As sports fans, and sports betting fans, we all share a love of sports. It may be just one or two sports we follow, or it may be many.
Either way, we love sports so much that as well as watching them, reading about them and betting on them, we also play them too.
So, what I have decided to do is put together a sporting bucket list that comprises of some difficult, but doable, achievements across a number of sports.
Additionally, I’ll take a look at bet365 Sport and see what the odds are (if any) on any professional achieving a similar feat. Ostensibly to give you an idea of how tough it is even for the elite sports men and women to achieve the difficult feats!
So here is my Sporting Bucket List for multiple sports fans and competitors. How many in this list have you achieved?
An Average Joe/Josephine’s Sporting Bucket List Details
For this list I have tried to focus on the sports that have plenty of participants, but for those that don’t have as much participation as others, I have tried to pick an example of something from that sport that can be replicated, but not necessarily in a game situation (e.g., kicking a field goal from 40 yards in American Football).
I’ve also given each task on the bucket list a rating of difficulty as follows:
- * – Easy to complete
- ** – Can be achieved with a bit of practice
- *** – May require some work to achieve
- **** – This is a tough one even for regular players
- ***** – A genuine achievement that is rare even for the top professionals, let alone amateurs
I will also indicate whether I have achieved any of the feats on the list (Clue – I have, but not all of them!).
So, let’s begin our list in no particular order, with a game that you can play either at home, or perhaps at a local social or snooker club!
The Enthusiastic Amateur Sporting Bucket List
- Snooker – A Break of 30 Points or More (***)
If you are playing on a smaller table, say a 6ft table, then you have to up this score by another 10 points. On larger or full size tables a 30 break is not an easy achievement, even if the pros regularly knock in breaks over 100. It took Ronnie O’Sullivan just over five minutes to hit a 147. It may take a bit of work to achieve this, but it is possible!
- 10-Pin Bowling – Hit a score of 160 or higher in a single game (****)
The score for a perfect 10 pin bowling game is 300, but any score over 100 is generally regarded as good. So, to tick this one off your bucket list, how about a score of 160 or greater. A feat I have achieved the princely number of one time, with a magical 169, the day before I got married!
- Athletics – Run the 1500m in under 5 minutes 30 seconds. (***)
For the myriad of runners out there, this may be easily achievable, or it may not be depending on how quick you are. 5 and a half minutes seems generous enough for the 1500m. I’ll also take a 100m time of under 13.5 seconds too. See I can be generous!
- American Football – Kick a field goal from 40 yards (**)
I will accept kicking a 40-yard rugby conversion/penalty as well, or even managing to clear the bar on a football goal from 40 yards. But you bag extra points if you achieve the feat with an American Football, with someone snapping the ball and then another player holding it for you.
- Golf – Hit A Hole in One (*****)
My brother and I have always said, the minute we hit a hole in one in golf, is the minute we hang up the clubs and say “completed it mate!”. Suffice to stay, after 30-years of playing, we’re still going to golf courses to try and land this toughest of all bucket list sporting dreams!
- Darts – Score 180 with three darts(***) or win a game with a bullseye finish (**)
A 9-darter is beyond the realms of most mortal people, so I’ve gone for scoring the maximum 180 in darts as a bucket list item, or the other alternative is to win a genuine game of darts by landing a bullseye finish. You can up the difficulty level to three stars if the finish required a score greater than 80 in order to win!
- Cricket – Bowl a batter out and Hit a Six (*)
Fielding is a dull job, but batting and bowling is where the action is at in cricket. So if you have played cricket you need to smash a six and also bowl out an opponent by sending their wickets flying. You don’t have to be an all-rounder to do this.
- Tennis – Serve an Ace (*)
Winning Wimbledon is a bit beyond most of us wannabe tennis stars, but serving up a delicious ace isn’t. Admittedly, it is one of the easier tasks in the list, but look at it this way, once it’s achieved you don’t have to pick up a racquet again. Unless you want to of course!
- Rugby Union/League – Score a try (**)
Scoring a try is the key in rugby, so it makes sense that it is on the bucket list. However, it is not the most difficult thing on this list to achieve. I played very little rugby as a child but even I managed to score one try.
- Football – Score a hat-trick or more in a single game (**)
The difficulty of this increases if you are a defensive player, especially a goalkeeper, but by the same token, if you are playing at higher levels, it can be tough as a striker. Even so, it is something that most players will achieve at some level (I did, many times). Hence the somewhat low difficulty level.
- Basketball – Score a basket from the halfway line (***)
Anyone who has ever played Basketball at any point will have tried this shot in the warm up. It’s a natural progression to go from scoring a free-throw to a three pointer, to trying a shot from the halfway line. With a bit of practice, you will be able to do this. I know because I have. But I haven’t done what this UNC Ball Boy did during half time.
- 9-Ball Pool – Pot the 9-ball from the break (**)
The easiest way to win a game of 9-ball pool? Don’t give your opponent a chance to shoot. Simply break off and pot the 9-ball from the break! The so-called Golden Break. Having played a bit of 9-ball pool, I can confirm this is readily achievable and it is another on the list that I have ticked off on more than one occasion! Just as Max Lechner did in 2023.
- Poker – Land a Royal Flush using at least one card in your hand (*****)
It is the hand that every poker player dreams of landing, but it is also one that very rarely occurs. The odds of a Royal Flush occurring in any given hand of Texas Hold’em Poker is 0.000154%, roughly 649,739/1. This is why this is a maximum 5-star difficulty bucket list challenge!In all my poker games, of which I have played countless, I am yet to be dealt a Royal Flush.
- Betting – Win an accumulator bet of 4 or more selections (***)
Sometimes, even the most enthusiastic participant can’t take part. So we’ve set a betting bucket list tack of landing any four-fold accumulator of any odds on any sport. I have landed this bet on several occasions (the most I have landed successfully was an eightfold bet which turned a £1 bet into a return of over £2,500).
- Horse Racing – Pick the winner of the Grand National at odds of 10/1 or more (**)
There are 40 runners in the Grand National, although this may be cut to a smaller number of runners in future races. Even so, it remains a tough race to pick a winner from. Consider this achievement unlocked if you manage to back a winner that comes in at odds of 10/1 or more. And yes, I did this when backing Miinnehoma to win at 16/1 in 1994.
You can even check the latest Grand National Odds with bet365 Sport by following the link to help you get a head start on the next race!
So out of the 15, how many have I ticked off? 13. I am missing the hole in one and Royal Flush.
And if I can manage 13. Imagine how many you could land if you put the effort in!