Fun Questions to Ask Athletes
These are funny interview questions to ask an athlete when you are the student reporter, the podcast host or the person handed the microphone at a school visit or a team banquet. The 57 questions run in the order a light interview does: a Warm-up, then Game day, Bloopers and Teammates, a quick round of What if, and a Wind-down for when the laughing has made room for a straighter answer. They fit any sport and any level, from a youth league captain to a professional.
Want questions from the whole vault instead? Try the random question generator.
The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
Warm-up
What's your pre-game superstition, the one you know is nonsense and follow anyway?
Why ask it
A safe first question, because many athletes have told this story before and like telling it. Having to admit it makes no sense is where the laugh comes from, and the details tend to be exact: which sock goes on first, which door they will not walk through.
What nickname has your team given you, and how did you earn it?
Why ask it
Nicknames come with an origin story, and it is rarely a flattering one. If they claim not to have one, ask what the coach shouts when they are in trouble.
What was the first sport you ever tried, and how badly did it go?
Why ask it
Plenty of athletes were briefly terrible at something else before they found their sport. The gymnast who could not cartwheel or the goalkeeper who was scared of the ball is easy to like inside the first minute.
What's the worst uniform you've ever had to wear?
Why ask it
The laugh costs nobody anything, since the person to blame is whoever ordered the uniforms. It also dates the story: a neon away shirt or shorts two sizes too big pins down a season, and you can ask what else happened that year.
What's a skill in your sport that looks easy on TV and absolutely isn't?
Why ask it
This is where they get to be the expert and correct the record. The answer is seldom the spectacular move: more often it is footwork, breathing or where to stand, and they may be willing to show the room.
What's the strangest venue or field you've ever played on?
Why ask it
Nearly everyone who has competed at any level has one: a gym with a low ceiling, a field with a slope, a pool that was freezing. The home team's side of it is worth a follow-up, because there is often a local who knew exactly where the ball would come off the rafters.
Which piece of your gear is older than it should be, and why can't you throw it away?
Why ask it
There is usually a glove, a pair of socks or a water bottle that should have been retired seasons ago. Have them hold it up if it is within reach, since the state of it does half the talking.
What does your sports bag smell like right now, honestly?
Why ask it
A one-line answer, and a young audience will groan on cue. The follow-up writes itself: when was the bag last emptied, and what was at the bottom?
What do your family or friends still get wrong about your sport, no matter how often you explain it?
Why ask it
Somebody's grandmother calls every score a goal, and somebody's best friend has never understood offside. The athlete gets to tease people they love, which is the safest teasing there is.
What's your hidden talent that has nothing to do with sport?
Why ask it
Ask for a demonstration on the spot, since a talent that fits in a chair, such as a card trick or an animal noise, is better seen than described. An athlete who claims to have none can be asked what their teammates would say it is.
Game day
What food do you eat before a game, and what do you want the second it's over?
Why ask it
The two halves rarely match: something plain and sensible beforehand, then an order they can recite from memory. Younger athletes in the room tend to listen hard to the first half, so let it run before you go after the second.
What's the worst thing you've ever forgotten to pack for a game?
Why ask it
The rescue is the story here: whose spare shoes they borrowed, whether those came close to fitting, and who drove back for the bag left on the kitchen floor.
On the morning of a game, are you the chatty one, or should nobody speak to you until it's over?
Why ask it
Teams split into two camps on this, and each camp finds the other baffling. If teammates are in the room, let them confirm or deny the answer before you move on.
What song would you ban from the locker room speaker forever?
Why ask it
Control of the speaker is a running argument in a lot of locker rooms, so the opinion arrives fast. Ask who keeps playing the song, and expect a name before you have finished the sentence.
What's your walk-up or entrance song, and what would it be if nobody could judge you?
Why ask it
The public pick is chosen to look tough, so the private one is the answer worth waiting for. If they will sing a line of it, you have the clip to open the piece with.
What are you really thinking about during the anthem, the team photo or the introductions?
Why ask it
The camera shows a focused face, and the honest answer may be lunch, an itchy sock or whether the car is locked. Promise not to tell the coach and you are more likely to get the true one.
