Here are all the 'S' sports from over 800 sports listed on our complete list of sports. Popular S sports include Sailing, Skiing and Swimming. There must be double points for Synchronized Swimming, Skeet Shooting and Sport Stacking. There are also combined S sports, such as Samoa Rules and Shinty-Hurling.

There were too many to describe on just one page, so here we have a short description of just the sports starting with the letter 'S'. The 'S' sports is the largest category of sports on the full list.

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'S' Sports

  • Sailing — a sport that involves moving a boat by using the power of the wind.
  • Sambo — a martial art developed for Russia's military and police force in the 1930s. The term translates as "self-defense without weapons".
  • Samoa Rules — a combination of Australian Rules Football and Rugby Union.
  • Sandball — see Beach Handball.
  • Sandboarding — involves sliding on the sand while standing on a board.
  • Sandsurfing — attach a skateboard deck or other similar object to the back of an ATV or vehicle with a watersports tow rope (not a competitive sport).
  • Sanshou (also called Sanda) — a form of kickboxing from China, which combines full-contact kickboxing, with wrestling, takedowns, throws, sweeps, kick catches, and in some competitions, even elbow and knee strikes.
  • Savate — a French version of kickboxing, in which only foot kicks are allowed.
  • Sawing — involves cutting across entire logs of wood using saws.
  • Schwingen — a style of folk wrestling native to Switzerland.
  • Scootering — doing tricks, over obstacles and terrains, on a scooter.
  • Sculling Rowing — a form of rowing, in which a person uses oars, one in each hand, to propel a single or double scull rowing boat.
  • Scurry Driving — ponies pull a carriage with two riders around a track.
  • Seatball — a sport like sitting volleyball for disabled and non-disabled athletes, played on a larger court and allowing for the ball to bounce once between touches (also called Sitzball or Sitball).
  • Segway Polo — similar to horse polo though players ride a segway PT.
  • Sepak Takraw — an Asian sport like volleyball but using the feet to kick a ball over a net.
  • Shinty — Scottish team sport resembling field hockey, played with long curved sticks and a small ball which is hit through tall goalposts. Derived from the Irish game of Hurling.
  • Shinty-Hurling — a composite sport created to facilitate competitions between Shinty and Hurling players.
  • Shooting Sports — many events involving shooting at targets using guns like pistols and rifles.
  • Shot put — the track and field event where the participants throw a heavy metal ball for maximum distance.
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  • Showdown — a game for blind and visually impaired people similar to air hockey.
  • Show Jumping — an equestrian event where riders on horseback attempt to jump cleanly through sets of obstacles within a specific time.
  • Shuffleboard — players use cues to push and slide weighted discs along a long court into a scoring area.
  • Shuttlecock — the English name of the sport Jianzi, like badminton played with the feet (Shuttlecock is also the name of the object that is hit in Badminton).
  • Sikaran — a form of kickboxing from the Philippines, which utilizes only the feet, the hands are only used for blocking.
  • Singlestick — a martial art that uses a wooden stick, which began as a way of training sailors in the use of swords. A type of Stick-Fighting.
  • Sipa — a sport from the Philippines in which the aim is to kick the ball to the other side of the net onto the opponent’s side without it touching the ground.
  • Sitting Volleyball — a version of volleyball for disabled athletes played while sitting (also known as Paralympic volleyball).
  • Sixes Lacrosse — a new smaller team faster-paced lacrosse format making the sport more accessible.
  • Six-Man Football — a modification of American football played with 6 instead of 11 players.
  • Skateboarding — competitions involving tricks or races while standing on a flat board with rollers attached at the bottom.
  • Skeet Shooting — one of the disciplines of clay pigeon shooting, targets are thrown in singles and doubles from two traps situated 40m apart.
  • Skeleton — participants ride a small sled down a frozen track facing forward with the face down.
  • Ski Archery — involves skiing and shooting arrows at targets.
  • Ski Ballet — see Acroski (the sport's current name).
  • Ski Cross — multiple downhill skiers race head-to-head on a course including big jumps, rollers and high-banked turns.
  • Ski Flying — winter sport similar to ski jumping in which the skier will come down and take off from a ramp and fly the farthest possible distance.
  • Ski Jumping — a form of skiing in which an athlete will take off a ramp and jump as high and far as possible.
  • Ski Mountaineering — the objective is to climb up a mountain wearing skis, occasionally carrying if required, and then descend on the skis.
  • Ski Orienteering — the objective for athletes is to navigate from the start to the finish through checkpoints while riding on skis.
  • Skirmish — a general term for sports in which participants replicate firearm warfare. See Airsoft, Laser Tag and Paintball.
  • Skiboarding — like snow skiing, but with shorter and wider skis.
