📘 Part 3: Sports

This episode's vocabulary

Touch rugby (noun) – a non-contact version of rugby where tackling is replaced by touching. → We play touch rugby at lunch because it's safer than the full-contact version.

Sheer volume (noun phrase) – an extremely large amount or number. → The sheer volume of applications made it difficult to review them all.

Thriving (adjective) – growing successfully and vigorously. → There's a thriving arts community in our neighborhood.

At a guess (phrase) – making an estimate without certain knowledge. → At a guess, I'd say about 200 people attended the event.

Fixated on (adjective phrase) – obsessively focused or concentrated on something. → She's completely fixated on getting perfect scores in every exam.

To the exclusion of (phrase) – ignoring or not considering other things. → He focuses on work to the exclusion of his personal life.

Psychosomatic (adjective) – relating to physical symptoms caused by mental or emotional factors. → Some doctors believe stress can have a psychosomatic effect on health.

Contingent on (adjective phrase) – dependent on or conditional upon something. → Our trip is contingent on getting time off work.

Rained off (phrasal verb) – cancelled or postponed due to rain. → The cricket match was rained off yesterday.

Going ahead (phrasal verb) – proceeding or continuing as planned. → Despite concerns, the conference is going ahead next month.

Retirees (noun) – people who have retired from work. → Many retirees move to warmer climates.

Contact sports (noun) – sports involving physical contact between players. → Rugby and boxing are examples of contact sports.

Rougher on (adjective phrase) – more difficult or demanding for someone. → Winter weather is rougher on elderly people.

Pose a risk (verb phrase) – present or create a danger. → Icy roads pose a risk to drivers.

Bowling greens (noun) – flat grass areas used for lawn bowling. → The local bowling greens are maintained beautifully.

Stamina (noun) – physical or mental endurance and energy. → Marathon runners need exceptional stamina to complete the race.

Competitive edge (noun phrase) – an advantage over others in competition. → Regular training gives athletes a competitive edge.

Physically demanding (adjective phrase) – requiring significant physical effort or strength. → Construction work is extremely physically demanding.

Take up (phrasal verb) – to start a new hobby or activity. → I decided to take up yoga for better flexibility.

Wind down (phrasal verb) – to relax and reduce stress or activity. → I like to wind down with some light reading before bed.

Questions and Answers

Maria: Which is more dangerous, team sports or individual sports?

Rory: Doesn't that depend more on the actual sport? I mean, if you go rock climbing alone, then clearly that's more dangerous than playing something like touch rugby with a team of people. Although, if we have to pick one, I'd probably say the individual ones. I mean, at least if you hurt yourself in a team sport, people are around who can help you. But of course, that's just one factor to consider.

Maria: What kinds of sports are the most popular in your country?

Rory: Oh, wow. I think that's either rugby or football, just based on the sheer volume of teams we have. Though apparently there's a thriving gymnastic scene, which is surprising to hear.

Maria: And which do people in your country prefer to watch, team sports or individual sports?

Rory: Well, just based on what I said, I think it's safe to say that team sports are probably the most popular. You don't see a lot of people watching gymnastic competitions, but football is considered the national sport. And we do well in a lot of other things like rugby, cricket, etc. And all of them involve teams. So it sort of makes sense that team sports are the ones that are sort of above the others in terms of popularity.

Maria: Does encouragement and applause from the audience have an impact on athletes?

Rory: At a guess, I'd say probably not, at least not in the immediate context. The reason I say that is that athletes tend to be pretty focused people. So they're probably fixated on winning to the exclusion of just about everything else. Maybe after they win, the audience reactions and praise might have some sort of psychosomatic effect. But other than that, I don't see it being much of an influence.

Maria: How does the weather affect outdoor sports?

Rory: Well, that's contingent on the sport and the weather, really. Unlike football matches, rugby matches hardly ever get rained off. But heavy snowfall or low temperatures might stop a game going ahead if the ground freezes, and that poses some kind of risk to the players.

Maria: What sports are popular among elderly people?

Rory: Well, there used to be a thing where old people played a lot of bowls and went bowling, or at least not bowling like ten-pin bowling. They would go to bowling greens. But I don't know if that's still a thing or not. And I think golf is popular with retirees, though God knows why, given how dull that is. At a guess, I'd say it's because it tends to have a slower pace and isn't so intense compared to contact sports, which could definitely be rougher on older people.

Discussion

Maria: You know, Rory, what sports are popular among elderly people? Tai Chi.

Rory: That's not a sport, is it?

Maria: Well, I think it's kind of like a sports activity, Tai Chi and Taijiquan, and all this, you know, like Chinese martial arts, but they are kind of very soft, and the elderly people might make some moves, but not necessarily fighting, right? Yoga, but actually Tai Chi is super popular and all these martial arts in China, in Asia, because lots of elderly people go to parks and they do these movements.

