When I was getting into this topic I had a question in my mind what would be the most useful sport for any and all athletes. But me thinking of athleticism, when I hear that term I guess I'm being a little more closed minded because I think of things such as balance, agility, mobility, speed, anaerobic endurance, power and such. But when you mentioned cross country...... only aspect I thought of is aerobic endurance. Nothing else is needed there, right? So I guess that kinda opened my eyes to the fact that not every single athletic asset is needed in certain sports.