Victoria Zurakowski
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53 Important Sports Vocabulary Terms in English (With Audio and Example Sentences)
Sports are a part of everyday life, and many people absolutely love them.
You might prefer to watch sports on TV or listen to live games on the radio.
Perhaps you play sports as a fun way to stay healthy, or you could even compete as a serious athlete.
No matter your relationship to sports, you’ll need to know some key sports-related words to participate at any level.
Read on to learn 53 must-know sports vocabulary terms in English!
Contents
- 1. Arena
- 2. Amateur
- 3. Athlete
- 4. Athletic
- 5. Athletics
- 6. Award
- 7. Beat
- 8. Captain
- 9. Cheer on
- 10. Coach
- 11. Compete
- 12. Court
- 13. Course
- 14. Defend
- 15. Defense
- 16. Draw
- 17. Fan
- 18. Field
- 19. Final
- 20. Gym
- 21. Half-time
- 22. League
- 23. Medal
- 24. Opponent
- 25. Overtime
- 26. Pass
- 27. Personal best
- 28. Physique
- 29. Pitch
- 30. Pitcher
- 31. Practice
- 32. Professional
- 33. Record
- 34. Referee ( Ref )
- 35. Rules
- 36. Score
- 37. Serve
- 38. Shoot
- 39. Shot
- 40. Skill
- 41. Skilled
- 42. Spectator
- 43. Sportsmanship
- 44. Tackle
- 45. Tactics
- 46. Team
- 47. Teammate
- 48. Teamwork
- 49. Tournament
- 50. Trainer
- 51. Train
- 52. Victory
- 53. Whistle
- And One More Thing...
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1. Arena
Noun: Another word for arena that you’re probably more familiar with is stadium . It’s a flat area that hosts (holds) sporting events like the Olympic Games, soccer and rugby games. It is circular (like a circle) in shape and surrounded by seats for fans to sit.
The arena was packed full of excited fans to watch the final of the Champion’s League.
2. Amateur
Noun/Adjective: An amateur is a person who is not a professional or does not get paid for what they do.
She started off as an amateur before being recognized for her talent.
3. Athlete
Noun: A person who practices and competes in any sport.
Joan’s brother is a professional athlete and plays tennis for a living (for money).
4. Athletic
Adjective: A person who is athletic and is good at sports.
5. Athletics
Noun: Athletics is the category for any track and field events, such as running (long and short distance), throwing the javelin, long jump etc.
6. Award
Verb: To be awarded something means to be given a prize.
The best three athletes at the Olympic Games are awarded medals for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place.
Noun: Any kind of prize, like a certificate, medal or a trophy.
She won the award for “Best Female Junior Snowboarder” in the city!
7. Beat
Verb: To win against or defeat another player or team.
Carlos Alcaraz beat all the other players and won the Wimbledon tennis tournament.
8. Captain
Noun: The captain is the team leader.
The captain of the team called the players over to talk at half-time.
9. Cheer on
Phrasal Verb: To shout words of encouragement to your favorite team or player.
In the final five minutes of the game, the fans cheered on their teams, hoping for a win.
10. Coach
Noun: A person who is responsible for teaching and training the athletes to improve their skills.
My basketball coach told me I’m getting better at my free throws.
Verb: To train.
He’s been coaching the local team since August.
11. Compete
Verb: To take part in a competition.
20 teams are competing to win the University Cup.
12. Court
Noun: The rectangle area where games like tennis, basketball and badminton are played.
13. Course
Noun: An area of land that is used for long running events like marathons, car racing and golf.
14. Defend
Verb: To try and stop the other team from scoring points or goals.
The coach wants us to play our best to defend against a goal.
15. Defense
Noun: When someone is defending.
Manchester City has a strong defense and it’s very difficult to score a goal against them.
Note that in British English, this word is spelled defence.
16. Draw
Noun: When two teams finish a game with the same number of points or goals (also called a tie ).
It was a very boring game to watch and it ended up in a draw. The score was 2-2.
17. Fan
Noun: A supporter of a player, team or sport.
He’s a huge fan of the All Blacks and he watches every game they play.
18. Field
Noun: An area of grass that is used to play sports such as field hockey, rugby or soccer.
The team ran onto the field at the beginning of the game and the fans cheered loudly.
19. Final
Noun: The last round of something (e.g., a match, a championship, etc). This can be written as the “final” or “finals.”
The diver was ecstatic after reaching the finals.
Adjective: The last one.
The runner passed the finish line for the final time in his career before retiring.
20. Gym
Noun: The place where you can go and exercise on machines or the inside area where sports lessons are done at school.
She’s trying to lose a few kilos and has started exercising at the gym twice a week.
21. Half-time
Noun: The short break between the first and second half of the game.
22. League
Noun: A group of sports clubs from one area that play against each other for the season to try and win the championship.
23. Medal
Noun: A small circle piece of metal that can be gold for 1st place, silver for 2nd place and bronze for 3rd place.
Michael Phelps, the American swimmer, broke the record when he won 6 gold medals at the Olympics.
24. Opponent
Noun: The person that you compete with or play against in a competition.
