25 Sports Collocations in Context

Read carefully this text where you will find 25 sports collocations in context and then complete the quiz.

The first important collocation involving sports is when to use the verbs play, do, and go. We typically use play for team sports – you play soccer, play basketball, play tennis, play baseball, and play golf. 

The verb do is used for more individual sports – you do yoga, do gymnastics, do martial arts, and do aerobics. Also, in more general terms, you do exercise. Another common individual exercise is to lift weights. 

The verb go is used with most activities that end in –ing: you go swimming, go biking, go surfing, go rock climbing, go bowling, and go fishing. 

With the team sports, we can use the word game or match: a soccer game, a basketball game, a tennis match, etc. You can win the game, lose the game, or tie the game – that’s when the final score is 1-1 or 2-2, for example. 

A team can play a home game – when they play in their own stadium or field – or an away game – when they play at the opposing team’s stadium or field. When there are many teams that are playing many games to see which one is the best, we call this a tournament. 

When one team is winning in the middle of the game – for example, 3-1 – we say that team has the lead. However, the other team can make a comeback – score points from a losing position – and take the lead, 4-3. 

With the sports that use “do” and “go,” we typically use the word competition – a gymnastics competition, a martial arts competition, a surfing competition, an ice skating competition, etc. The exception is sports where you go from one place to another – like running, biking, and swimming – in that case, we often call the event a race. 

Athletes can enter a competition and try to win first place. Some athletes try to enhance their performance with illegal substances such as steroids. But if they fail a drug test, they’ll be disqualified from participating. 

If the athlete is performing well, they may achieve a personal best – and if they perform better than ANYONE ever has in the past, then they could even break the world record or set a new world record. If they get injured, however, they might have to withdraw from the competition (voluntarily leave the competition). 

Do you know any other collocation or expression related to family? Share with us!… and keep on task learning more collocations in context or 25 more relationship collocations in context!

Quiz

Complete the following quiz with the right sports collocation in context:

1. Barbara has made / put / set a new world record, with 5 consecutive Olympic gold medals in judo. 

2. Do you want to do / go / play hiking with us this weekend? 

3. How long have you been doing / going / playing football? 

4. I did / played / went volleyball in college. 

5. If a soccer game is failed / led / tied, they do penalty kicks to determine the winner. 

6. Jeff and Diana did / played / went rock climbing in the mountains. 

7. My son wants to do / go / play karate. 

8. Our team won third lead / place / record in the basketball competition/ performance / tournament. 

9. She’s been doing / going / playing gymnastics since she was 5 years old. 

10. The baseball team was unable to make a comeback / setback / takeback and lost the game 5-2. 

11. The biker from Australia currently has the best / first / lead, but the bikers from Russia and Peru are close behind. 

12. The ice skater broke / removed / withdrew from the competition due to a knee injury. 

13. The runners were stretching before the match / race / test began. 

14. Tim Randall has achieved / enhanced / won a personal best with his time of 23.04 seconds. 

15. What was the final place / record / score of the baseball game? 

To keep on improving your speaking skills, have a look at this post on savvy synonyms for overused words in speaking.

Answer Key

Complete the following quiz with the right sports collocation in context:

1. Barbara has set a new world record, with 5 consecutive Olympic gold medals in judo. 

2. Do you want to go hiking with us this weekend? 

3. How long have you been playing football? 

4. I played volleyball in college. 

5. If a soccer game is tied, they do penalty kicks to determine the winner. 

6. Jeff and Diana went rock climbing in the mountains. 

7. My son wants to do karate. 

8. Our team won third place in the basketball tournament. 

9. She’s been doing gymnastics since she was 5 years old. 

10. The baseball team was unable to make a comeback and lost the game 5-2. 

11. The biker from Australia currently has the lead, but the bikers from Russia and Peru are close behind. 

12. The ice skater withdrew from the competition due to a knee injury. 

13. The runners were stretching before the race began. 

14. Tim Randall has achieved a personal best with his time of 23.04 seconds. 

15. What was the final score of the baseball game?