Home > Fitness Training > Sports > Factors > TES > Reaction Time
Which sports are rated highest for reaction time - the ability to respond quickly to a stimulus? This list is based on the ratings of the factors of success considered most important by visitors to this website. Reaction time is something that is hard to train for, though a sports person can be perceived to have a better reaction time by improving their anticipation of other players and by making better choices.
Softball and fencing are examples of sports in which good reactions are clearly important. Surprisingly softball is ranked so high with baseball further down the list, but probably deserving a place higher up.
The ratings are still being recorded (this table is from December 2019), so the list order may change over time. Although over 50 of the world's major sports have been analyzed, there may be others that were not included and could also be ranked highly too. You can add your own rating for sports.
| Ranking | Sport | Rating |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Softball | 86.9 |
| 2 | Fencing | 86.3 |
| 3 | Boxing | 85.8 |
| 4 | Badminton | 85.3 |
| 5 | Martial Arts | 84.1 |
| 6 | Motorsports | 83.9 |
| 7 | Equestrian | 82.4 |
| 8 | Table Tennis | 82.2 |
| 9 | Netball | 82.0 |
| 10 | Ultimate | 81.8 |
Related Pages
- Sports ranked by other factors of success
- Sporting components of athleticism
- A discussion about the Components of Fitness
- What is the Fittest Sport?
- Sport Specific Fitness
- Sport Specific Fitness Testing
- Sports and Fitness Top-10s
Any comments, suggestions, or corrections? Please let us know.
Old Comments
Commenting generally closed on this page, though here are a selection of what I receive plus some older ones.
- Would baseball be one? Just curious cause hand eye coordination, reaction speed, and a crap ton of practice are required to hit a 100 mph fastball with a bat barrel smaller than the ball itself. (from Nate March 2022)
- table tennis should be rank first... its not just the speed, when you receive a served ball,,,, you need to read the spin (different spin have different proper counter), synchronized your grip, and apply the counter shot in accordance to the spin of the incoming ball... doing this trio in a split of a second requires an extremely good reflex. BART (2015)
- Yes. Consider two players, each 3 feet behind the table. Any decent player can flat hit at 60 mph (many can hit harder than that). That translates to a needed reaction time of .17 seconds (15 feet/88 fps). DL Weston (2020)
- Badminton is the fastest sport on earth and yet its behind netball? Edww (2013)
- Exactly! In badminton you're dealing with speeds of up to 300mph over a very short distance, almost every second of the game. You need to react in a fraction of a second, over and over. This list not putting badminton 1st is a farce. Sbowesuk (2014)
- Is clay pigeon shooting good for reaction time, if so where is it on the table? Joshua finkill (2013)
- I'd say boxing, while other sports may be quick, not many have to worry about being punched in the face. I'd like to see Mayweathers reaction time compared to the best of these other sports. Samson Wyldewynde (2017)
- Lacrosse because there are shots from 20 feet away from the goal that are shot up to 100+ mph and the goalie has to react to that with less than 0.2 seconds. Chris Stone (2015)
- Surely cricket should be first because a bowler bowling at 90mph from 17.68m away gives you less than 0.4 seconds to react and play a stroke into a gap. Kammy (2013)