Andy Murray’s biggest opponent at Wimbledon was Roger Federer, but he managed to beat him.
25. Overtime
Noun: Extra time that can be added to the original allocated time for a sports event.
Since neither team had been able to score during the 90 minutes, the game went to overtime.
26. Pass
Verb: To kick or throw the ball to another player on your team. To go ahead of someone.
He passed the ball to his teammate who then went on to score the winning goal.
He passed his competitors and won the race.
Noun: When someone kicks or throws something to another person.
It was a bad pass and the other team managed to get the ball.
27. Personal best
Noun: A record, the best results set by the athlete.
The runner set a new personal best during the 800m sprint.
28. Physique
Noun: The strength or shape of a person’s body.
She’s very small and slim. She’s got the perfect physique to be a gymnast.
29. Pitch
Verb: To throw the ball to the person batting in softball or baseball.
He pitched the ball so fast that the person batting was unable to hit the ball.
30. Pitcher
Noun: In baseball, the player who throws the ball from the pitcher’s mound to the batter.
The pitcher was very talented; he pitched a perfect inning!
31. Practice
Verb: To continue training to improve the skill.
Our college basketball team practices three times a week.
Noun: Training.
We usually have practice twice a week.
32. Professional
Noun/Adjective: To be paid money for the sport you do. Your sport is your job.
His dream to become a professional came true last year when he was asked to join the team.
33. Record
Noun: The best performance of goals, medals, speed etc. that has ever been measured in a country or the world.
Usain Bolt holds the world record for the fastest man in the world.
34. Referee ( Ref )
Noun: The person who makes the decisions during a game. A referee runs up and down the field/court (soccer) with the players, but an umpire makes the decisions from one position (e.g., tennis).
35. Rules
Noun: The laws of the game.
When you break the rules in any game, the referee punishes the player.
36. Score
Noun: The points that each team has during the game.
The final score was 1-0; it was a really close game.
37. Serve
Verb: To throw the ball up and hit it at the start of play (e.g., tennis and volleyball).
38. Shoot
Verb: To hit, throw or kick the ball to try and score a goal or point (e.g., soccer and basketball).
39. Shot
Noun: When someone shoots to score.
Michael Jordan is famous for scoring long-distance shots and taking three points for the team.
40. Skill
Noun: A talent.
One of the most important skills for success in any sport is coordination.
41. Skilled
Adjective: To be able to do something well, to have talent.
He’s a skilled rugby player and if he keeps training, he might make it to the national team.
42. Spectator
Noun: The viewer or person who watches a sporting event.
The spectators at Wimbledon are usually very calm compared to the shouting ones at a rugby match.
43. Sportsmanship
Noun: To have good or bad sportsmanship is your attitude and your respect for the other team or player when you win or lose a game.
Not shaking a player’s hand after losing is an example of bad sportsmanship.
44. Tackle
Verb: To try and take the ball of the other team.
He tried to tackle Messi, but Messi was too fast and continued to run with the ball.
45. Tactics
Noun: The plan, the strategy.
The tennis player had to change his tactics after seeing how strong the other player was.
46. Team
Noun: A group that works together.
The swimming team represented their country at the Olympic Games.
47. Teammate
Noun: A member of your team.
After the match, Amy and her teammates go down to the bar for a drink.
48. Teamwork
Noun: Working with your teammates to try and win.
Cristiano Ronaldo is often criticized for his lack of teamwork. He prefers to do things alone.
49. Tournament
Noun: A number of games and competitions between a certain number of teams or players to win the championship.
50. Trainer
Noun: Another word for a coach.
The trainer stood watching nervously as the boxer entered the ring.
51. Train
Verb: To practice.
Most winter sports teams train through the summer months so they can build their skills and fitness.
52. Victory
Noun: Winning a competition.
The team celebrated their victory with a parade in their home city.
53. Whistle
Noun: The small tool that makes a sound that the referee or umpire blows during a game (phrase: to blow the whistle).
The referee blew his whistle and moved his hand to show the start of the match.
These are just a few of the words in the field of sports. You can find more by reading sports news in English, or you could also take a look at some of the sports-related videos available on the FluentU program.
FluentU takes authentic videos—like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks—and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.
You can try FluentU for free for 2 weeks. Check out the website or download the iOS app or Android app.
P.S. Click here to take advantage of our current sale! (Expires at the end of this month.)
Build your vocabulary today so you can chat with your friends about your favorite hobby or watch your favorite team take the championship.
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
And One More Thing...
If you like learning English through movies and online media, you should also check out FluentU. FluentU lets you learn English from popular talk shows, catchy music videos and funny commercials, as you can see here:
If you want to watch it, the FluentU app has probably got it.
The FluentU app and website makes it really easy to watch English videos. There are captions that are interactive. That means you can tap on any word to see an image, definition, and useful examples.
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For example, when you tap on the word "searching," you see this:
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FluentU helps you learn fast with useful questions and multiple examples. Learn more.
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Start using the FluentU website on your computer or tablet or, better yet, download the FluentU app from the iTunes or Google Play store. Click here to take advantage of our current sale! (Expires at the end of this month.)
