|
Sports in General
Listen to the Entire Lesson
Sports is a common topic mostly among the guys. In
America, the three biggest sports are baseball, basketball, and American
football. Due to the popularity of these sports, I will have individual lessons
for them, but I will not have individual lessons for other sports such as
soccer, volleyball, etc. For this lesson however, I will briefly talk about
most sports and the most common language used among each one.
First, let's practice general sports sentences:
What
do you like to do in your free time?"
What
are your hobbies?"
What
sports do you like to play?"
I
like to play sports. It's good for my health and I think it's very fun."
I
like competitive sports because winning feels good."
I
like to play tennis and I like to swim."
Jeff
is pretty athletic so he picks up on sports real quick."
If
you need a girl to play, you should get Jessica. She's very athletic."
In English, you can mostly use the word play for a sport, but there are some
sports where play doesn't work. Here are some examples:
I
like to play basketball."
Let's
go play basketball."
Do
you like to play basketball?"
This would also work for football, baseball, tennis, volleyball, soccer, and
softball.
However, sports such as swimming, bowling, and golf do not use the word play.
Here is how you would say it.
I
like to swim."
I
like swimming."
Let's
go swimming."
Do
you like swimming?"
As you may have noticed, each of the sports that do not use play is the ones
with an 'ing' at the end. So if the sport is primarily used with an 'ing' at
the end, then do not use play with that sport name.
Sports in General - Volleyball
There are many different types of sports but I will
primarily talk about the following in this lesson:
Volleyball
Soccer
Swimming
Softball
Tennis
Volleyball
I
play volleyball on our high school team."
I
play volleyball for our university."
I
play recreational volleyball."
I
play in a volleyball league run by the city."
What
position do you play?"
I'm
a setter for our team."
I'm
the outside hitter."
I'm
a back row specialist."
I'm
good at digging balls, so I play in the back."
I'm
the tallest in our team so I'm the middle blocker."
Our
team plays a two six rotation."
Two six rotation is a terminology used in volleyball where there are two
setters. They take turns and the person who is in the back is the setter, so
they should be opposite of each other in the lineup.
I
like to play beach volleyball. There is so much more action because it is only
two of us."
Beach
volleyball is the best. It is so fun."
He
hit the net."
He
totally went fishing." This is a slang term to say that
a person hit the net.
The
ball was out."
I
can't believe the line judge didn't see that. He must be blind."
That
was a double hit. The ball is spinning like mad."
He
used his palm to lift the ball and he wasn't called for it."
I
like to watch volleyball on TV."
Sports in General - Soccer
Soccer
Soccer
is my favorite sport."
I
love soccer."
I
play soccer whenever I can."
I
used to play a lot of soccer when I was in school."
I'm
usually the forward on our team."
I
play midfielder on our team."
I'm
the fullback."
My
favorite position is the midfielder."
I
like to be the goalie."
I've
been a goalie ever since I was in Junior high."
I
am always the goal keeper."
He
was off sides, but the officials didn't see it. That's how he got the goal."
He's
a very rowdy player. He gets a yellow card each game. I can't believe he hasn't
been given a red card yet."
He
clipped him from behind. Why didn't he get a red card? The other guy could have
broken his ankle with that tackle."
I
like to play soccer because of all the running. It keeps me in shape and I have
fun while playing."
I
don't know why soccer is not so popular in America. Soccer is a very popular
sport in most other countries."
Watching
the world cup is so fun."
Sports in General - Swimming
Swimming
I'm
on the swimming team."
I
got a scholarship for swimming."
I
made the varsity swimming team."
I
love swimming."
What
style of swimming do you specialize in?"
I
like breaststroke the most."
I
like freestyle swimming, but I'm better at the butterfly."
I'm
pretty quick at backstroke."
I
like the competitive aspect of swimming. Sometimes it's hard to tell who is
ahead of you or behind you, but right when you touch that wall and see that
nobody else is there is a great feeling."
I've
been swimming ever since I was 6 years old."
I
swim 4 times a week."
I
try to swim everyday."
I
believe swimming is very healthy, especially for the joints."
I'm
not a good swimmer. The only style I know is the dog paddle."
I
can't hold my breath long enough to be an effective swimmer."
I
can hold my breath for a minute and a half."
Sports in General - Softball
Softball
I
play on a men's softball league. It's underhand pitch and mostly just to have
fun."
Softball
is similar to baseball, except you have 4 outfielders instead of 3."
Softball
is fun if you are not good at hitting fast pitches."
I'm
the shortstop on our team."
I
play the outfield."
I'm
the pitcher."
I
saw a friend hit two grand slams in one game."
His
pitches have way too big of an arch."
He
needs to get his pitches above 6 feet from the ground."
The
ball hit the plate and the umpire called it a strike."
I
play on a co-ed softball team. We have 5 girls and 5 guys."
When
we play co-ed softball, the girls hit with smaller balls than the guys."
It
takes a while to get used to throwing two sizes of balls in co-ed softball."
Sports in General - Tennis
Tennis
Tennis
is my favorite sport."
I
play tennis just for fun."
I
started playing tennis when I was in high school."
I
made the varsity team in high school when I have been only playing for 3
months."
I
used to have a girlfriend who left me to be with a tennis coach."
I
can't hit a back hand."
I
have a two handed back hand."
One
handed back hands are more effective for attacks."
You
can generate more power by using one hand for your backhand."
How
do you topspin a ball?"
Every
time I try to lob a ball, it always goes out."
My
serves need a lot of help."
My
second serve is too easy to hit."
I
can't believe how fast professional tennis players serve."
A
guy once died from getting hit with a tennis ball in the crotch at a
professional tournament. He was an old guy and got a stroke from the shock or
pain."
My
favorite tennis player is Agassi."
Martina
Hingis is the cutest tennis player."
I
hate playing against a serve and volley type of player."
I'm
a baseline player." |