Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 926, Getting an Advantage in Sports.
This is English as a Second Language podcast, episode 926.
© transcript Emily Beynon.
We are going to talk about sports and, in particular, how you can get an advantage, how you can do better than other people in sports.
Let's get started.
What are you doing this year to give your team an advantage?
I have a few tricks up my sleeve.
We're going to have a winning season.
Are you going to start Wang?
No, I'm red-shirting Wang.
I want him to sit out his first year so he can sharpen his skills.
I'm really surprised.
Wang is already a great player and too good to sit on the bench.
Trust me, I know what I'm doing.
He'll get an extra year of eligibility and be even better next year.
If you say so, what about Schwartz?
That's a major blow.
He's your star player, right?
Oh, yeah?
This new player, Pierre, is going to give the other teams a run for their money.
Who is he?
Just somebody I recruited.
Let's just say he's talented beyond his years.
Huh?
You mean he's a ringer?
You're bringing in a ringer?
Of course not.
He's just a little more experienced than my other players, and he'll be a force to be reckoned with.
Only if nobody catches on.
Catches on to what?
Tammy begins our dialogue by asking Philip...
An advantage is a benefit, something that helps you succeed or helps you do better at whatever it is you're doing.
Philip says This is an old expression to have a few tricks, T-R-I-C-K-S up your sleeve, S-L-E-E-V-E.
Your sleeve is the part of your shirt that goes over your arm.
In magic, when you have someone who's performing magic tricks...
One of the things they do, I guess, is put things up their shirt and then they pull them out and it seems like it's magic.
Well, that's probably the origin or where we get this expression, a few tricks up your sleeve.
Basically, it means to have a surprise, to have a surprising plan that you're not telling other people about or that no one else knows about.
To have a few tricks up your sleeve means to have a few things that you're going to do that are going to help you, even though no one else knows about them.
Philip says we're going to have a winning season.
A winning W-I-N-N-I-N-G season is a period of time...
When you are playing a particular sport and you are winning at that sport.
Season is the time when you play a certain sport.
So in the United States, baseball season begins in April and ends in October.
Actually now, I think it ends in early November, but that's the basic season, the time of year, the months that we play baseball, professional baseball.
A winning season would be a season where your team wins most of its games.
That's a winning season.
Tammy then asks, are you going to start Wang?
Wang is the name of the player.
To start means to put a certain player... on the field or on the court when the game begins.
For example, when you have a hockey game or a soccer game, the game begins and you have a certain group of players who are playing for you.
Now they may not play the whole game.
You may decide to replace one of them, to take a player out and put another player in.
But the players that you put on the field or you start in the game at the beginning are called the starters.
They're called the starters because you start or begin with them.
Tammy is asking if Philip is going to start Wang, one of his players.
Philip says, no, I'm red-shirting Wang.
To redshirt someone is sort of a particular phrase that we use in American sports.
I'm not sure if it's used in other English-speaking countries.
To redshirt someone means to take a player, usually a young player in grade school or high school, and not play them for one year, even though they could play now.
Why would you do that?
Well, because in some sports the rules say that a player can only play so many years.
If you want a player to get better, to get more mature, you may wait a year and not play the player when they could play by their age.
But you decide because of their experience, you're going to wait and not play them for another year.
So now they have the same number of years in terms of what they can play or when they can play, but they will be one year older and therefore will have more experience.
There are even some parents who will wait and not start their child in school when they're five years old.
They'll wait until they're six years old, so the child will have a little bit more maturity and therefore advantages over the other children.
My mother was just the opposite.
She had me go to school as soon as possible.
The sooner the better.
Philip says, I want him, I want Wang, to sit out his first year.
To sit out means not to participate.
He wants this to happen so that Wang can sharpen his skills.
To sharpen S-H-A-R-P-E-N.
Your skills means to become better at something, to become better at doing something, to become more skilled.
Tammy says, I'm really surprised.
Wang is already a great player and too good to sit on the bench.
To sit on the bench.
B E N C H is a sports expression referring to the players who are not actively participating or playing in the game.
If you're sitting on the bench, you're not one of the starters.
In fact, you may not play during the game at all.
Typically, this is done for players who aren't very good.
When I played basketball in seventh grade, I sat on the bench almost the entire year because, of course, I'm not a very good basketball player.
Philip says to Tammy, trust me, believe me, I know what I'm doing.
He'll get an extra year of eligibility and be even better next year.
Eligibility means that you meet the requirements to participate in something.
The word comes from eligible E-L-I-G-I-B-L-E, which means you're able to, you have the qualifications for something.
