“Soccer’s harder. ” 

“No, hockey’s harder. ” 

“No, basketball’s harder. ”

The age-old argument between athletes about which sport is harder than the others is one that doesn’t really make a lot of sense when you look at the bigger picture.

Every sport has a specific set of skills that you need. Soccer requires finesse, stamina, strength, and endurance while basketball requires precision, hand-eye coordination, explosive sprint speed, and vertical. Hockey requires balance, quick reactions, and spacial awareness while baseball/softball requires focus, speed, and patience. By that principle alone, it’s difficult to compare a physical sport like football and a flexible sport like gymnastics and say one is harder.

Going further, although every sport has a tactical part to it, many sports are more mentally demanding than physical. Take, for example, golf, racing, tennis. These are the types of sports that a cross-country runner, for instance, may look at and think “my sport is definitely harder, ” cause of the physical demand without thinking about the focus, analysis, strategy, decisions, and mental stress that these sports require.

Lastly, everyone is different- whether it be through situation, physicality, or mentality; what may be easy for one person could be harder for someone else. For example, two people on the same lacrosse team may have differing opinions about whether or not cricket is harder based on the skills required. No one is a master at every part of their sport and may excel in areas of it that shine in another sport.

In the end, what sport is harder or easier than the other is left up to individual opinion, and should be respected on both sides. Let’s remember this and be nicer to our fellow athletes.