Physical Education.

English Level II.

Extensive Reading.
A-The number 10.

1-Which famous players wear the number 10 shirt?

2- Read this article about the number 10 position.

Pelé and Diego Maradona made the number 10 shirt famous. But it is sometimes difficult to
understand the number 10 position. When we talk about the number 10 we are not always
talking about the number on the shirt. We are talking about the footballer’s job in the team.

Wayne Rooney, for example wears the number 10 shirt but he is not a number 10. He’s a
second striker.

We often see a number 10 in teams with a 4-2-3-1-formation. But the number 10 is not a
player who runs forward from the centre of midfield, like Frank Lampard or Andrés Iniesta.

A number 10 plays in front of the midfielders and behind the strikers. He is the most
important creative player in the team. He doesn’t need to run past players, and he doesn’t
always score a lot of goals. He finds space on the pitch and help to crate chances. Luka
Modric and David Silva often play in the number 10 position.

Many fantastic number 10s come from Argentina. One of my favourites is Juan Riquelme.
In fact, he is my perfect 10!

3- Answer the questions.

a- Why is it difficult to understand the number 10 position?

b- Does the author think Wayne Rooney is a number 10?
c- Does the number 10 run forward from the centre of midfield?
d- Where dos a number 10 play on the pitch?
e- Does a number 10 always run past players?
f- How does a number 10 help the team?
g- Who is the author’s perfect number 10?
4- Complete the sentences using the prepositions below.

Into behind on past in front of in from

1-Andrés Iniesta and Frank Lampard like to run forward ……….the centre of the midfield.

2-Gareth Bale is very fast. It’s easy for him to get …………the defender.

3-Wesley Sneijder is a number 10. He plays …………the striker.

4-Cesc Fábregas plays ……….midfield. But he scores a lot of goals.

5-Lucas Leiva is a defensive midfielder. He plays ……………the defense.

6-Park Ji-Sung runs ……….the penalty area and scores a great goal!

7-I enjoy playing ……….the wing, like my hero Ryan Giggs!

B- Spanish Keepers.

1-Does your country have many good goalkeepers?

2-Read this article about Spanish goalkeepers.

I’m a Spanish supporter and, in Spain, our

goalkeeper situation has become a big
problem. For some countries, it’s difficult
to find even one good goalkeeper. For
some countries, it’s difficult to find even
one goalkeeper. For a few years we have
had too many to choose from!

Iker Casillas, Pepe Reina, David de Gea

and Victor Valdés have all played club football for some of the biggest teams in the world.
But of course, only one can play for the national team. So, since 2010, the other three
keepers have had to fight for a place on the bench.

All four goalkeepers are excellent in every department: positioning, commanding the
penalty area, organizing the defence, distribution and, of course, they are great shot-
stoppers. I have seen all of these players make match-winning saves in important games. I
remember when de Gea saved a Diego Milito penalty in the European Super Cup!
And if our first-choice keeper is injured, the substitutes are so good that nobody worries.
It’s difficult to choose a favourite, but I have two: David de Gea, because his reactions are
so good, and Pepe Reina, because he can create a goal from nothing with a long ball.

3- Answer the questions.

a-What is Spain’s goalkeeping problem?

b- Which keepers are the writer’s favourite ones?

c-Which keeper has great reactions?

d-What are the five ‘departments’ of goalkeeping?

4-Match the terms in bold in the text with the definitions below.

a- ball played from one end of the pitch to the other:_________

b- important saves a keeper makes to ensure his team win a game:__________
c- name often given to goalkeepers who can make good saves:____________
d- keeper that the manager picks to start every game:___________
C- Midfield maestros.

1-Which midfielders help the defence for your favourite team?

2- Read the article. Do you agree with the journalist? Who is your favourite midfielder?

Name: Ryan Giggs.

Position: winger.

This is my favourite player of all time. He has

more winners’ medals in English football
than any other player. Ryan Giggs is a classic
winger. He runs, he dribbles, he crosses the
ball, but he also defends. He has an amazing
record of scoring in every season of the
League.

