📙 Part 2: Describe a successful sportsperson you admire

This episode's vocabulary

Look Up To Someone (phrasal verb) – To admire or respect a person. → Andy Murray is someone I look up to.

Internationally Renowned (adjective phrase) – Famous around the world. → Andy Murray is internationally renowned.

Stick Out (phrasal verb) – To be noticeable or memorable. → One sportsperson sticks out in my mind.

Chip Off The Old Block (idiom) – Someone who is similar to their parent. → He may be a chip off the old block like his mother.

Let Fame Go To His Head (idiom) – To become arrogant because of success. → He hasn’t let fame go to his head.

Level-Headed (adjective) – Calm, sensible, and practical. → He seems quite level-headed in interviews.

Come Across As (phrasal verb) – To give a particular impression. → He comes across as modest.

Rise Up In Your Field (verb phrase) – To become successful in a profession. → It takes dedication to rise up in your field.

Role Model (noun) – Someone who others admire and try to copy. → He is a good role model for young people.

Dedication (noun) – Strong commitment and effort. → His success shows real dedication.

Elite Athlete (noun phrase) – A sportsperson competing at the highest level. → Andy Murray is an elite athlete.

Sporting Legacy (noun phrase) – Long-term influence in sport. → He has left a strong sporting legacy.

Mental Resilience (noun phrase) – The ability to stay strong under pressure. → Tennis requires great mental resilience.

Public Figure (noun phrase) – A person well known to the public. → He is a respected public figure.

National Pride (noun phrase) – A feeling of pride in one’s country. → His success brings national pride.

Questions and Answers

Maria: You should say who he or she is, what you know about him or her, what he or she is like in real life, what achievements he or she has made, and explain why you admire them.

Rory: To be honest, there aren't many sportspeople I look up to that often, since it's not really my thing. But one that does stick out in my mind is Andy Murray. He's a tennis player from Scotland, though I think he's fairly well known, maybe even internationally renowned, though I don't really follow tennis or any other sport for that matter, so that could also not be true. That's probably why I don't know a great deal about him as a person. Obviously, he comes from the same country as I do, and he went to school in a county that's quite close by, but I think that's about all I can say for certain. I imagine, like many sportspeople, he runs lots of events for students in the local area to encourage them to take up tennis and be healthier. I know for a fact his mother does that, so maybe he's something of a chip off the old block that way, and that's quite admirable.

As for what he's like in real life, again, having never met him, I can't say for sure, but from what I have seen in the passing, when he's in various interviews and things, he doesn't seem to have let fame go to his head, and he comes across as fairly level-headed. I think that's also something people could aspire to, since modesty is something people really like in others, at least in my country.

When it comes to his achievements, well, obviously he's a very good tennis player, and I think he's either won or come close to winning Wimbledon or other various competitions on numerous occasions. It's not something I ever plan to do myself, but you have to give him some credit for the dedication it takes to rise up in your fields, especially to get to the top like that. And that's why I think he's definitely a good role model for others. If we didn't have Andy Murray, we would definitely be short of those in my country. There are not many people who live there.

Maria: And what about your friends? Do they like this person?

Rory: I imagine so. We haven't talked him that much, to be honest.

Discussion

Maria: Yeah! Thank you Rory, for your story. So, dear listener, a successful sportsperson. So a sportsperson could be a tennis player, it could be a football player, Usain Bolt, Muhammad Ali, Michael Phelps swimming, Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo. So, you can just choose any person, but you should know about their life. Michael Jordan, Serena Williams, all right?

Rory: How much do we really know about these people, though? We need to guess!

Maria: No, Rory, you need to open the Internet, go to Google, and learn about your favourite athlete.

Rory: Well, I'm not a computer, Maria. I can't remember absolutely everything that is true about somebody's life. So, you can guess, and you can say maybe, or it's possible, or if you know something for sure, then you can say, obviously, this is true, but the other things I'm not so sure about. If you're still not sure, you could say something like I did, which was, I can't say for sure, or having never met this person, I don't know, but maybe.

Maria: That's true, but also, dear listener, Google them. Choose one person, and this person could be a famous person you'd like to meet in the future, so you can talk about this person when you get these cards, like talk about a celebrity or famous person, a sports person, talk about someone you admire, so you can use this person in different speaking cards, okay? Yeah, and Rory talked about Sir. He's a Sir, Rory, okay?

Rory: Oh, really? See, this is it. I didn't know that.

Maria: He's Sir Andy Murray from Scotland.

Rory: He's a knight. Can you imagine that?

Maria: A Sir. It's like Sir Paul McCartney. He's 38 years old. Pretty young. Yeah, he's like a former professional tennis player. Now, he's a coach, so yeah, he's pretty renowned, famous.

Rory: Internationally renowned. There's a collocation.

Maria: Internationally renowned, really famous. You can Google him, dear listener, and you can steal Rory's story and also talk about Sir Andy Murray. Yeah, pretty nice guy from Scotland. And we start the speech with, to be honest, I don't know many sports people, or I don't know many athletes, or I don't have any sports people I look up to, because here the card says who you admire. We can use a phrasal verb. I look up to. I respect this person. I like them. I admire them. Like a nice synonym. I look up to my father, for example. I respect my father, right? Look up to someone. Admire and respect someone. And so, you see, like, I don't know many athletes I look up to, but the one that does stick out in my mind is Andy Murray. So, one person that does stick out, like he really sticks out, sticks out, like I remember this person, is Andy Murray. So, you can just write down the sentence and use it pretty much in every speaking part 2.