  • Skibobbing — a winter sport that uses a bicycle-type frame connected to skis called skibobs.
  • Skiing — traveling over a surface (snow, water, grass) on skis. There is a wide range of sporting activities that fall under the term skiing.
  • Skijøring — being pulled either by a dog, a horse or a motor-operated vehicle while on skis.
  • Skittles — a precursor to many bowling games, it is an indoor sport in a bowling alley, using one or more heavy balls to knock down nine skittles.
  • Skydiving — see Parachuting.
  • Skyrunning — a running sport in which athletes compete on a course that leads through mountains.
  • Skysurfing — a skydiver attaches a board to his feet during freefall.
  • Slacklining — balancing and doing tricks along a suspended length of flat webbing that is tensioned between two anchors.
  • Slalom Skiing — an alpine skiing discipline that involves skiing downhill through gates, with the gates closer together therefore tighter turns than in Giant Slalom or Super-G.
  • Slamball — a form of basketball using trampolines to get height to shoot the ball through the hoop.
  • Sledge Hockey — ice hockey on double-blade sledges for people with physical disabilities on the lower body.
  • Slopestyle — winter sport event involving skiing or snowboarding down a course of obstacles.
  • Slopestyle Skiing — athletes on skis perform on a course with different types of obstacles.
  • Slopestyle Snowboarding — athletes on a snowboard perform on a course with a range of obstacles.
  • Slow-Pitch Softball — a version of Softball where the ball is pitched from 50 feet with half a windmill underhand arm action.
  • Snatch — an event in the sport of Olympic weightlifting.
  • Snocross (or snowcross) — the most popular form of snowmobile racing, similar to motocross but conducted on snow.
  • Snooker — a Cue Sport played on a table covered with a green cloth with six pockets. It is played using a cue and 22 snooker balls: one white cue ball, 15 red balls and six balls of different colors. Points are awarded for using the cue ball to pot the red and colored balls.
  • Snowbiking — uses a mountain bike on snow with fat tires.
  • Snowboarding — involves descending on a slope covered in snow using a single board attached to both feet.
  • Snowboard Cross — another name for Boardercross.
  • Snowboating — a winter sport in which athletes use a kayak to descend down a slope covered with snow (also called Snowkayaking).
  • Snow Golf — like regular golf, however the golf course is covered with snow and ice, rather than grass.
  • Snowkiting — a snow-based, kite-powered sport, while riding on a snowboard (Kite Boarding) or on snow skis (Kite Skiing).
  • Snowmobile Racing — athletes ride on snowmobiles to compete on purpose-built courses or on natural snow-covered terrains.
  • Snow Polo — a variation of Polo on horseback that is played on compacted snow on flat ground or a frozen lake.
  • Snow Rugby — rugby union matches played on fields covered with snow.
  • Snowshoeing — racing in the snow wearing snow shoes.
  • Snow Skiing — Traveling over a snow surface on skis. Competitive forms include Alpine Skiing (or Downhill Skiing), and Cross-Country / Nordic Skiing.
  • Snow Volleyball — a variation of beach volleyball in which the games are played in the snow.
  • Soccer — the common name for Association Football in North America, Australia and some other parts of the world.
  • Soft Tennis — a version of the game of tennis played primarily in Asia, very similar except they play with soft balls.
  • Softball — there are three styles of softball: fast pitch, "modified" fast pitch, and slow pitch.
  • Softball Throw — a track and field discipline in which you throw the ball as far as possible, mostly used in competitions for disadvantaged groups as a substitute for other technical throwing events.
  • Sorro Wrestling — a traditional wrestling style from Niger.
  • Speed-Ball — an Egyptian racquet sport where players hit a ball suspended from a central pole.
  • Speedball — an American sport in which teams attempt to score by throwing or kicking a ball into a goal.
  • Speed Climbing — athletes climb a set route on a vertical wall in the fastest time possible.
  • Speedcubing — players solve single piece 3D puzzles in the quickest time possible.
  • Speed Golf — a variation of golf in which the objective is to complete the course in the fewest possible number of strokes and the fastest time possible.
  • Speedminton — badminton played with no net adapted to make it suitable for playing outdoors (now called Crossminton).
  • Speed Pool — a cue sport, a Pocket Billiards game where the balls must be pocketed in as little time as possible.
  • Speed Skating (Long Track) — ice skaters race head to head on a 400m oval track for a set distance, between 500 and 10,000 m.
  • Speed Skating (Short Track) — 4 to 8 skaters racing around an oval ice track towards the finish line.
  • Speed Skiing — the objective is to ski downhill on a straight path as fast as possible.
  • Speedway — motorsports around an oval track. Forms include Motorcycle Speedway, Autospeedway, Long Track Speedway, Ice Speedway and Bicycle Speedway.
