8,000.
That’s the number of sports according to World Sports Encyclopedia.
Chances are that you’re into one of the 8,000+ sports, whether you’re a participant or an observer.
In this article, I will go into questions you can use to talk with anyone about sports. And to make the article more comprehensive, I’ve also interviewed Daphne Ng, a former national badminton player, Kyler Shumway, PsyD, a D1-athlete-turned-psychologist, and Jess Lim, my physiotherapist who worked at Singapore General Hospital for many years 💪
General sports conversation starters
Small talk
- What sports do you enjoy playing?
- What sports do you enjoy watching?
- What sports have you been meaning to try?
- Do you prefer solo or team sports?
- What sports did you play growing up?
- Do you do any sports with family or friends?
- How do you stay active?
- Have you heard about <interesting sports news>?
- Did you watch the <sports name> match yesterday? h/t: Daphne
- Any favorite sports celebrities or teams?
- What’s the most popular sport in your hometown/country?
- In your culture, what’s the go-to sport?
Fun questions
- What extreme sport would you like to try?
- Would you ever consider doing an Ironman? (Learn more about Ironman here)
- Would you ever fight a bull?
- Would you rather be a volcano surfer or ice climber? (Learn about both here)
- Would you rather climb Mount Everest or do deep sea diving?
- What sport should be an Olympic sport?
- You wake up one day and you’re a professional athlete. What sports would it be?
- If you could swap bodies with any sports celebrity in the world, who would it be?
- If you could have dinner with any sports celebrity — dead or alive — who would it be?
Trivia questions
- What’s the king of sports? (Answer: soccer)
- Who was the first Olympic champion? (Answer: James Connolly, triple jump)
- Who’s the highest-paid athlete of all time? (Answer: Michael Jordan)
- Which country might have invented golf? (Answer: China)
- What kind of sports was pankration? (Answer: Ancient Greek’s version of MMA)
Deeper questions
- Do you believe that exercise is medicine? h/t: Jess
- Have sports made you a better person/changed your life? Why or why not?
- What do you think your favorite sport says about you as a person? h/t: Kyler
- If life was a sport, how would you keep score?
- Why do most people exercise too little?
- What keeps/would keep you motivated to exercise regularly? h/t: Jess
- How would you feel if you didn’t exercise for a month? h/t: Jess
- Athletes sometimes talk about entering a “flow state” when they play. What sorts of things get you into your flow state? h/t: Kyler
- What makes the mind of an athlete different from the mind of most folks? h/t: Kyler
- How much time should people spend indoors vs. outdoors?
- Should employers ever make sports mandatory at work? Why or why not?
- What sports should be banned and why?
- Would you consider esports a real sport? Why or why not?
- Should esports be an Olympic sport? Why or why not? (you could name a specific esport like Dota or Fortnite)
- Which sports celebrity has influenced you the most? Why?
- Nature or nurture – which one do you feel has a greater impact when it comes to the best athletes? h/t: Kyler
- How has sports changed the world?
- What do you think sports might look like 100 years from now? How might society be different because of that? h/t: Kyler
Specific sports conversation starters
I brainstormed questions on the most popular sports in the world. These are helpful if you already know the person is into a specific sport, and especially if you know a fair bit about the sport too.
Football/soccer
- Which league do you follow? (Each soccer-playing country has its own league – see the list here)
- What’s your favorite soccer team?
- Which soccer team do you hate?
- Which soccer team do you think is overrated?
- What do you think about Cristiano Ronaldo? (could be any other famous player, ideally one that’s a lil’ controversial)
- Who’s the best soccer player/manager/team of all time?
- What’s the most underrated soccer tactic in your opinion?
- If you were a soccer manager, what would be your starting 11?
- If you were a soccer player, what position would you be in?
- If you were the God of soccer, what rule would you add/change/remove?
- Is it ever OK to dive?
- Who was better: Pele or Maradona?
- Ronaldo or Messi?
Cricket
- Which league do you follow? (Each cricket-playing country has its own league – see the list here)
- What’s your favorite cricket team?
- Which cricket team do you hate?
- Which cricket team do you think is overrated?
- What do you think about Ricky Ponting? (could be any other famous player, ideally one that’s a lil’ controversial)
- Who’s the best cricket player/coach/team of all time?
- What’s the most underrated cricket tactic in your opinion?
- If you were a cricket coach, what would be your starting 11?
- If you were a cricket player, what position would you be in?
- If you were the God of cricket, what rule would you add/change/remove?
- Is it ever OK to tamper the ball?
- Who was better: Tendulkar or Bradman?
- Tendulkar or Warne?
Hockey
- Which league do you follow? (Each hockey-playing country has its own league – see a shortlist here)
- What’s your favorite hockey team?
- Which hockey team do you hate?
- Which hockey team do you think is overrated?
- What do you think about Alex Ovechkin? (could be any other famous plate, ideally one that is a lil’ controversial)
- Who’s the best hockey player/coach/team of all time?
- What’s the most underrated hockey tactic in your opinion?
- If you were a hockey coach, what would be your starting six?
- If you were a hockey player, what position would you be in?
- If you were the God of hockey, what rule would you add/change/remove?
- Why is it OK to fight in hockey but not in other sports? (Check out other controversial hockey topics here)
- Who was better: Gretzky or Lemieux?
- Ovechkin or Crosby?
Tennis
- Who’s your favorite tennis player?
- Who’s the best tennis player/coach of all time?
- Who was better: Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, or Novak Djokovic?
- If you could only go with one kind of tennis shot, what would it be?
- What’s the best type of tennis court in your opinion?
- What do you think was Roger Federer’s secret to longevity?
Badminton
- Who’s your favorite badminton player?
- Who’s the best badminton player/coach of all time?
- Who was better: Lin Dan, Li Chong Wei, or Taufik Hidayat?
- If you could only go with one kind of badminton shot, what would it be?
- Why is badminton not popular in the States?
- I played badminton yesterday! Do you play badminton too? Or do you play any other sports? h/t: Daphne
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