Rory: This is the thing. I don't really see yoga and Tai Chi as sports, and not because I don't think that they're worthwhile. It's just, for me, sport is something like a competition, but you don't really compete at yoga. You do it to kind of improve yourself. So, like I say, it's more of a discipline than anything else, or a hobby. Of course, other opinions will be available.

Maria: Yeah, would bowling be a sport? Yeah, because bowling is a sport.

Rory: Yeah, you play to win.

Maria: Yeah, but there are Tai Chi competitions. So Tai Chi, dear listener, is a Chinese martial art. Okay, it's a martial art. And yoga is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices.

Rory: Yeah.

Maria: Yeah, is yoga a sport? Is Tai Chi a sport? Yeah, that's a question.

Rory: It kind of goes against the whole idea of yoga being about the spirit, whereas competition is, I would say, not about that. However, other opinions are available, probably.

Maria: Yeah, dear listener, so if you talk about activities like yoga, you can say, well, I don't know about sports, but the elderly people might go for such activities as yoga, Tai Chi, so it's okay. But what is a sport?

Rory: Well, I think a sport involves some kind of competition and playing to win.

Maria: Wikipedia, there we go. Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organised, that maintains and improves physical ability and skills.

Rory: However, it's funny because, of course, I went to yoga yesterday, and my yoga teacher was saying that yoga in Scotland is supervised by something like the Sports Council of Scotland, making it a sport legally.

Maria: Interesting.

Rory: But that's just in my country. You know, my country does not make the decisions for all other people.

Maria: Okay, we have a list of sports and let's check if yoga is there. Oh, yeah, yoga as exercise, acroyoga, competitive yoga, Rory.

Rory: I feel like a lot of people who do yoga would not be really happy with that.

Maria: Competitive yoga is the performance of asanas. Asanas? Asanas.

Rory: Asanas, they're the poses.

Maria: Their activity is controversial as it appears to conflict with the nature of yoga.

Rory: Yes, that's what I said.

Maria: Yeah, people. So, yeah, so what do you call sports? It's up to you. But also, there's a list of sports on Wikipedia, so you can take a look. And also like martial arts, like sumo, arm wrestling are considered sports.

Rory: Yeah, that seems like more of a sport because you can win at arm wrestling. It does require some kind of skill and strength.

Maria: Oh, yeah, tai chi is there.

Rory: Is it? I don't know much about tai chi. I assume tai chi was very similar to yoga, but maybe I'm thinking of something else.

Maria: No, no, no. Well, tai chi is like a martial art, right? But for the elderly people, they do exercises and they move their hands, their feet. And it's all very nice, you know, but it's much more than that. Sorry, if you are a tai chi master, I'm very sorry. Yeah, I'm explaining it in a very simple, very basic terms. So tai chi, just Google and read about tai chi. It's much more than that. It's about the spirit as well and body and mind and everything. Yeah, very interesting stuff. Okay, now we know what sport is. Now let's Google what individual sports are. Individual sport is a sport in which participants compete as individuals. Okay, okay. 25 sports you can play by yourself. Oh, swimming, swimming. There you go. Dancing. Also, you can dance alone. Golfing. You are alone without a team, but you can be part of the team. Kayaking. Mountain biking, dear listener. You just compete as one person, but not a part of a team. Ice skating. Also, you can do it alone. Surfing. Bowling. Skiing. Archery. Gymnastics. Oh, actually, fishing. Fishing is a sport. What?

Rory: Yeah, you can definitely do sport fishing. We've talked about that before on the podcast.

Maria: Oh, okay, okay. And diving. So you just compete as one person, but not as a team.

Rory: See, this concept of sport is not as easy as we thought it was.

Maria: Well, just don't think too hard, you know. Swimming. A sport that you can do by yourself. Alone. Swimming. Dancing. Golfing. Cycling. Kayaking. You take your kayak, you take yourself, and off you go. So which is more dangerous? Well, hard to say.

Rory: It is hard to say.

Maria: Yeah, and then you just give examples. If you go rock climbing alone, that's more dangerous than playing rugby with a team of people. Yeah, but that's a question. Rugby is a crazy game. It's super dangerous. They can kill you there. Well, they can kill you everywhere. And you can say that if I have to pick one, so if I have to answer this question, yeah, if you kind of make me, I'd probably say the individual ones, the individual sports. Because you are alone, yeah, you can hurt yourself, but in a team, people are around you so they can help you.

Rory: At least I think so. I hope your team would help you if you hurt yourself.

Maria: The most popular sports in your country, please Google, now you should know, according to IELTS, so in Scotland, football, rugby, and gymnastics.

Rory: See, this is it. I didn't know about this gymnastics obsession until I was a primary school teacher, and then it seemed like everybody did gymnastics. Really?