Name: Zinedine Zidane

Position: number 10.

This is my favourite position on the pitch, and the

classic number 10 is Zinedine Zidane. What a
genious! He moved between the midfielders and the
strikers to create chances. He also scored lots of
important goals, like goals in the 1998 World Cup
Final.

Name: Claude Makélélé

Position: defensive midfielder

One of the best defensive midfielders is Claude

Makélélé. In fact, a lot of people call this position
the ‘Makélélé role!

Real Madrid legend Fernando Hierro says that

Makéléléwas the best player in the Real Madrid
team that included Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo, Luis
Figo and Raúl!

Name: Xavi Hernández

Position: central midfielder

For me, Xavi Hernández is the

best passer of the ball in the
history of football. He completed
48 passes in the 2011 Champions
League Final. He is always looking around him. During a game, he moves his head from
side to side all the time!

3-Read again and name the player.

1-He’s the best passer of the ball._________________

2-He’s the journalist’s favourite player._______________

3-He plays in the journalist’s favourite position._______________

4-People sometimes call the defensive midfielder role after him. ________________

5-He is always looking around him.________________

6-He played between the midfielders and the strikers.________________

4- Describe your favorite player and one of his most outstanding past performances.
 D. Extreme Sports.

1- Read the text.

Kristen Ulmer went on her first ski trip when she was a kid. Ever since then, she has been
hooked on adventure and risk. Now in her thirties, she has skied down some of the world’s
tallest mountains, in remote places from Tajikistan to New Zealand. She has also gone
mountaineering in Tibet, and ridden a bike solo across India. She goes rock-climbing to
relax! Kristen is skillful and fearless – and some might say crazy! She is part of a new kind
of sport where risk is the most important thing. Heart-stopping activities such as mountain
biking, snowboarding and skydiving are known as ‘extreme sports’. And they are attracting
more and more people. Rock-climbing, for example, is now enjoyed by more than half a
million Americans. Only 50,000 were doing it in 1989. One of the most extreme of all these
sports is BASE jumping. First done in 1980, BASE jumping is jumping off tall buildings,
towers and bridges using a parachute. It’s dangerous, but of course that’s why BASE
jumpers love it. Like other extreme sports, it’s the risk of disaster that makes BASE
jumping so exciting. As one BASE jumper puts it, ‘There aren’t many injuries in BASE
jumping; you either live or you die. Some experts predict that extreme sports will become
the major sports of the 21st century. They may become more popular than traditional
favourites like soccer and baseball. At one recent extreme sports show in Chicago, most of
the crowd were kids under sixteen. As they stood watching in their baggy pants and hooded
sweatshirts, one excited eleven-year-old spoke for the next generation of athletes. ‘That is
so cool!’ he exclaimed. ‘I gotta do that!

2. Read the sentences below. Which sentences are true? Correct the sentences that are not
true.

1. These days fewer and fewer people are doing extreme sports.___________

2.People can die when BASE jumping.__________

3.Experts predict that baseball and soccer could be even more popular in the
future._____________
4.It’s best not to wear shoes when you BASE jump._______

5.BASE jumpers can use mobile phones or radios to call for help if they need it._________

6.Bob says that he did lots of exciting things at the weekend________

3- Which is the best answer, a, b, c or d, to each of the following questions?

1. Kristen Ulmer

a. rode a bike through New Zealand by herself. b. rode a bike through India by herself.

c. rode a bike through India with a group of friends. d. ran across New Zealand.

2. The number of Americans who enjoy rock-climbing is now

a. less than the number in 1989. b. the same as the number in 1989.

c. double the number in 1989. d. more than ten times the number in 1989.

3. Many young people think that extreme sports are

a. boring. b. only for old people. c. attractive and exciting. d. relaxing.

4. Some BASE jumpers might not want to take a first-aid kit in their pack because

a. they want their pack to be as light as possible. b. they think it will bring them bad luck.

c. there are no injuries in BASE jumping. d. they don’t know how to use one
 4. Match the numbers on the left with the letters on the right to form sentences.

