Keeping low level commoners competitive in athletics

[Asmor]

I suggest a compromise. Skills are intended to be broadly useful things. This is what Profession skills are created for.

Profession: Athlete (Dex, Str, or Wis)
Special: Unlike most Profession skills, Profession: Athlete may use strength or dexterity rather than wisdom, depending on the sport being played. A DM may impose the usual cirumstance penalties when attempting to apply the skill to an unfamiliar sport.
Synergies: 5 ranks in Jump, Tumble, or Balance will grant a +2 synergy bonus to Profession: Athlete. These bonuses stack.

The synergy bonuses ensure that a PC who loads up on the physical types skills will be able to do pretty good, even without specific sports trianing.

Ah, excellent idea!

Keeping low level commoners competitive? Easy. Have them play against other low level commoners.

Just like in the real world, if you took some guys who play softball on the weekends for fun and have them play against the American League All Stars, they will get blown away. A pro athlete isn't a Commoner 1 or 2. They are experts (and warriors in some cases) with more than a couple levels under their belt.

You're missing the point a bit; I'm not talking about keeping the minor leaguers competitive with the major leaguers, I'm talking about keeping the minor leaguers who've played the game every weekend since they were 6 competitive with PCs who've never played the game before but just have higher stats.