Fun Questions to Ask Athletes
Twenty questions for a locker room, a podcast or a school visit: the pre-game ritual, the funniest thing that happened mid-game, the memory they keep coming back to, and the prank nobody has lived down.
The questions
Open any question for the note
What's your pre-game routine, and how much of it is superstition?
Why ask it
An easy opener, because athletes have told this one before and enjoy it. The second half is the good part: most know exactly which parts are preparation and which are ritual, and they usually keep the ritual anyway.
What's the funniest thing you've seen happen during a game?
Why ask it
Sets a light tone and produces a story rather than an opinion. Answers cluster around equipment failures, mascots, weather and one teammate who fell over at the worst possible moment.
What music or podcast is on right before you compete?
Why ask it
Specific and easy, and the answer is often surprising: plenty of athletes want something calming rather than loud. Good for interviews with a young audience, who will remember the answer better than any advice.
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 pitch with a slope, a pool that was freezing. It gets at the unglamorous reality behind the highlight reel.
What's the worst uniform or piece of kit you've had to wear?
Why ask it
A reliable laugh that costs nobody anything. It also tends to date the story precisely, which opens the door to whatever era of their career they most want to talk about.
What's the most embarrassing thing that's happened to you in competition?
Why ask it
Athletes are used to being asked about their best moments, so being asked about the worst is a relief. Only ask once the mood is easy, and take a short answer as a no.
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. Notice whether the target was a rookie or a veteran, because who is safe to prank tells you how the group actually works.
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, and that contrast is the fun of it. It is also a practical detail that younger athletes in the room genuinely want to hear about.
What's a skill in your sport that looks easy on TV and absolutely isn't?
Why ask it
Invites real expertise while keeping it accessible, and athletes are usually delighted to correct the record. Expect answers about footwork, breathing or positioning rather than anything spectacular.
What did your coach say that you still hear in your head?
Why ask it
Gets a line rather than a summary, and the line is usually short and unglamorous. Watch whether the remembered coaching is encouragement or a correction, because athletes tend to carry one or the other.
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 fifty times. Expect a bus ride, a training camp, a teammate's family, or a season nobody outside the team remembers.
Who on your team is funniest, and who is the quiet one everyone relies on?
Why ask it
Lets them give credit to teammates instead of talking about themselves, which many athletes find easier. The second half in particular often names someone who never gets mentioned publicly.
What's a rule in your sport you'd change if it were up to you?
Why ask it
Reliably produces a strong opinion, and the reasoning shows how deeply they think about the game. Some pick safety, some pick pace, and the choice says a lot about what they value.
What's the hardest you've ever laughed in a serious moment?
Why ask it
Different from the funniest game story, because it puts them inside the moment rather than watching it. Usually involves trying not to laugh in a huddle or on a start line.
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 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.
What's a superstition you know is nonsense but still follow?
Why ask it
Different from asking about the routine: this one asks them to admit it makes no sense. That admission is what makes it funny, and the answers are wonderfully specific about socks and door handles.
What do people misunderstand about how much of this is mental?
Why ask it
Opens the door without demanding a confession, so they choose the depth. Set it late, and if the answer stays general, do not push. Some athletes will not discuss nerves publicly and that is their call.
Which opponent made you better, and did you ever tell them?
Why ask it
Shifts credit outward, and the second half often produces a pause. Rivalry stories are usually told as conflict, and the question quietly reframes them as respect.
What are you looking forward to doing when your competing days are over?
Why ask it
A closing question that treats them as more than an athlete, which they are rarely asked to be. Coaching, a bad knee finally resting, a season without a schedule. Skip it entirely if retirement or injury is a live and unwelcome subject.
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.
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.
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 routine question gets a rehearsed answer. Asking about last Saturday, or the one time the routine broke down, 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, and about the opponent who made them better, both usually 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, and what they eat. Save the mental side and the embarrassing story for an adult audience.