training on rowing machines is next level. The wrestlers probably still win but rowing is no joke.

water polo
*rugby
*wrestling
lacrosse
basketball
football
swim
tennis
soccer
baseball

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone tried playing a few minutes of squash? Definitely the toughest and most physically demanding sport I’ve ever tried.

I don’t if I would consider it among the toughest but it is certainly among the most humbling.

Anonymous wrote:Have any of you played water polo? It is tough.

My kid had a game called off mid-game last summer after kids got a black eye, two nosebleeds, and multiple other bleeding injuries in spite of tons of penalties. This was 10&u co-ed.

Hockey and wrestling are up there too for sheer non-stop intensity and physical toughness.

Wrestling unrivaled in toughness both physical and mental.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Um, where is hockey? You picked random sports.

The lines switch in and out all the time so plenty of breaks. Same with Football - a professional Football game has less that 15 minutes of actual play/action the WHOLE GAME - lots of standing around, sitting on the bench, etc. Rugby is different since it's more continuous and it's the same players, no offensive team, defensive team, special teams, etc.

Do you know why they have to switch lines so often in ice hockey? It’s because it’s an extremely physically demanding sport…

I think the soccer guys would be the fittest on average, so I’ll vote for soccer as the most physically demanding sport.