Tammy says, if you say so.
That's an expression we use when you don't really believe the other person but you don't want to argue about it.
You're just saying, oh, OK, I don't believe you.
But if that's what you say, then that's fine.
Tammy says, what about Schwartz, another player?
Philip says he's out for the season.
To be out there for the season means that he is not able to play the rest of this season, perhaps because he's injured and that, in fact, is exactly the case with Schwartz.
He's hurt and won't be able to play.
Tammy says that's a major blow.
A blow here means a problem.
A major blow is a big problem.
Tammy says he's your star player, right?
He's your best player, is what Tammy is saying.
Your star, S-T-A-R, player is your best player.
Philip says, he's a loss, meaning, yes, we will miss him.
But, Philip says, I have a secret weapon.
A weapon, W-E-A-P-O-N, is something you use to hurt another person.
A secret weapon however, just refers to someone or something that you're going to use, that nobody knows about, but is going to be very effective or is going to do a very good job.
Tammy says, oh, yeah.
Philip says, this new player, Pierre, is going to give the other teams a run for their money.
The expression a run, R-U-N, for your money, means a challenging or difficult experience.
Something that is difficult, going to be difficult for you to deal with, but that you have to deal with if you're To recruit.
R-E-C-R-U-I-T means to go out and find someone to bring on to your team or to bring into your organization.
Philip says, let's just say he's talented beyond his years.
Let's just say is a way of indicating that you're not telling the whole truth, or you're not telling exactly what you think or what you know, but you're giving the person an indication by using indirect language.
Philip says that Pierre is talented or has a lot of skills beyond his years.
If you have something beyond your years, that means you're better than what we would expect for someone your age.
If you're 10 years old and you're able to do high level physics and math, we might say that you're smart beyond your years.
You know more than what we would expect a 10 year old to know.
That has never happened to me, someone thinking I know more than I should at my age.
In fact, it's usually the opposite.
Tammy says, huh?
She's confused.
She doesn't know what Philip is really saying.
She says, you mean he's a ringer?
A ringer R-I-N-G-E-R is a player, especially an athlete in a sporting game that comes in and is better than everyone else but doesn't qualify, is not really eligible to play.
Sometimes it is used just to describe someone who is way more qualified than everyone else and doesn't really belong there.
If you can imagine a professional golfer playing with a group of high school students as part of their team, that would be a case of someone who's an obvious ringer.
This does sort of happen sometimes when you have young men and young women or young boys and girls who are great athletes.
They even go on and compete in the Olympics.
Then they come back and they go to college and they're part of their college team.
Well, of course, their college team is going to win, because they're one of the best athletes in the world at what they do.
So that might be a case of a ringer.
I think technically though, we use this word when someone really should not be there, when you are breaking the rules to have them there.
Philip says, of course not.
Of course he's not a ringer.
He's just a little more experienced than my other players, and he'll be a force to be reckoned with.
A force to be reckoned with is someone who is very strong, someone who cannot be ignored, someone who is very powerful or who will be very good at what they do.
Tammy says.
To catch on is a two-word phrasal verb meaning to discover what's really happening.
To find out what is really happening, especially in a case where someone is trying to keep something a secret.
Philip says catches on to what?
Philip acts as though there's no problem, but Tammy says thinks that there is a problem and that Philip knows there's a problem with this ringer, with this player Pierre, that he's bringing on to the team.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
I have a few tricks up my sleeve.
We're going to have a winning season.
Are you going to start Wang?
No, I'm red-shirting Wang.
I want him to sit out his first year so he can sharpen his skills.
I'm really surprised.
Wang is already a great player and too good to sit on the bench.
Trust me, I know what I'm doing.
He'll get an extra year of eligibility and be even better next year.
If you say so.
What about Schwartz?
He's out for the season.
He's hurt and won't be able to play.
That's a major blow.
He's your star player, right?
He's a loss, but I have a secret weapon.
Oh, yeah?
This new player, Pierre, is going to give the other teams a run for their money.
Who is he?
Just somebody I recruited.
Let's just say he's talented beyond his years.
Huh?
You mean he's a ringer?
You're bringing in a ringer?
Of course not.
He's just a little more experienced than my other players, and he'll be a force to be reckoned with.
Only if nobody catches on.
Catches on to what?
Our scriptwriter is talented beyond her years, for sure.
I speak of the wonderful Dr. Lucy Say.
From Los Angeles, California, I'm Jeff McQuillan.
Thank you for listening.
Come back and listen to us again right here on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2013 by the Center for Educational Development.