Maria: But all over the world, the most popular sport is football, dear listener. A fan base of roughly 3.5 billion people all over the world. Then cricket and hockey, tennis, and volleyball. So if you have no idea, you just say, okay, football, hockey, tennis, volleyball, table tennis, basketball, golf, rugby. So they're kind of popular all over the world, like the top, most popular sports all over the globe. And then you can say, wow, surprisingly, there is a thriving gymnastics scene. There is a thriving, thriving, it's developing, it's growing bigger.

Rory: It's growing well.

Maria: It’s C2. Thriving. C2, yeah, band nine moment. So thriving, growing, developing, being successful. For example, a thriving economy, a thriving community, or a thriving football scene, a thriving gymnastics scene. So if lots of people do tai chi, there is a thriving tai chi scene in my country.

Rory: I think most countries probably have a thriving football scene.

Maria: Yeah, that's true. People prefer to watch different sports. And usually people prefer to watch team sports. Because they are quite exciting. It's exciting to see teams compete with each other, to watch people going at each other, go at each other, compete with each other. So it's spectacular. So football is a spectator sport. You just go to a stadium as a spectator to watch all this beauty. According to Rory, football is boring.

Rory: It is boring. Sorry if you're a football fan, but I am not.

Maria: So imagine, dear listener, you watch a competition, or you watch a football game. You are at the stadium. And what do you do? You shout, you applaud, you clap. Like, yay, yay, woo-woo. Like this. Clap. And does this encouragement, does this applause have an impact on athletes? So imagine yourself as an athlete, as a sportsman. You are runnin,g and everybody is clapping, everybody is just encouraging you, applauding. So does all this noise affect you? Rory's answer is genius. You'd have to ask the athletes. Okay? If you want to know the answer, just go and ask the athletes. I'm not an athlete. How should I know? Well, you can answer this question like this. You'd have to ask the athletes, really. At a guess, like, if I were to guess, I'm just guessing. I don't know, but I'm guessing. At a guess, I'd say probably not. So the clapping and the encouragement don't have any impact. And then explain. Athletes tend to be pretty focused. So they just, they are focused on what they're doing. If they run, they focus on running and they don't look around, usually. But again, this is at a guess. We are guessing. They are probably fixated on winning and they exclude all other things.

Rory: That's just a paraphrase of being focused.

Maria: They are fixated on, they are focused on. Nice. After they win, the audience reactions and praise does have a huge effect.

Rory: It might have.

Maria: Might have, yeah. It may not. But I guess, like, if a person is running and it's difficult, like, and they hear this, you know, like shouting and encouragement and applause, all this clapping, it does help.

Rory: I don't know. Like, I'm not an expert in that area. And because I'm not, I just guess and say it might have some kind of psychosomatic effect. Surely, surely that is a C2 level word. Come on.

Maria: Psychosomatic. What, what? Psychosomatic. Caused by anxiety and worry and not by an infection. So it's just, it's psychology. So it's a kind of psychological effect. But if you want to be super cool, band nine, you don't say it has a psychological effect. You say it has psychosomatic. I can't even pronounce it.

Rory: Or just a psychological effect.

Maria: No, it's too easy for us now. Psychosomatic.

Rory: It's usually used to describe how people's psychology can affect their physical body. But I was using it to describe a positive version of that. So if you're very stressed, for example, you might break out in eczema, for example, or you might have your heart rate affected by that. But a positive psychosomatic effect might be like getting power to do something or feeling like you have the power to do something as well.

Maria: If you're tired of using it depends on, it depends on, you can say that's contingent on the sport.

Rory: And it is.

Maria: Yeah. If swimming is done indoors, well, it doesn't matter what the weather is like. The swimming will be done indoors. No problem. But if we have a football match and it rains, the match can get cancelled. It could be called off. Or they can stop a game because of heavy snowfalls or low temperatures. Hey, thank you so much for listening. Okay. Check out tai chi and individual sports. Like you can read something about it, you know. The most dangerous sports ever. Actually, what's the most dangerous sport?

Rory: Well, how do you decide what the most dangerous sport is? If it's by rate of injury, it's probably going to be something like boxing or rugby, because that will be a contact sport. So if the injury rate is high, that means lots of people get injured frequently. However, if it's by injury severity, then bungee jumping, because if you drop from a great height to a solid surface, you will be very dead.

Maria: Okay. The top five most dangerous sports for youth.

Rory: Oh, the young people. What about old people like me?

Maria: No, you're not old. Come on. Oh, you're base jumping. According to Google. Base jumping. Okay. And rugby is somewhere there, but bull riding. Bull riding.

Rory: Yes, yes. I can see that being very dangerous.

Maria: Yeah. Motocross, big wave surfing. Oh, they're just crazy people there. Big wave surfing. American football. Well, it's kind of rugby. Okay. Now you know everything, dear listener. And we'll see you in our next episode. Okay? Share our podcast. Like us. Spread the word. Love and hugs. Bye.

Rory: Bye.

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