Do you talk to yourself during a game, and what do you say?
Why ask it
Plenty of athletes mutter instructions or a running commentary that no microphone picks up. Get them to do it in the voice they use, then find out whether an opponent has ever overheard and answered back.
What's the funniest sign or shout you've ever noticed from the crowd?
Why ask it
Athletes say they block the crowd out, and many can still quote one banner word for word. Keep it to the friendly ones: if the story turns to abuse from the stands, that belongs in a different interview.
What's the first thing you do when you get home after a game?
Why ask it
Hardly anyone asks about the hour after the cameras leave. The answers are small and domestic, a dog that needs walking or a uniform that goes straight in the wash, and that ordinariness is what an audience warms to.
Bloopers
What's the funniest thing you've seen happen during a game?
Why ask it
You get a story instead of an opinion, and because it happened to somebody else they can tell it without wincing. Mascots, broken equipment and a teammate falling over at the worst possible moment come up a lot.
What's the strangest reason a game or practice of yours has been stopped?
Why ask it
Nobody is to blame when a dog runs onto the field, the sprinklers come on or the ball lands on a roof, which makes this a gentle start to the blooper stories. The sequel is who got sent to sort it out.
What's the worst weather you've competed in, and what did it do to the game?
Why ask it
Weather stories are safe for any age, and for once the athlete is the victim of something other than their own mistake. Push for the detail that sounds made up, like fog too thick to see the ball or a wind that blew every kick backwards.
What's the most embarrassing thing that's happened to you in competition?
Why ask it
Interviews tend to dwell on best moments, and some athletes enjoy being asked for the worst one instead. Only ask once the mood is easy, and take a short answer as a no.
Have you ever lost track of the score, the play or which way you were supposed to be going?
Why ask it
A yes here is rarely admitted on the record, so say that you have done worse in a school gym. Then ask who noticed first, since it tends to be a teammate who has brought it up at every team dinner since.
What celebration of yours would you take back if you could?
Why ask it
Somewhere there may be footage of a dance, a slide or a knee-skid on the wrong surface that their teammates will not let die. If the clip exists and you have permission to show it, play it and let them narrate.
What's the most creative excuse you've ever used, or heard, for a bad day out there?
Why ask it
Adding 'or heard' gives them a way to tell the story without owning it, and most will own it anyway. The sun, the shoes and the bounce all take the blame; what you want to know is whether the coach believed it.
What's the funniest thing an opponent has said to you in the middle of a game?
Why ask it
Trash talk is often wittier and friendlier than it looks from the stands. Ask for the clean version up front so they can edit as they go, then ask whether they had a comeback or only thought of one on the drive home.
What's the best thing a referee or official has ever said to you?
Why ask it
Officials can have a dry sense of humor that only the players get to hear. Asking for a good line also keeps the subject friendly, with no invitation to complain about a call.
What's the hardest you've ever laughed in a serious moment?
Why ask it
Here they are inside the story instead of watching it: a huddle, a start line or a team talk where laughing was the one thing not allowed. What set it off, and who cracked first, are the two details to get.
Teammates
Who on your team is funniest, and who is the quiet one everyone relies on?
Why ask it
Many athletes find it easier to praise a teammate than to talk about themselves. The second half matters most, since it often names someone who never gets mentioned in public, and you can ask what that person does that nobody sees.
What's the best prank you've seen a teammate pull?
Why ask it
Team culture shows up in pranks more honestly than in slogans. Ask for one the target laughed at as well, and notice whether that target was a rookie or a veteran.
Who on the team takes longest to get ready, and what are they doing in there?
Why ask it
Every squad seems to have one, and everyone else has a theory about the hair, the tape or the playlist. It plays best with the accused sitting close enough to object.
Who is the worst person to sit next to on the team bus, and who is the best?
Why ask it
Seat choices on a long trip are taken more seriously than outsiders would guess. Asking for the best seatmate as well keeps it affectionate and gives them somebody to praise.
Who is the most competitive person on the team about things that don't matter?
Why ask it
You find out what the group is like when no points are on offer: card games, parking spaces, who finishes their plate first. The person named is usually proud of it.
