📘 Part 3: Sports, talent, and physical education

This episode's vocabulary

Hierarchy (noun) – A system where people are ranked at different levels. → Sport naturally works as a hierarchy.

Elite Level (noun phrase) – The highest standard of performance. → Top athletes compete at an elite level.

Simple Distribution (noun phrase) – A natural spread where few reach the top. → It’s basic distribution.

Sheer Volume (noun phrase) – A very large amount. → Football dominates because of the sheer volume of clubs.

Infrastructure (noun) – Systems and organisations needed to support something. → Good infrastructure helps identify talent.

Showcase (verb) – To display abilities publicly. → Children need chances to showcase their talents.

Talent Scouts (noun phrase) – People who search for skilled athletes. → Scouts rely on proper systems.

Plays A Part (verb phrase) – Has some influence. → Talent plays a part in success.

Availability of Opportunities (noun phrase) – Access to chances to develop. → Opportunities matter as much as talent.

Luck Of The Draw (idiom) – Success depending on chance. → Many factors are luck of the draw.

Family Background (noun phrase) – Home environment and upbringing. → Family background affects development.

Birthdates (noun) – Dates of birth affecting eligibility. → Birthdates can influence selection.

Dedication (noun) – Strong commitment and effort. → Athletes need dedication.

Run-Up To Competitions (noun phrase) – Period before an event. → Training intensifies in the run-up to competitions.

Good Sports (noun phrase) – Fair and respectful in winning or losing. → Sport teaches kids to be good sports.

Questions and Answers

Maria: Why are there so few top athletes?

Rory: I mean, it's a hierarchy, so naturally there will be fewer people at the top. That's just simple distribution. If everybody were competing at an elite level, then there wouldn't be any top athletes.

Maria: What's the most popular sport in your country?

Rory: I think it's football, just based on the sheer volume of clubs that we have and the volume of news that we hear about it. We have two clubs in our town alone, so you can imagine there must be dozens across the whole country. And if it's not football, then rugby. Almost everybody watches the matches or the games when the football isn't on.

Maria: Is it easy to identify children's talents?

Rory: Well, assuming they're given the opportunities to showcase them and then allow them to develop, yes. You could say that about anything, though. And of course, the infrastructure needs to be in place to allow people like talent scouts to pick up on that kind of thing.

Maria: Is talent important in sports?

Rory: Well, it certainly plays a part, but there are other factors to consider, like family background, the availability of opportunities. Even birthdates play a role in determining acceptance into certain sports leagues. So it certainly counts, but it has to work with other things that are very much luck of the draw.

Maria: What qualities should an athlete have?

Rory: Other than being good at their chosen sport. I imagine dedication or a focus to a ridiculous level are important, since they have to maintain their ability in the run-up to any competitions. And they also need to be willing to listen to others, like coaches who are trying to help them.

Maria: Should students have physical education or do sports at school?

Rory: It's certainly useful, at least the way I see it. Kids are going to play sports when they're in school anyway, so it makes sense they should learn how to do so responsibly and see how they might develop further. It could also help them be good sports about losing and things like that.

Discussion

Maria: So, dear listeners, top athletes. We say sportsmen or sports professionals or athletes. All these people who do sports professionally, all right? And we can call them like top athletes, like Usain Bolt, Lionel Messi, Andy Murray. And you can say that usually there are fewer people at the top. We don't say less people, we say fewer people. And very few people, so not many people, like one, two or three or five people, compete, they take part in competitions at an elite level, at the top level. And usually there is one person who wins a gold medal, for example. A typical question about sport is like, what's the most popular sport in your country? Football. We say football everywhere.

Rory: At least it seems like that. I don't know that for a fact. But soon Maria will.

Maria: Yeah, yeah, I'm Googling. So if we Google most popular sports in the world, yeah, it says football or soccer is the most popular sport globally. And an estimated number of fans is 3.5 billion people. Yeah, then cricket, hockey is on the third position, then tennis. So pretty much you can say like football, hockey, tennis, volleyball, but cricket, I don't know, like 2.5 billion fans, really. Any idea? Do you know anyone who likes cricket?

Rory: It's popular in India and almost, if not actually, a billion people live in India. So maybe that's what's inflating the numbers, the fact that it's popular in one country.

Maria: Really? Wow.

Rory: Apparently.

Maria: And cricket is a bat and ball game, dear listener. And originally it is from Britain, no? It's a British game.

Rory: Yes, originally. Just don't ask me how you play it. It takes three days to play.

Maria: Yeah, and then you can say like, if not football, then hockey, or if not football, then rugby or tennis, because almost everyone watches the games or watches tennis when football isn't on, because when football is on, everyone is watching football. In Brazil, during the World Cup, everything closes down. It's true, by the way. There are no weddings, people don't plan any celebrations, because everyone in the country watches football, period. I think South America is like this.

