Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number 1103, Sports Tryouts.
This is English as a Second Language podcast, episode 1103.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
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This episode is a dialogue between Marcella and Kenji about trying to become a member of a sports team.
Let's get started.
All right, you're ready for these tryouts.
You've passed your physical.
You've trained for months.
You're going to make that team.
It's okay.
I don't need a pep talk.
I'm just going to do the best I can.
Yes, but you want to have your head in the right place.
You're going to dominate the field.
You're going to intimidate the other players.
No, I only want to impress the coach.
I'm going to play hard and hold nothing back.
Yes, that's fine, but you want to send a message to the other players that you're forced to be reckoned with.
I'm going to have faith in my abilities and hope for the best.
At least try to look tough.
Try scowling at the other players.
Like you, can't wait to get them on the field so you can crush them.
I tell you what.
Why don't you scowl for me?
I think you're much scarier than any player who's ever played this game.
Marcella begins our dialogue by saying to Kenji, all right, you're ready for these tryouts.
A tryout, T-R-Y-O-U-T, is an opportunity to demonstrate your ability to do something.
Usually, It is something you have to do in order to become a member of a sports team or perhaps even a musical group.
A tryout is when you go in front of, sometimes a coach or another judge who decides if you are good enough to be a member of this group or this team.
So a sports tryout would involve you going and playing the sport in front of a group of coaches or in front of a coach who is going to decide whether you are good enough to be part of this sports team.
Another word for tryout that we often use when we're talking about a musical production or a movie or a television show is audition A-U-D-I-T-I-O-N.
Marcella says to Kenji, you've passed your physical.
A physical as a noun is a medical examination that determines whether you are healthy enough to participate, in this case, in a certain sport.
Children often get physicals every year or every other year to make sure that they're growing properly, that they don't have any physical problems that they need to take care of.
Adults should also get a physical once a year or every other year.
I know I do.
Marcella says Kenji passed his physical, meaning his doctor determined that he was good enough to participate in this particular sport.
Marcella says you've trained for months, meaning you've been preparing physically for months.
You're going to make that team.
To make M-A-K-E a team means to be selected, to participate in a team, to be chosen as a member of a team.
Kenji says, it's okay.
I don't need a pep talk.
A PEP talk is a speech that encourages one or more people to do a good job.
It's a way of motivating someone or a group of people.
Sometimes, before a sports game, the coach of the team will talk to the team and And give them a pep talk.
Try to get them motivated and enthusiastic about going out and winning the game.
Kenji says, I'm just going to do the best I can.
Marcela says, yes, but you want to have your head in the right place.
The expression to have your head H-E-A-D in the right place means to be thinking about the right thing, to be focused, to be concentrated on what you are trying to do.
It means to be psychologically prepared for a certain activity.
Marcella says you're going to dominate the field.
To dominate, D-O-M-I-N-A-T-E, in this sentence, means to be better than anyone else, to be the best.
Marcella adds, you're going to intimidate the other players.
To intimidate I-N-T-I-M-I-D-A-T-E means to scare someone, to frighten someone because you are stronger or more confident than he is.
Intimidation is usually a bad thing.
Here Marcella is saying that Kenji should intimidate the other players, the other people on the team in such a way that they are afraid of him because he's such a good player.
I think is the idea.
Kenji says, no, I only want to impress the coach.
To impress I-M-P-R-E-S-S someone is to show someone that you have a lot of talent or skill to have that person think that you are very good at what you do to have a person admire you.
A coach C-O-A-C-H is the person who is the head of a sports team, the person who is in charge of telling the players what to do and of making plans for how the team will play.
Kenji says, To play hard means to try very hard to win a game or a competition, to put all the effort that you can into winning.
To hold nothing back means, is something similar.
It means to do something at the maximum level, to do something with the maximum effort that you can.
Marcella says yes, that's fine, but you want to send a message to the other players that you're a force to be reckoned with.
To send a message to someone doesn't mean to email them necessarily.
It means to communicate something very clearly to another person or group of people, so that there is no possibility of them not understanding.
You're making something very clear to them.
Marcella is telling Kenji to send a message to the other players.
What message?
The message that he is a force, F-O-R-C-E, to be reckoned with.
If you are a force to be reckoned with, you are someone who is too important or too powerful to be ignored.
You are a person that the other people have to deal with somehow.
They can't ignore you.
They have to do something about you.
Marcella is telling Kenji to act in such a way that the other players know that he is a force to be reckoned with.
Kenji says, I'm going to have faith in my abilities and hope for the best.
To have faith in something or someone is to believe in something or someone, to think that this thing or person is real and good, even if you can't see it or even if you don't have all the information that you might need to know it for sure.
It can also mean to trust in something or someone.
Marcella says, at least try to look tough, T-O-U-G-H.
To look tough means to look strong, to look like you are capable of doing things that are very difficult.
In fact, we sometimes use this word tough as an adjective to mean difficult.
But here it means to look strong.
If you say that guy looks tough, you mean he looks physically strong, maybe big enough to hurt you.
My ex-girlfriend was like that.
Anyway, Marcella says try scowling at the other players like you can't wait to get them on the field so you can crush them.
Marcella is obviously trying to get Kenji to be tougher.
She's telling Kenji to scowl, S-C-O-W-L.
To scowl is to make a mean expression on your face.
Often it involves partially closing your eyes, not closing them all the way, but making this mean expression on your face.
To crush, C-R-U-S-H, means to completely beat or defeat someone.
For example, the Los Angeles Dodgers crushed the San Francisco Giants 10-0 in the baseball game yesterday.
That's just a hypothetical.
If a team wins by a large score, we say the team crushed the other team.
That's what Marcello wants Kenji to do to the other players.
Kenji sighs.
He makes a sound indicating that he is tired, really, of hearing Marcello give him advice.
He says, I tell you what.
I tell you what is an informal phrase used to make a suggestion or to present a new idea for another person to think about or to consider.
You could also say, I'll tell you what.
I will tell you what.
But the more informal and perhaps a little more common expression is, I tell you what.
Kenji says I tell you what why don't you scowl for me.
I think you're much scarier than any player who's ever played this game.
Kenji is saying to Marcella that she seems to be tougher and scarier than any of the people who are on the sports team.
Now, we don't know what kind of sport this is.
It might be American football.
It might be basketball.
But in any case, Kenji doesn't really want to hear Marcella's advice and thinks that Marcella should perhaps just go out and try to be the one who scowls and is scary to the other players.
I have to say I wasn't really very big into sports back and sport teams when I was in school, although I was on my 7th and 8th grade volleyball team.
Not exactly American football, but I thought we were pretty tough.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
All right.
You're ready for these tryouts.
You've passed your physical.
You've trained for months.
You're going to make that team.
It's okay.
I don't need a pep talk.
I'm just going to do the best I can.
Yes, but you want to have your head in the right place.
You're going to dominate the field.
You're going to intimidate the other players.
No, I only want to impress the coach.
I'm going to play hard and hold nothing back.
Yes, that's fine, but you want to send a message to the other players that you're forced to be reckoned with.
I'm going to have faith in my abilities and hope for the best.
At least try to look tough.
Try scowling at the other players.
Like you, can't wait to get them on the field so you can crush them.
I tell you what, why don't you scowl for me?
I think you're much scarier than any player who's ever played this game.
Our scriptwriter holds nothing back in writing the very best scripts for us here at ESL Podcast.
Thank you, 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 2015 by the Center for Educational Development.
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