How would you quantify athleticism

[KYAnywhereEverywhere]

Has there ever been an attempt to put a number on a person's sum athleticism? How would you do it? What would that formula look like?

That question came to me during the one break in tonight's game that didn't cut away to commercial. I was watching the cheerleaders flipping across the floor and thought, "those are some damn good athletes. Who's more athletic, the cheerleader or the basketball player?" And so I wondered, could you come up with a "athleticism quotient," a way to compare basketball players to track and field athletes to football players to gymnast to tennis players, etc.

I'm guessing cheerleading is another sport that has ramped in athleticism in the last couple decades. I don't remember noticing so many cheerleaders being able to flip like Olympic gymnasts a dozen or two years ago when I had the chance to go to games every now and then. They could flip, but not like what I saw tonight.

 

[LineSkiCat14]

This sort of explains it..

 

[JPFisher]

Lateral quickness, vertical quickness, fast twitch muscle fibers, speed, jumping ability... Maybe?

 

[*Fox2Monk*]

Has there ever been an attempt to put a number on a person's sum athleticism? How would you do it? What would that formula look like?

That question came to me during the one break in tonight's game that didn't cut away to commercial. I was watching the cheerleaders flipping across the floor and thought, "those are some damn good athletes. Who's more athletic, the cheerleader or the basketball player?" And so I wondered, could you come up with a "athleticism quotient," a way to compare basketball players to track and field athletes to football players to gymnast to tennis players, etc.

I'm guessing cheerleading is another sport that has ramped in athleticism in the last couple decades. I don't remember noticing so many cheerleaders being able to flip like Olympic gymnasts a dozen or two years ago when I had the chance to go to games every now and then. They could flip, but not like what I saw tonight.

It’s one of those things that can be quantified like how fast, how high you can jump, but you also know it when you see it. The thing is most top level athletes can play multiple sports or do multiple difficult things. Hand eye coordination, speed, jumping ability all translate to different sports.

 

[Aike]

It’s one of those things that can be quantified like how fast, how high you can jump, but you also know it when you see it. The thing is most top level athletes can play multiple sports or do multiple difficult things. Hand eye coordination, speed, jumping ability all translate to different sports.

Yep. I would mix in strength with that. I don’t think just being strong makes you a great athlete but being able to use your strength in conjunction with the other things you mentioned.

Rip a rebound away from someone or shed a defensive lineman on the way to sacking the quarterback.

Ability to leverage strength, I would say.

That’s one that you don’t always know it when you see it, but you know it when you’re on the field or court with it. Like, “that guy was way stronger than he looks.”

 

[*Fox2Monk*]

Yep. I would mix in strength with that. I don’t think just being strong makes you a great athlete but being able to use your strength in conjunction with the other things you mentioned.

Rip a rebound away from someone or shed a defensive lineman on the way to sacking the quarterback.

Ability to leverage strength, I would say.

That’s one that you don’t always know it when you see it, but you know it when you’re on the field or court with it. Like, “that guy was way stronger than he looks.”

I agree, strength plays a huge role in sports too. It’s like playing older guys in basketball. They have that old man strength.

 

[chroix]

Yep. I would mix in strength with that. I don’t think just being strong makes you a great athlete but being able to use your strength in conjunction with the other things you mentioned.

Rip a rebound away from someone or shed a defensive lineman on the way to sacking the quarterback.

Ability to leverage strength, I would say.

That’s one that you don’t always know it when you see it, but you know it when you’re on the field or court with it. Like, “that guy was way stronger than he looks.”

Ability to leverage strength is a great way to frame it.

 

[JPFisher]

Ability to leverage strength is a great way to frame it.

Hard to quantify, which is part of the beauty of athletics. Maybe power output per kg of body mass as assessed through standardized drills?

Reaction time should also be a consideration. Peripheral vision. Fun thread, honestly.

 

[Greatestalltime]

Speed, jumping ability, quickness, and maybe physical build.

Being good at many sports is athletic and normally those traits are a factors in how easy it is to get good.

 

[Catfan2010]

AGILE, MOBILE, AND ‘BOUT TO WRECK YOUR DOMICILE

aka Collin Chandler

 

[theBlues]

Lateral quickness, vertical quickness, fast twitch muscle fibers, speed, jumping ability... Maybe?

I would add a few things guys like Larry Bird had in spades that some players that are fast and can jump are missing...great balance, hand/eye coordination, and great vision(depth perception...can't be a great shooter without it).

 

[Runt#1969]

Watching those cheerleaders flipping around was awesome !

 

[Sgarrett0417]

I’ve always kind of categorized athletes into 3 categories:

Physically Imposing - Poythress, Zion
Fluid - Lavine, Monk
Both - LeBron, Quaintance

Obviously a spectrum there, but that’s how I think about it

 

[Cats192]

Yep. I would mix in strength with that. I don’t think just being strong makes you a great athlete but being able to use your strength in conjunction with the other things you mentioned.

Rip a rebound away from someone or shed a defensive lineman on the way to sacking the quarterback.

Ability to leverage strength, I would say.

That’s one that you don’t always know it when you see it, but you know it when you’re on the field or court with it. Like, “that guy was way stronger than he looks.”

Was going to say this.

We always higihlight speed, quickness, jumping ability. But strength is a huge part of athleticism.

 

[akaukswoosh]

I can't really quantify it but know that I am a 0.

 

[Cats192]

I think in day to day speech, we use athleticism for the eye popping things: speed, jumping, agility, and explosiveness/quickness.

You see fast. You see a big jump. You see a a guy change directions on a dime or juke a defender. You see a guy go from 0 to 100 in the blink of an eye or go from floor to max jump in a split second.

I think you can extend it to a lot of the non-eye popping stuff. Balance and body control are a form of athleticism. I would argue coordination, form, technique are also athleticism. Some will say those things are "skill." But I think skills within a specific sport are a part of athleticism. I guess you could call them athletic skills, but we're really splitting hairs at that point.

So to an extent, dribbling a basketball, shooting a basketball, throwing a football/baseball, catching a football/baseball and hitting a baseball are all their own forms of athleticism.

 

[KYAnywhereEverywhere]

Watching those cheerleaders flipping around was awesome !

I would like to see one featured segment for them a game. I'm not going to tune into a cheerleading competition and as a general rule am not high on sports that require judging, but the UK cheerleading program has a ton of prestige and those are athletes working their asses off every day to bring Kentucky a national championship.

 

[kybassfan]

You have to consider strength. Actually it’s probably top of the list.

 

[BigBluefoot]

I mean, I'm sure we could break it down into some mathematical formula for ability to move in different ways at a certain speed or in some explosive way, but I can sum it up in 7 words It's kind of like a hot chick. You Will Know When You See It.

 

[SaturnCat33]

Gemini says it's two things: combine metrics and in-game analytics.