The Blue Board

Stamina is like one assest, of many, in being an elite athlete.

Water Polo is demanding, but come on? Really? You guys need to stop with this nonsense, lol.

This. I am a competitive triathlete and do some masters swimming, I can tread water all day...I certainly can't free climb a sheer cliff, do anything gymnasts do, can barely ice skate, and although I have hit many 90mph fastballs I am absolutely terrible at tennis. Not quite sure why a small component of "athleticism" such as swimming aerobic endurance has been pointed out so many times in this thread. From a transitive perspective, water polo players aren't generally great at other sports other than swimming and possibly basketball/volleyball(simply because most of them are tall with long arms).

MMA has been mentioned several times. From a pure general conditioning standpoint, mixed martial artists or combat athletes in general have a combination of power/strength/anaerobic/aerobic endurance that is a cut above most other athletes. Then again that is only one facet of athleticism; most of them are not good at skill-intensive sports such as basketball or baseball.

All depends on your definition of athleticism.

Just because basketball players aren't required to run 100 yards doesn't mean they can't.It's two entirely different games.Strength is has nothing to do with athleticism imo.Anybody can go left weights and get stronger.Not anyone can jump as high as LeBron,Jordan or Kobe.Not anyone can just change directions at the drop of a dime like Chris Paul or explode of the ground like Blake Griffin.I've played both sports.If football players are superior athletes they should be able to go play basket rather easily but in my experience they can't.IMO the average joe can pick up football quicker than they can basketball.Their are plenty of basketball players that can go star in the NFL fight now.We just agree to disagree.

I was a footballer, sprinter and powerlifter in part because of my body-type. When I'd played pick-up basketball while training for football/track I was a "decent" player. Between the ages of 23-26 I played basketball ~ 4 times per week and there was a major difference in my performance on the court.

Football training is completely different and it may be more difficult for a footballer to immediately play pick-up basketball at a high level while still in football training mode. However, there are a plethora of footballer's that could play basketball effectively if they practiced the sport.

Back around 1997-1998 after I'd graduated from college I used to hang-out on campus and play pick-up basketball with footballers and basketball players that played on our college's team. Again, I'm a footballer, sprinter....about 5'7" (5'8" in boots...lol) and my weight has been as low as 170 consistently to as high as 190.....I remember playing pick-up basketball in 1998 with a particular 6'8" Small Forward that would be a 1st Round NBA Draft pick a few months later.....and he made a big deal to everyone in the gym how athletic I was and that he couldn't believe I was trying "throwing off the backboard dunks" at my height. I was "athletic" but I've encountered quite a few footballers that have had comparable athleticism to myself.....but to this 1st Round NBA Draft pick my explosivesness was "freaky".

That should give you a little perspective on the difference between RB/DB explosiveness and basketball explosiveness.

LeBron could play damn near any position he wanted to in football.I won't even list names because their are just to many NBA players that could play wherever they want other than on the lines.Wade,WestBrook,Rose,Kobe,Gay,Paul,Griffin etc.A player like Dwight Howard could probably be a dominant OT right now with the proper technic.Now name me some of these explosive WR's,RB's and DB's that are about to go set the NBA on fire?

If that's the case I'd put professional Racquetball over Tennis.. they run much faster with shorter quicker bursts... and need much faster reaction time... not to mention they are diving head first over and over.

First off Kobe is maybe 6'5.You don't think Kobe could have been a WR,CB ,Safety?He's a fluid athlete who was fast as hell when he was in his 20's.You don't think Rose,Paul or Westbrook could be great RB's or CB's?They have everything need to be one.Speed,Suddenness,Agility etc.

All I was saying is Howard has the measurable's to be great football player but he doesn't play football.Some of you are acting like basketball players aren't ass fast as football players.I don't agree with that.Basketball players aren't required to run as much due to the differences in the game but that doesn't mean they aren't just as fast.If you want to believe football players are more athletic then cool.I just don't agree.

Not trying to be a dick, but I spent more than a decade working with professional athletes at two of the world's most renowned athletic training facilities before I decided to pursue my PhD. I have done athletic metric testing on thousand of world-class athletes in every sport you can think of; you have no clue what you are talking about.

Climbing Everest without oxygen is the most athletic feat a human being can do.