Rory: I don't know, I would imagine it's pretty popular though, at least whenever I've spoken to people.

Maria: Yeah, yeah, yeah, just all over South America. Dear listener, if you are from South America, is it true that everyone watches football? Some questions could be about talents. So, children's talents could be identified, so we can see talents in children.

Rory: If we identify them, then we pick up on them. If you pick up on something, not pick up, pick up on, then you realise it is there.

Maria: And we can notice talents in children and develop them, or allow children to develop their talents. You can talk about innate talents, so kind of children are born with such talents, they are innate, like they were born with them. And talent plays an important part in sport. But also there are other important factors, like family background, your relatives, parents, the availability of opportunities, like is sport available to you. Even birthdates play a role. Rory, how?

Rory: If you, for example, in Canada, they have induction dates at different times of year. And if you're born on a certain date, then you're accepted. But if you're born after a cutoff point, then you're not. So you have to wait a whole year, and that's a whole year of extra training that you've missed out on. So even your birthday can make a difference to whether you get your talent developed or not. You can see this when you look at the information on the top hockey players in Canada, they have… Almost all of them are born in the same three months, and none of the others are. So it's an interesting pattern.

Maria: So you can say that talent certainly counts. We take talent into consideration, it does count.

Rory: But it's not the only thing.

Maria: And you've used an idiom, I think.

Rory: I have? When?

Maria: Like other things that are very much luck of the draw.

Rory: Luck of the draw, but that just means it's down to chance, which is another idiom. So that also means that it's not about how much hard work you put into something, it's about luck and chance.

Maria: And could you please give us another sentence with the luck of the draw and another one?

Rory: Well, the weather in my country is pretty much luck of the draw. One day it could be sunny and the next day it could be pouring rain. It's very inconsistent.

Maria: And about the chance?

Rory: Oh wow, the weather in this country just comes down to chance, really. Again, it could be really good one day and then the other day it could be really terrible.

Maria: Yeah, so be the luck of the draw to be the result of chance and something that you have no control over. So for example, you can't choose who you play against, you don't know your opponent. It's just the luck of the draw, as luck would have it. What qualities should a sports professional have? And you can say that, I imagine, dedication or focus are important.

Rory: What level is dedication? Surely that must be a C1 level word, come on.

Maria: Yeah, yeah, dedication is C2 level.

Rory: Oh my God, really? Huh, band nine, ha-ha, go me.

Maria: Oh, sorry, C1, dedication is C1.

Rory: Oh, okay, well, band eight, still go me.

Maria: Eight, band eight. And they also need to be willing to listen to others. So they should want to listen to others, like coaches. So sports professionals have coaches, like a coach who trains them up. And they should be willing, they should be able to listen to their coaches and do as they are told. If we Google some other qualities that professional athletes should have, they should have discipline, they should have resilience. Resilience is a very nice word, dear listener.

Rory: Isn't that not just like dedication? I bet resilience is a C2 level word.

Maria: Yeah, resilience is C2, and it's different from dedication.

Rory: It's got to be part of dedication, surely, come on, they're connected.

Maria: They are connected, but resilience is the ability to be happy, successful, after something bad or difficult has happened. So for example, an athlete has lost their game, so they lost, they didn't win any medals. But they are resilient, they have resilience, they don't get depressed, so they keep going. So it's this ability to return to training. So for example, he has this incredible resilience, ready to fight again, ready to live their life. And we say resilient people, happy, successful, even after some unhappy events. And also, professional athletes should be self-confident, focused, competitive.

Rory: Well, that makes sense if they're in a competition.

Maria: Passionate, motivated, you can say. And they should be natural leaders, maybe, and patient. Children at school have physical education, PE, where they run, jump, play football. So you can say that it's important for kids to play sports. So we say play sports or do sports, because they learn to play sports responsibly, so they develop their skills further. And Rory, what do you mean, like, play sports responsibly? Like how?

Rory: Well, not doing it in a dangerous way. You can play football in a very dangerous way.

Maria: So kind of safely. Yeah, you can play basketball in a dangerous way.

Rory: I imagine you probably could, you could play any sport in a dangerous way.

Maria: And it could also teach children how to lose, how to win, and be fine with this. And here Rory kind of uses a pun. He kind of cracks a joke, because he says, doing sports at school helps children to be good sports about losing. So we have this phrase, to be a good sport.

Rory: If you're a good sport about something, it just means that you cope well, you don't have a meltdown or think that everything is a disaster. If you lose, you're nice to the winners.

Maria: Yeah, and like, just to be a good sport, to be good-natured, amiable, despite bad circumstances. Oh, like he's a good sport. Oh, he's a nice person. Yay! Thank you very much for listening. Stay with us. Okay? Sending love and joy.

Rory: Good luck for any competitive people.

Maria: Bye!

Rory: Bye!

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