Vocabulary

SPORTS AND HEALTH

The number of sports that are played worldwide is so large that they are generally divided into different classifications.

For instance, sports can be divided according to the number of players

            Individual Sports: Tennis, Badminton, Chess…
            Team Sports: Football, Basketball, Handball…

Also, they can be classified according to the season of the year when they are played

            Winter Sports: Ski, Ski Jumping, Bobsled, Snowboarding…
            Summer Sports: Surf, Kitesurf, Diving, Water Polo…

However, there are some sports with such outstanding characteristics that define a group by themselves. For example:

            Combat Sports or Wrestling: Judo, Karate…
            Ball Sports: Rugby, Soccer…
            Motor Sports: Automobilism, Motorcycling…
            Mountain Sports: Climbing, Abseiling…

Generally, sports have certain common elements which should be also learned:

The Regulations are the set of rules which are necessary to play a sport. Normally, they are established by a committee and are not usually modified.

The Referee is the individual – or group of individuals – in charge of the application of the regulations. They are supposed to be fair and impartial.

The Public is the group people who attend a sportive event, normally after paying for a ticket. They can be neutral, if they do it for leisure, or they can be supporters of one of the two contenders.

The Fair Play is not exactly a regulation, but a collective agreement between all the contenders to show respect to each other, to the referee and to the regulations.

Sports, on another level, are more than just an amusement or a competition. They are a physic exercise which involves alterations in the athlete’s whole body. Main organs, such as the heart and the lungs, are forced to work over their normal functioning. The process of breathing and the heart rate are accelerated while doing sport, and the muscles and bones are subjected to movements and twists that sometimes put them at risk.

The muscles and bones involved in sport are part of the arms, legs and trunk, depending if the sport is played with the hands, the feet or the whole body. Nevertheless, they are not the most sensitive elements of the organism. Fibrous and elastic tissues, such as the ligaments or the cartilages, whose function is to cover and protect muscles and bones, and joints, which connect one bone to another (for example shoulders, elbows or knees) are more exposed to injuries.

Injuries can be divided in four types

Dislocations occur when the bones forming a joint are separated unwantedly.
            
Fractures occur when a bone is hit by an external force and cracks or gets broken.
        
Sprains are damages to one or more ligaments, suffered when the joint is taken beyond its functional range of motion.
            
Strains are damages to one or more soft tissues or fibres, suffered when they are taken beyond their functional range of motion.

Whatever the injury is, the athlete must undergo a process of recovery. First, after noticing the symptoms of the injury, be they pain, difficulties in motion or instability, he is forced to be medically tested. The results can determine if there is a serious injury or sickness or not.

In case there is not, the athlete is sent back to home to rest.

In case there is, the athlete undergoes surgery and, after a longer period of rest, he starts the process of re-adaptation.

 Shall we make sure this is clear?

 Matching Exercise on this Vocabulary

 Crossword Exercise on this Vocabulary

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