My favourite part of the olympics is watching the semi-obscure sports that would normally never even cross your mind (handball and table tennis are 2 of my favourites). Although it would undoubtedly be an unbelievable experience to be an olympian, would it really be worth it?
I'm not talking about the Michael Phelps or the Usain Bolts of the world, I mean just your average athlete who might be happy just to get out of their heat in a sport that will be widely ignored until the next Olympics comes around. When you hear of what these guys go through training wise, diet, lack of a social life, poor money in general...it just does not sound that appealing.
I mean, what do the majority of them do once their career is finished in their early 30's? Coaching? Starting 10 years late on the corporate ladder? Any thoughts people?
I try to think of what they'd be doing otherwise. If it's work some shitty job then probably worth it.
If they get college scholarships it's probably worth it.
Most of them just move on to grad school and/or normal white collar gigs if they don't make a life in the sport.
A lot of these sports that you may consider obscure are actually really popular in other places (e.g handball in Europe, table tennis in China).
lol at table tennis being a marginal sport, its very popular in Asia where 1/3 of this planets population lives in
I wonder why people think ice-hockey is a big thing, about 5 countries in the world can play it in the high level and yet most of people would say its a bigger sport than e.g. say the aforementioned table tennis
Well there is professional ice hockey in many countries, obviously the NHL in USA/Canada but also in countries like Finland, Russia/former Soviets (KHL), Japan, etc not to mention amateur hockey. It's also a much more involving sport since you need to buy expensive kit and learn to walk again while in table tennis you pretty much need a cheap piece of wood (of course the good ones can get pricey, but nowhere near ice hockey levels)
Doesn't the need for expensive gear and training also mean that the skill set in the professional level isn't at the level it could be? That lowers the whole sport in my eyes knowing that it is a game for only the chosen countries.
Think about football, all you need is a ball pretty much, it is played globally and I'm quite sure we are very close to the ''maximum skill set'' there can be. Anyone can play it and aim for professional but in ice-hockey it depends a lot on where you are born, whats the income of your parents etc. Shits very expensive, I know many kids who had to drop it since the costs were in thousands of euros a year but could have gotten drafted had they kept going on. I love football since it is all talent and hard work and success doesn't necessarily depend on other conditions.
Not sure if football is the example you should use, especially in the US. With the year round club teams, ODP, and all that... But I see your point.
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