📘 Part 3: Sports

This episode's vocabulary

To be short (of/on something) - to not have enough of something.

Dedicated (adj.) - believing that something is very important and giving a lot of time and energy to it.

Self-destruction (noun) - behaviour by a person that is likely to make them fail or cause them to be harmed or killed.

Personable (adj.) - having a pleasant appearance and character.

Trait (noun) - a particular characteristic that can produce a particular type of behaviour.

To sniff something out (phrasal verb) - to cause something to end suddenly.

Climbing frame (noun) - a large frame made of bars that children can climb on.

Construct (noun) - to build something or put together different parts to form something whole.

To take advantage of (phrase) - to use the good things in a situation.

Beneficiary (noun) - a person or group who receives money, advantages, etc. as a result of something else.

In-depth (phrase) - in a serious and detailed way.

Milquetoast (adj.) - shy, nervous and with a weak character.

Passion (noun) - a very powerful feeling, for example of sexual attraction, love, hate, anger, or other emotion.

The nitty-gritty (noun) - the basic facts of a situation.

To manifest (verb) - to make something happen by imagining it and consciously thinking that it will happen.

To operate (verb) - to (cause to) work, be in action or have an effect.

To lose sight of something (idiom) - to forget about an important idea or fact because you are thinking too much about other things.

Opportunity cost (noun) - the value of the action that you do not choose when choosing between two possible options.

Inevitable (adj.) - certain to happen and unable to be avoided or prevented.

Commensurate (adj.) - in a correct and suitable amount compared to something else.

Questions and Answers

M: What kinds of exercises do people in your country like to do?

R: Oh, I don't think we're short on variety, really. You see people running, going to yoga, doing Pilates and other things all the time, which makes sense from just about any perspective. I mean, it's a Western capitalist democracy. So you can pretty much choose from an unlimited number of things that suit your taste.

M: What characteristics do you think an athlete should have?

R: I mean, if we're talking about professional athletes here, then individually, they should be dedicated to the point of self-destruction to whatever support they're invested in. I'm not sure what other qualities they need in terms of being an athlete. We could talk about being organized and personable. But those are basic human traits.

M: Do you think academic classes should replace PE classes?

R: I'm a bit torn on this, really. I mean, from a certain point of view, they shouldn't, so kids have a chance to develop their sporting abilities. But on the other hand, PE classes are organized for a mass of people and likely to snuff out any individual interest. So it might be better to let the kids have more free time to play in and enjoy themselves on climbing frames instead.

M: How can people know whether a child has a talent for sports or no?

R: Well, I don't mean to get philosophical about this. But the concept of talent really does seem to be a cultural construct to explain why people have the opportunities to take advantage of things that others don't. I mean, most of the top athletes in the world are the beneficiaries of access to money and power. So of course, they have an interest and trained hard, but unless they have some serious illness or genetic mutation of some kind, most people with time and effort could probably do the same thing. So that's the in-depth answer. But if you'd like something more milquetoast, then they can see your child has a passion for something and invest a lot of time in it.

M: And is it easy to identify children's talents?

R: Without getting into too much of the nitty gritty, probably, yes, in terms of sport, because you can see it manifesting in front of you whenever they play the game, or whatever it is they're doing.

M: And what are the benefits of sports for children?

R: I don't think there's... Well, no, I was going to say, I don't think there's anything specific for children. But perhaps there is because they learn to socialize and understand the rules of how something works, which is important for life more broadly speaking. So this first controlled encounter can be successful for operating independently in later life.

M: And what could be the disadvantages of sports for children? If any.

R: They might lose sight of other forms of achievement, but there's an opportunity cost to everything. So I think that that's inevitable. And that's not something that's unique to children.

M: Do you think there will be more athletes in the future?

R: Well, in terms of the raw numbers, yes. Because the number of sports is constantly increasing as people invent more things. So you will have more athletes, but in terms of the proportion of the population, well, yes, that would also be true, because if we're adding more sports to the pile, then there will be a commensurate increase in the size of the pool of athletes. So yes, there will be more.

M: Thank you Rory for your answers.