Who does the best impression of the coach, and has the coach seen it?
Why ask it
A team that mimics its coach openly is often a team that likes its coach. Leave it to the athlete to decide whether a live demonstration is wise, because they know who would laugh and you do not.
What silly fines or forfeits does your team hand out, and what was your last one for?
Why ask it
Some teams keep a joke rulebook: a forfeit for being late, for a phone ringing in a meeting, for wearing the wrong socks. Their own latest offense is the real question, so do not let them stop at the rules.
What's the best story you can tell from a road trip or an away game?
Why ask it
Away trips produce the stories that get retold for years: the wrong hotel, the bus that broke down, the roadside meal that became a tradition. The words 'you can tell' ask for the printable version up front, and they tend to get a grin of their own.
Which teammate would be brilliant at a completely different sport, and which one would be hopeless?
Why ask it
They get to hand out a compliment and a tease in the same breath. Make them name the sport too, because 'our goalkeeper would be a great figure skater' is the answer you are after.
What if
If you had to swap sports with another athlete for a season, which sport would you take?
Why ask it
The choice shows what they envy: the shorter season, the indoor venue, the lack of running. Follow with the sport they would flatly refuse, which tends to get a quicker and louder answer.
What's a rule in your sport you'd change if it were up to you?
Why ask it
Most athletes have a rule they would scrap, and it is often the one that last cost them. Have them describe the first game played under the new rule, which is where the silly answers come out.
If you were the commentator for your own game, what would you say about yourself?
Why ask it
Athletes hear plenty of commentary about themselves and rarely get to write any. Hand over a microphone, real or imaginary, and ask for the call on their best moment and then on their clumsiest.
If an animal could join your team, which one makes the starting lineup?
Why ask it
Silly on the surface, and the reasoning is real analysis: you will hear exactly which position is short of speed, reach or nerve. A room of younger children will shout their own picks, so leave time for a few.
If they made a movie about your team, who plays you and what is it called?
Why ask it
The casting says how they see themselves, and the title says how the season is going. Teammates in the room will want to recast the lead, so let them.
If you could have one superpower that only worked during games, what would you pick?
Why ask it
The restriction keeps the answer inside the sport. The pick tends to be whatever they find hardest, so 'never getting tired' and 'seeing the pass two seconds early' tell you different things about the same position.
Would you rather win playing badly or lose having played the game of your life?
Why ask it
A true this-or-that with no safe answer, and one that teammates will argue over long after you have left. Make them choose before they are allowed to explain.
Outside of sport, what job would you be truly terrible at?
Why ask it
It turns the usual 'what would you do if you weren't an athlete' into a joke at their own expense. Anything with a desk, a quiet room or a dress code is likely to come up, along with a very specific reason.
If the whole team entered a baking contest, who is in charge and who is banned from the kitchen?
Why ask it
Swap in a quiz night, a talent show or a tent to put up if baking does not suit the group. What you are really asking is who they trust when athletic ability counts for nothing.
Wind-down
What part of training do you genuinely enjoy, and what do you dread?
Why ask it
Fans assume athletes love all of it. The dreaded part is more revealing than the enjoyable one, and admitting it makes the discipline sound like a choice rather than a personality trait.
What's the least glamorous part of being an athlete that nobody warned you about?
Why ask it
The answer is funny and true at once: the laundry, the alarm before sunrise, the hours in a van. A young athlete in the audience gets more from this than from any talk about trophies.
What's something you were bad at that you're now good at?
Why ask it
The most useful question here for a school visit, because it puts a starting point on a story that usually only shows the finish. Push gently for how long it took, since the timeline is the real lesson.
Who did you pretend to be when you practiced on your own as a kid?
Why ask it
A lot of people who grew up playing a sport narrated themselves as a hero, in a driveway or against a garage door. If they have met that person since, the story of what they managed to say is usually the better half.
What did your coach say that you still hear in your head?
Why ask it
You get an actual line, and it is usually short and unglamorous. Have them say it the way the coach did, then ask when it last came back to them in the middle of a game.
What's your favorite memory that has nothing to do with winning?