Rory: I love it. Something that sticks out.

Maria: He's well known. He's internationally renowned, internationally famous. You can say, I don't follow tennis. I don't follow sports, or I'm not into sports. It's not my thing, dear listener. Okay, so I don't know many athletes. Sport is not my thing. And then, as Rory told us, you can say that, to be honest, I don't know much about this person. But you should google them, and you should know. Another phrasal verb to use is take up. Like, he took up tennis. He started playing tennis a long time ago. Or, like, his parents encouraged him to play tennis. He's quite admirable. So, somebody I admire is admirable, like a nice adjective to use. He is an admirable person.

Rory: Maybe. He's probably an admirable person.

Maria: If you look at his photos, he's quite admirable, quite nice, deserving respect. We change the topic, and you say, as for what he is like in real life. And here we mean his character. He's kind. He's determined, hardworking. He's lazy, negative. He complains all the time. And the card tells me, like, what he or she is like in real life. Not what they like. Or, like, he likes coffee. He doesn't like tea. But what about his character? For example, if I ask Rory, like, what's your brother like? He's easygoing. He's tall. He's kind. He's generous. He's nice. He's friendly. Right? And here we can say, I've never met him, unfortunately. So, he comes across as level headed. This is your key phrasal verb. Could you write it down? So, come across as.

Rory: To describe the personality, how someone presents themselves.

Maria: Level headed means calm, able to deal easily with difficult situations. So, he comes across as a calm person. He comes across as a very generous person, kind person, and professional. And people could aspire to him.

Rory: Or aspire to be like.

Maria: Yeah. And if I aspire to be like him.

Rory: Then you would like to be like him. Or something similar.

Maria: For example, like, many people aspire to a career in business. So, they want a career in business very much. Then we change the topic to his achievements. Achievements, accomplishments. Like, what he's done. If you talk about a person who is alive, you should use present perfectly. He's done. He's won. He has achieved. If the person died, then use past. Like, he won. He did. He saw. He wrote. He got. And here we talk about tennis or Wimbledon. He's won three majors at Wimbledon championships. Oh, he has also won two gold medals at the Summer Olympics.

Rory: Really? I didn't know that. That's cool. That's something to aspire to.

Maria: And we should give him some credit for this. So, what does this phrase mean?

Rory: It just means that he should be admired or thought positively of.

Maria: Give someone credit for something is a collocation. So, to say that someone deserves praise, approval, honour for what they've done. Usually, we use this phrase with famous writers or somebody who has done important things in their life. We have to give credits to the other team for never giving up. So, they continued competing or give her some credit. She's hardworking. She tried really hard. And his dedication. This is a nice word. Usually, sportsmen, athletes, and sports professionals are quite dedicated. They have dedication. This means the willingness to give a lot of time and energy to something. So, like, Usain Bolt, for example, like a famous... Oh, what do you call him? Runner?

Rory: I suppose so. Or athlete.

Maria: Yeah. The fastest man on earth. Usain Bolt. Oh, 39 years old. Wow.

Rory: Really?

Maria: Yeah.

Rory: Wow. Doing good for 39.

Maria: Yeah. So, he's a sprinter. Yeah. He's a retired sprinter. So, like, the greatest sprinter of all time. Yeah. But like, if you look at his photo, he kind of looks like 55.

Rory: Oh, I thought he looked quite young. Never mind.

Maria: Yeah. Maybe, like, the Wikipedia photo is not quite good. So, you see, like, he's dedicated. So, all his life, he's dedicated to running, to sport. So, we can give him some credit for this kind of dedication. And it takes dedication and motivation to rise up in your field to the top like that. Rise up.

Rory: Well, develop and progress, especially in a hierarchy.

Maria: Yeah, like, rise up to the top. You can wrap it up saying that he's definitely a good role model for other people. Like, a role model. So, we admire this person, we look up to this person, and we want to copy this person's behaviour, for example. So, he's a good role model. C1, Band 8. Yeah, role model is a collocation. Good for essays as well. Like, celebrities are or are not good role models for children. So, a person who someone admires and whose behaviour they try to copy. Okay? And usually, we say, like, sports stars are role models for many children.

Rory: Who is your role model, Maria?

Maria: In terms of organisation, you.

Rory: And who is your role model for being a normal human being?

Maria: Oh, boy. I don't have one.

Rory: Thanks.

Maria: Yeah, because if I'm being disorganised, I'm messy. So, I always remember you, Rory, and your organisation, your, you know, like, timetable.

Rory: I always remember you, and thank God I'm not like that.

Maria: No, but you are organised, right? So, you write everything down, and it's like...

Rory: It goes in a logical order.

Maria: Yeah, I really look up to it, you see. And also, dear listener, you should, like, admire Rory's organisational skills.

Rory: However, for the moment, you can admire what we've said about an admirable person.

Maria: But do google them, okay? Steal Rory's story or google a famous or admirable athlete, okay? Bye!

Rory: Bye!

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