Sports Merit Badge
Six requirements. The long one is requirement 5: two sports for a season (or three months), with a personal training program, a chart kept throughout, and the completed chart shared with your counselor at the end. Requirement 4 is choosing the two sports and planning that season with your counselor first. Requirements 1 to 3 are safety, first aid, health and sportsmanship, and 6 is a career or a hobby.
Elective Merit Badges Health Merit Badges Requirements Safety
The plan behind this
Requirement 5 is a season, and requirement 4 plans it
Requirement 4 is choosing two sports and discussing with your counselor how you will complete 5(a) to 5(h) for each. The sports must include regular practice sessions and at least four structured, officiated, scored games, meets or contests against other competitive individuals or organized teams during the period you take part.
Then, for each sport:
| part | what it asks | when |
|---|---|---|
| 5(a) | a personal training program, set up with your counselor's guidance | followed throughout the competition season, or for three months |
| 5(b) | a chart or other tracking system documenting your training, practice and development | kept during that same time |
| 5(c) | proper technique, to play effectively and avoid injury | demonstrated |
| 5(d) | the equipment, including protective equipment and specialized clothing | listed and described |
| 5(e) | the rules and proper etiquette | listed and explained |
| 5(f) | a diagram of the playing area | drawn and explained |
| 5(g) | taking part as a competitive individual or on an organized team | one season, or three months |
| 5(h) | sharing the completed chart, and how the sports affected you mentally and physically | at the end of the season |
The sports you can choose
Badminton, baseball, basketball, bowling, cross-country, diving, field hockey, flag football, flag team, golf, gymnastics, ice hockey, lacrosse, soccer, softball, spirit/cheerleading, swimming, tackle football, table tennis, tennis, track and field, volleyball, water polo and wrestling. Your counselor may approve other recognized sports in advance, but not any sport prohibited by Scouting America.
The activities used for this badge may not be used to help fulfill the requirements of other merit badges.
Requirements 1 to 3
1 is the risks of sports and the first aid for sports injuries. 2 is explaining the physical exam, good health habits for life (and how tobacco, alcohol and other harmful substances affect your health and performance), and a healthy diet. 3 is discussing warming up and cooling down, weight training, amateur and professional athletes, and sportsmanship and Scout spirit on and off the field.
What this page is
The Sports merit badge, drawn so the season of requirement 5 stands out, with requirement 4 drawn as planning it, the completed chart drawn as depending on the training record and the season, and the career or hobby drawn as a question. It is not a copy of the requirements: each step is a short label with a link to the official requirements, which are what actually governs and which change from year to year. The free official pamphlet is the fuller guide.
Sources for this page
- Sports Merit Badge Requirements, Merit Badge Hub, last modified 2025-09-19 · The requirements themselves, and the free official pamphlet linked from them.
- Guide to Advancement, 2025, Section 7.0.0.3 · The process every merit badge is earned through, which this page does not repeat.
- Guide to Advancement, 2025, Section 7.0.4.3 · Which version of a changed requirement applies to a Scout who has already started.
- Guide to Advancement, 2025, Section 4.0.0.1 · Why the requirements are not in the Guide to Advancement and are expected to change annually.
Last checked against its sources on .