  • Spongee — an outdoor non-contact sport played on an ice rink in rubber boots with a sponge puck instead of a hard puck like in ice hockey.
  • Sport Acrobatics — the previous name for Acrobatic Gymnastics.
  • Sport Aerobics — the objective is to perform high-intensity gymnastic moves in sync with background music. Also called Aerobic Gymnastics.
  • Sport Climbing — rock climbing competitions, can be Lead Climbing, Speed Climbing or Bouldering.
  • Sport Diving — competitions where aspects of scuba diving are performed in a swimming pool.
  • Sport Fishing — in competition fishing contestants compete for prizes based on the total length or weight of a fish, usually of a pre-determined species, caught within a specified timeframe.
  • Sport Kite — using a stunt kite to fly the kite in several patterns in time to background music.
  • Sport Stacking — stack a number of plastic cups in a pre-determined sequence as fast as possible.
  • Sporting Clays — one of the disciplines of clay pigeon shooting, shooters move about a course, attempting to hit varying targets projected at different angles, speed, elevation, and distances.
  • Sports Car Racing — a type of auto racing, in which sports cars are used.
  • Sports Table Football — attempts to replicate the game of Association Football on a table top with action figures, based on the game of Subbuteo.
  • Sprint (Athletics) — track and field running events over short distances, such as 100m, 200m, 400m.
  • Sprint Car Racing — a racing sport that involves direct racing of high-powered small cars.
  • Sprint Football — a USA varsity sport for lightweight players which emphasizes speed and agility.
  • Squash — a racket sport played by two or four players in a four-walled court with a small hollow rubber ball.
  • Squash Tennis — derived from both squash and lawn tennis, played on a squash court with tennis rackets and balls.
  • Squat — a powerlifting event in which participants attempt to perform a squat with the maximum weight on their shoulders.
  • Ssireum — a folk wrestling style and traditional national sport of Korea, with the aim to bring any part of the opponent's body above the knee to the ground.
  • Standup Paddleboarding — a person stands on a board and uses a paddle to propel themselves through the water.
  • Steeplechase — an athletics distance track running event with barriers and water jumps.
  • Steeplechase — a horse racing sport in which competitors on horsebacks race on a long-distance course that has several types of obstacles.
  • Stick-Fighting — a type of martial arts which uses a hand-held long slender wooden stick for fighting. Variations include singlestick and canne de combat.
  • Stické Tennis — an indoor racquet and ball based sport derived from lawn tennis in the late 19th century, using a smaller court surrounded by 4 walls.
  • Stock Car Racing — a car racing sport in which production-based cars, called stock cars, are used for racing.
  • Stone Lift or Carry — involves moving stones as a test of strength.
  • Stoolball — a team sport played on a circular grass field, possibly the precursor to cricket and baseball.
  • Straight pool — a type of pocket billiards game in which a player is required to call which object ball they are going to pocket and to which pocket.
  • Street Hockey — a team sport that was derived from Ice Hockey, though it is played on an asphalt or cement surface instead of ice, and players wear inline skates or shoes.
  • Streetluge — participants race downhill feet first on a sort of modified skateboard.
  • Street Skateboarding — skaters perform tricks on a street-like course with stairs, handrails, curbs, benches, walls, and slopes.
  • Strongman — a sport that tests competitors' strength in a variety of different ways.
  • Sumo Wrestling — two wrestlers within a circular ring try and push the other out.
  • Super Giant Slalom (better known as Super-G) — an alpine downhill skiing event like giant slalom but the gates to ski through are further apart.
  • Supercross — an indoor dirt-bike racing sport that evolved from Motocross, using specifically built indoor dirt tracks.
  • Supermoto — motorcycle riders compete on three different types of courses as part of a single race: a flat track course, a motocross course and a road course.
  • Surf Kayaking — involves surfing in the ocean using a kayak.
  • Surfboat Rowing — a team of riders compete using surfboats on a course out and back through the surf.
  • Surfing — participants stand on a surfboard, and use the waves for propulsion.
  • Surf Lifesaving — competitions consist of performing various tasks performed by lifeguards on the beach.
  • Swamp Football — a version of association football played in bogs or swamps.
  • Sweep Rowing — each rower has just one oar which is maneuvered with both hands to propel the boat.
  • Swimming — the sport of propelling oneself through water using the limbs.
  • Swimrun — involves multiple swim and run stages, with no clothing changes and carrying of all equipment.
  • Swish — a version of table tennis for blind athletes.
  • Synchronized Diving — a diving sport in which two divers perform the exact same dive simultaneously.
  • Synchronized Skating — a sport of the figure skating discipline in which 8 to 20 skaters perform routines as a team on an ice rink.
  • Synchronized Swimming — athletes perform synchronized dance routines to music while floating in the water.