Why ask it
The qualifier steers them away from the trophy answer they have given many times. Expect a bus ride, a training camp, a teammate's family, or a season nobody outside the team remembers.
What's the best thing a young fan has ever said or asked you?
Why ask it
Children ask athletes things no reporter would dare, such as why they missed or whether they are famous. The story is often sweeter than it is funny, which is the right note this late in an interview.
Which opponent made you better, and did you ever tell them?
Why ask it
Rivalries are usually told as conflict, and this asks for the respect underneath. The second half often brings a pause, so wait for it.
What are you looking forward to doing when your competing days are over?
Why ask it
The light answers are the ones to hope for: a summer with no schedule, dessert, sleeping past six. Skip it entirely if retirement or injury is a live and unwelcome subject, and with a young athlete make it the off-season instead.
What question do you wish interviewers would ask you instead of 'how does it feel'?
Why ask it
Then ask it. Your last answer becomes one the athlete chose, and you leave with a question to open on the next time you sit down with somebody from that sport.
Interviewing Athletes Without Getting Media-Trained Answers
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Pick the Moment
Not immediately after a loss
Fun questions land badly in the ten minutes after a defeat, and the answers will be short and flat. Wait for a training day, a travel day, or the week between competitions.
Say how long you need
Athletes are handled by schedules all day. Naming a limit, ten minutes and four questions, gets you a more relaxed subject than an open-ended chat that could run an hour.
Go through the press officer if there is one
At professional and college level, ambushing someone in a corridor produces guarded answers even to harmless questions. An arranged sit-down usually gets you more, not less. Teams and athletic departments set their own rules on who may speak to the press and when, so ask how it works there.
Ask permission before recording or posting
This matters most for the funny answers, because a prank story that plays well in a room can look different quoted out of context. Confirm what is on the record. With school-age athletes, ask the coach or the school what their rule is on recording and posting, since it differs from one place to the next.
Running It as a Funny Interview
Choose your handful before you sit down
A ten-minute slot holds four or five of these once the stories start. Take one from Warm-up, one or two from Bloopers or Teammates, one What if and one from Wind-down, and mark the one you most want so it is not the question that gets cut.
Give the props a day's notice
The ancient piece of gear, the entrance song and the celebration clip are all funnier seen or heard than described. Mention them when you arrange the interview so the athlete can bring the glove or find the footage, and accept a no without pressing.
Put a teammate within earshot
The questions about who takes longest to get ready, the bus seat and the coach impression work best when the person being named can object. With one athlete alone, ask what that teammate would say back.
Keep the teasing on the friendly side
Every teammate question here asks for the sort of story the teammate would tell about themselves. If an answer turns into a real complaint about a person, move to the next question and leave it out of whatever you publish.
Play the What if round fast
Read two or three in a row and take the first answer that comes. Then stop on one and make them defend it, because the argument for a kangaroo at full back is the part people remember.
What to Leave Out
- Injuries, rehab timelines and whether they will play again. That belongs to them and their medical staff.
- Contracts, salary, transfers, scholarships and what they think they are worth.
- Asking them to criticize a teammate, a coach, an official or a rival by name.
- Body, weight, diet plans and supplements, especially with young athletes.
- Questions premised on a bad result: replaying the mistake, the missed shot, the dropped pass.
- Anything about a doping story, investigation or suspension in the sport. Fun questions are not a way in.
Getting Past the Media Answer
Ask for the specific instance, not the general habit
The superstition question can get a rehearsed answer. Asking about last Saturday, or the one time the ritual was skipped and what happened next, gets you something they have not said out loud before.
Follow the teammate
When a name comes up, ask what that person is like on a bad day, or in the warm-up. Athletes protect themselves more carefully than they protect their affection for teammates.
Let the silence sit
The questions about what they were bad at, the coach's line they still hear, and the opponent who made them better all tend to need a pause before a real answer. Filling it gets you the cliche instead.
Adjust for the room
With school-age listeners, the useful questions are the ones about being bad at something, dreading training, who they pretended to be as a kid, and what they eat. Save the opponent's trash talk and the most embarrassing moment for an adult audience.