What college sports require the most natural ability? How does softball rank?

[CoogansBluff]

Was going to post this on the thread about height and D-1 softball players, but thought I'd expand it. Curious to get thoughts on this.

Not much question that the average D-1 softball player is taller than the average 20-year-old woman. But probably true of every D-1 sport except gymnastics. Softball players are probably not any taller on average than D-1 athletes in general. Softball players are probably naturally stronger than most athletes, but perhaps not as fast (with some obvious individual exceptions on every team).

Question - What college sport eliminates the most candidates based on the lack of certain natural physical attributes -- height, speed, size, strength, hand-eye?

My guess is volleyball. To play D-1, you almost have to be 5-9/5-10 unless you're a libero. That eliminates most girls from the start.

What do you think? Where does softball rank?

 

[RubberBiscuit]

Sort of a "fuzzy-grey" question from my perspective clumping too many things together.

I would have separated the groupings into the following - Body characteristics .vs. raw innate skills .vs. athleticism.

For Body characteristics I would agree with VB being the narrowest group.

For raw innate skill I would give it to SB since I have seen so many great "athletes" not succeed in SB.

Then for Athleticism I would give it to basketball. When my DD was in basketball she came home the most worn-out from practice and got into the best shape of her HS career.

 

[sluggers]

What college sport eliminates the most candidates based on the lack of certain natural physical attributes -- height, speed, size, strength, hand-eye?

Your question is oddly phrased.

When you say, "eliminate the most people", if you mean "people who want to play the sport but cannot", then it would be basketball. Lots and lots of people want to play hoops in college or HS, but lack the ability.

If you mean by "eliminate the most people" how few people from the general population can play the sport at a high level, then it would be sprinters or wrestlers. Wrestling may be the most selective sport of them all.

If the question is, "who have the best all-around athletes", then it would basketball players. They have a combination of size, quickness, speed, and eye-hand coordination that sets them apart from other athletes.

Of course, people on this board are going to say softball players are great athletes...but they aren't. They are, for the most part either slow and strong or fast and weak. There is the occasional player who is both, but put softball players up against basketball or volleyball players in strength, agility, and speed, and it isn't even close.

Softball/baseball players have a core set of skills--throwing, hitting and catching a small ball--that have to be learned. It takes years to learn those skills.

 

[NEF]

Hockey would have to be up there with the need for natural physical attributes, Softball/Baseball is very inclusive to anyone that puts the time in. A small/fast player can run down balls in the outfield, and maybe a high on base, contact hitter/slapper. A larger slower player that can hit for power and has a weaker arm can play first. Throw in the softball roster size and substitution rules and you can have a smart track sprinter win you games on the bases or a great "hand-eye" hitter sub for an at bat late in a game for a good defensive player.

 

[RetiredCoach]

I remember when Michael Jordan tried to play baseball.

It's good that he stuck to basketball.

 

[JJsqueeze]

As noted, the structure of the game allows softball to incorporate a much wider variety of athlete than most other sports. There is room for just about every type of athletic skill in softball without actually requiring any specific skill as a prerequisite. I think it is the most democratic sport around EXCEPT for intelligence. I do know for a fact that softball players are smarter than all other athletes, combined, they are also better looking and funnier and come from better families, and by and large their fathers are far more handsome than fathers of girls in other sports.

As for the most exclusive I'd say gymnastics. You just have to be a very specific body type to excel at that sport at all.

 

[NEF]

I wonder how many hours Jordan put into each sport (lifetime). "Neon Deion" and "Bo" Did Know some baseball and did rather well for a while, maybe football players are better athletes . Jordan did have a rather large strike zone to cover.

 

[Amy in AZ.]

I think that track and field would need that most natural ability.

 

[Sweet Lou]

I'm not sure what is meant by "natural ability" I'm sure any sport requires a lot of practice and hard work to be successful. The type of work required varies by the sport.

There are certain body types that will have difficulties excelling at some sports; as noted being well above average in height gives you certain advantages in sports like volleyball and basket ball that can't be taught but which make performing some of the required moves in gymnastics much more difficult.

 

[Eric F]

Beer pong.