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 Index
Introduction ..........................................................7
American Football ................................................8
Archery ...............................................................12
Athletics ..............................................................16
Auto Racing ........................................................20
Badminton ..........................................................24
Baseball ..............................................................30
Basketball ...........................................................34
Bobsleigh ............................................................40
Boxing .................................................................44
Cricket ................................................................48
Curling ................................................................52
Cycling ................................................................56
Distance Running ...............................................62
Diving ..................................................................66
Fencing ...............................................................70
Field Hockey .......................................................74
Figure Skating ....................................................80
Football ...............................................................84
Gaelic Football ...................................................90
Golf......................................................................94
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Gymnastics .........................................................98
Handball ............................................................102
Horse Racing ....................................................106
Hurling ..............................................................110
Ice Hockey ........................................................114
Judo ..................................................................118
Lacrosse ...........................................................122
Motorcycle Racing ...........................................126
Netball...............................................................130
Polo ...................................................................134
Rowing ..............................................................138
Rugby Union .....................................................144
Skiing & Snowboarding ...................................150
Snooker ............................................................154
Swimming .........................................................158
Taekwondo .......................................................164
Tennis ................................................................168
Volleyball...........................................................172
Water Polo ........................................................176
Weightlifting .....................................................180
Index of Phrasal Verbs .....................................184
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 Introduction
El tema de los deportes y los hobbies es
uno de los primeros que aprendemos cuando
estudiamos un segundo idioma pero, tras aprender
el nombre del deporte, rara vez nos adentramos
en la actividad en sí. Soy jugadora de rugby y
una gran aficionada de este deporte; cuando
empecé a jugar en España me encontré con tanta
terminología específica sobre el rugby, que pensé:
“seguro que esto pasa con todos los deportes”.
Así que escribí este libro, no sólo para enseñar
inglés a través de 40 deportes diferentes sino para
enseñar diferentes deportes a través del inglés. En
English for Sport! aprenderás una gran cantidad
de vocabulario transferible de un deporte a otro,
y que también se usa en el inglés general del día
a día. En la sección You Cannot be Serious!
(el famoso grito que el tenista John McKenroe
soltaba cuando no se podía creer la decisión del
árbitro) aprenderás datos de interés sobre cada
deporte. Además, a lo largo del libro, te ayudo a
asimilar 120 phrasal verbs (traducidos y puestos en
X
contexto) que aparecerán con este símbolo: P V
También aprenderás expresiones inspiradas
por el deporte y muchísimos consejos sobre la
pronunciación inglesa, y encontrarás explicaciones
gramaticales en la parte Perfect your Technique!,
lo cual te ayudará a evitar errores comunes.
Libro_Deportes_FINAL.indd 7
Al final de cada capítulo te podrás poner a prueba
en la sección Test Yourself!.
Podrás practicar tu comprensión auditiva
escuchando el diálogo que aparece en cada
deporte. Aquí encontrarás interesantes entrevistas
con deportistas de élite y famosos que practican
estos deportes, como el presidente José Luis
Rodríguez Zapatero, Ruth Beitia, Jorge Martín,
Íñigo Idiakez, Kate Mills, Beatriz Corrales, Sophie
Hosking, Simon Mantell o Carlos Castaño.
Mientras escribía English for Sport! descubrí que
realmente hay un deporte para cada persona. Hay
deportes con tantas posiciones de juego diferentes
que acogen a practicantes con cualquier tipo de
forma física; se dice que algunos deportes son
solamente “para ricos”; otros no requieren ningún
tipo de material excepto unas zapatillas deportivas
y ¡hay deportes donde la inteligencia importa más
que los músculos!
mo a leer este
Así que te animo
libro para que aprendas algo
ea del inglés o del
nuevo – ya sea
deporte – y realmente
almente espero
que te motive a probar un
nuevo deporte e hoy mismo.
MARY STABB
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 American Football
American football is a sport played primarily
in the USA and there are eleven people on
each team. The only equipment needed is a
ball and a helmet, as well as shoulder, hip,
thigh and knee pads for each player. Most
people know that the main aim is to score
a “touchdown” – when a player crosses the
opponents’ goal line with the ball in their
possession (worth six points). But did you
know that the game starts with one team
kicking the ball to the other team? The
offensive team must try to gain ten yards in
four downs - in the fourth down they can
kick, and that’s called a punt.

