I have seen reference to them throughout the forum, and I have no idea what sports those might be. Thanks!
It’s basically any sport that seems to suck up every minute of free time and has an intense bond between the players. The specific sports probably vary depending upon the school. Crew often falls into this category. Depending on the school, ice hockey and lax do as well.
One word: crew. 
(When I tell people I’m rowing this spring, the rowers jump up and down and the non-rowers tell me it’s a cult.)
Good to know! Hated to seem clueless. Would squash be in this category? VACAkid “sports” have been XCountry and Tennis which I was pretty sure were not cult status.
My son has been playing squash at school, and it does not seem cultish at all. The experience seems much like tennis, as far as I can tell from the outside.
+1 for Crew.
Intense bond between players? How about one of the original Olympic sports? Wrestling. I never wrestled, but have watched DS’s journey from the edge of “The Mat.”
Actually it’s not only a bond, but a brotherhood/sisterhood. Very few sports require more individual commitment due to the nature of the training and competing itself. Mentally, you are committed 24/7. Wrestlers cannot go home after a game and relax. Away from exhausting daily practices on the mat or all day competitions, due to the weight class requirements, wrestlers have to maintain their focus and drive around the clock for an entire season. However at the end of the season you will be in the best shape ever.
The night before an all day Saturday tournament you don’t sleep well, anxious about the next five matches, and one is against a state champion who is 45-1. Match time, six minutes fighting an opponent who wants to break you mentally and beat you physically. Six minutes of contorted limbs, headlocks, lack of air, and pain. You may be overmatched, spending the full six minutes on the mat, trying to survive your opponent’s wrath and not surrender a pin. You fight or suffer defeat. Wrestling is not for the faint of heart or weak of mind. Lose and there is no one to blame but yourself. Win (or lose), look your opponent in his/her eye, congratulate him/her, and shake hands. And don’t forget to shake the opposing coach’s hand also.
Wrestle for a season and your outlook on life will change. You will become more self-assured and will learn self-control and humility. Getting knocked down is just apart of the process to work even harder and to improve; a valuable life lesson. Wrestlers learn that there is a hierarchy to everything in life. On the team the coaches are the most respected, then the captains, then the seniors, and last the freshman. However, if you work hard and respect your elders, you will have success and earn the respect of coaches and teammates. Whether you go 15-0 or 0-15, a season of wrestling with your teammates will leave an permanent chapter on your soul and bond you to the amazing sport, your teammates/coaches like very few sports. Olympic champion wrestler Dan Gables said, “Once you’ve wrestled, everything in life is easy.”
As the parent of rowers, I sometimes wonder if some of the rowing as cult thing comes simply from the odd sight of brawny guys walking around in their underwear together all spring and fall.
Hilarious, @classicalmama. “What oft was thought but ne’er so well expressed.”
Lacrosse comes to mind.
I have 3 lacrosse players in my house, I would definately consider it a cult sport. They tend to be a bit of a different breed of kid, and so many people still don’t know what lacrosse is. We lve in MD and when we travel we get a lot of blank looks when the kids say their first sport is lacrosse.
+1 for crew. Son started yesterday in the snow, pulled the ERG’s out of the boathouse onto the deck, power tens for watts, the novices rigging the bathtub. Today it was run a 5K for time, tomorrow the first 2k ERG. A tight group and they do a lot of non crew activities together. Even the parents can get in on the action not sure how it is with BS crew but in public rowing we have a team food tent that seems a bit competitive in of itself. Providing all the regatta food seems to be our major expense for crew season, that and all the Fairlife chocolate milk he drinks.
As a former college lax player I don’t consider lacrosse a cult sport. It’s hugely popular preppy sport every where but the projects and otherwise impoverished areas. 10% of players are any good. It is a fun team sport and lots of people do it as a social thing now. To me true cult sports are rowing and hockey and even fencing and squash. Sports that are really really hard and require near constant training or cannot be done simply as an activity OR a sport that is really hard to find others who play like fencing or squash.
Guys’ basketball. They live, eat, and breathe - for them, “ball is life.”
My son would reply ‘rugby’
Definitely rugby…
Sailing. It is a “cult” as well.
When I was a BS student it was hockey all the way - but that driven by the fact that we met at the coach’s apartment every morning at 4:30 AM to go to practice. We had our own unique set of rules as a result of our unusual training schedule. The fact that we did not have any enforced study hall really ticked of the basketball team.