American football is, without a doubt, an

aggressive contact sport with the linemen
(one centre, two guards, two tackles)
clashing with the defence to stop them
reaching the ball carrier. Although, with all
that contact it’s no wonder they need so
many breaks; in fact, during a typical NFL
game the ball is only in play for eleven
minutes!

X
Go!
knee pads rodilleras

aim objetivo

yards yardas The NFL (National Football League) is the

down intento biggest and most important league in the
world, so it’s shocking to hear that 78% of
to clash chocar, colisionar NFL players are bankrupt a mere two years
it’s no wonder no me extraña after the end of their football careers.

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 Archery
We all know that Robin Hood was an expert
at archery, but do you know anything else
about the sport? It is actually the oldest sport
in the world – yes, it’s in the Guinness Book of
Records!
There are, of course, two vital pieces of
equipment: the bow and the arrow. We can
trace the bow and arrow back to the Paleolithic
era, about 10,000–9,000 BC, when the arrows
were made from pine with a flint point and
were principally used in hunting and combat.
During the fourteenth century, the longbow was
considered the English army’s most important
weapon.
The modern sport of target archery,
undoubtedly originating in England, is practised
all year round with either a longbow or a recurve
bow. Competitors shoot arrows at a target,
aiming to get them as close to the centre as
possible. It is played indoors in winter, with a
target 18 metres away, and outdoors throughout
the rest of the year, at a distance of 20 to 70
metres from the target depending on the age of
the competitor and type of equipment.
Archery was first included as an Olympic sport
in 1900, when pigeons were used as targets.
However, it was discontinued in 1924 and was
then reintroduced in 1972. There are currently
four archery events in the Olympics: individual «Look, if Robin Hood
events for men and women, and team events could shoot hawks
for men and women.
out of the air with a

X
Go! longbow, I’m sure you
to trace rastrear el origen de
can hit that little yellow
flint pedernal
hunting caza
circle that’s not even
longbow arco largo moving.»
pigeons palomas ANON

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 English for Sport! • Archery

THE WARM UP 5 YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS!

bow – arco
arrow – flecha
archer, bowman – arquero
to propel – propulsar, impulsar
to shoot, to fire – tirar, disparar
Did you know…
…that if an arrow hits right on the line between two
scoring circles, the archer is given the higher of the
two scores?
…that “toxophily” is another word for archery and a
“toxophilite” is an archer?

X P
PVV
to pull back – tensar (la cuerda)
…that archery is the national sport of the Kingdom
of Bhutan? In fact, the only Olympians that the
country has ever had have been archers.
“Use three fingers to pull back the
string.”

BRING IT put your back into it

dale caña

string – cuerda
ON! Keep it under your hat.
Guarda el secreto.
target – blanco 6
another string to your bow
bull’s-eye – diana otra habilidad (además de todas
body alignment – alineación las que ya tienes)
to take aim – apuntar

X
X
PV
PV
to let go (of) – soltar PERFECT YOUR TECHNIQUE
“He let go of the string and the arrow shot
into the air.” En las pruebas individuales, cada competidor
tiene doce flechas para sumar todos los puntos
que pueda. Compiten 64 arqueros, cada uno tira
seis rondas de dos flechas, y se van eliminando
hasta llegar a los cuartos de final, cuando los
to grip – empuñar
atletas tiran cuatro rondas de tres flechas cada
to stretch, to tauten (string) – tensar
uno, alternándose con el resto de contrincantes.
shaft (of arrow) – astil
recurve bow – arco recurvo
arm guard (equipment) – brazales (una
cubierta protectora para la muñeca o el
brazo)

X
X
PV
PV
to go through – atravesar
“They say Robin Hood shot an arrow
which went through his opponent’s arrow!”

Longbow Recurve bow

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