1. If you drive too fast, there is a risk a. nobody sings with her.

2. I like some adventure on my holidays, b. to carry water, food and a tent.

3. This island is very remote. It’s a long c. somewhere where there is no doctor.

4. Tammie likes to sing solo, so d. so this year I’m going to Africa on

5. An extreme sport is a sport which is safari.

6. Open your parachute ten seconds after e. you jump out of the plane.

7. If you’re going camping, take a pack f. difficult, dangerous and exciting.

8. A first-aid kit is important if you go g. that you might have an accident.

h. way from anywhere else.

5. Choose a word from the box to complete the sentences.

Mountaineering/ mountain biking/ snowboarding/ skydiving/

rock-climbing

1. If you like the idea of jumping out of a plane, why not try ____________?

2. If you want to ride a bike off the road, then you should take up ____________.

3. ____________ is very difficult. You have to climb up rock cliffs using ropes.

4. In ____________, you ride down a mountain on a board like a small surfboard.

5. If you want to climb to the top of tall mountains, try______.

E- Basketball.

1-Read the text.

What is the most popular sport in the world? Most people would probably say soccer,
because of the many millions who play it and the even larger number who watch it on
television. There are some, however, who say the correct answer is basketball – not because
of its TV audience, which is certainly smaller than that for soccer, but because the number
of people who regularly play the game might be higher (at least 300 million, according to
most estimates).

In China, for example, which has a population of 1.3 billion, more

people play basketball than soccer, and it is becoming more popular
all the time. Basketball has existed for less time than some of the
world’s other major sports. It was invented in the early 1890s by a
Canadian, James Naismith, working at a college in the state of
Massachusetts in the United States. Wanting to create a game that
could be played indoors during the long winters but would also be active
enough to keep people in shape, he had the idea of two teams of players trying to throw a
ball into a basket that was above their heads.

Early basketball looked different from the game today: for example, the basket didn’t have
a hole in the bottom, so every time a player threw the ball in, someone had to go up to get it
out again! Another difference is dribbling, which is when a player in modern basketball
bounces the ball off the floor while moving across the court: it didn’t exist in early
basketball because the balls didn’t bounce well enough. One thing that hasn’t changed,
though, is the height of the baskets: James Naismith put the first one 10 feet (3.05 meters)
off the floor, and that’s where they’ve stayed.

The biggest international TV audiences in modern basketball are for games in the
National Basketball Association (NBA) in North America, a league of 30 teams (29
from the United States and one from Canada), including famous names such as the
Chicago Bulls, Boston Celtics, and Los Angeles Lakers. Most of the players in the
NBA are American, but there are also some foreign stars such as Yao Ming from China and
Dirk Nowitzki from Germany.

The United States has usually been the strongest team in international basketball
competitions. In the last Olympic Games, in Beijing in 2008, the US men’s and women’s
teams both won gold medals – the men beat Spain in the final, and the women beat
Australia.

2- Here are some simple definitions for words that appear in

the text on Worksheet A. Find the words they refer to and fill
in the gaps.

1. A p _ _ _ _ _ _ (adjective) thing, place, or activity is one

that many people like.

2. A c _ _ _ _ (noun) is an area marked with lines where some sports (e.g., basketball or
tennis) are played.

3. _ t _ _ (noun): someone very famous and popular (e.g., an actor or sports player).

4. An _ _ _ _ _ _ ce (noun) is a group of people who watch or listen to something (e.g., a

movie or a sports game).

5. B _ _ _ _ _ (verb): to hit the surface of something and then move away (e.g., a ball
moving through the air, hitting the ground, then moving through the air again).

6. _ _ _ m (noun): a group of people who play a sport or a game against another group.
7. _ _ _ _ l (noun): a small flat piece of metal, often circular, that you might get for winning
a competition.

8. _ _ d _ _ _ s (adverb): inside a building (e.g., a house).

3-Decide whether the following statements are true (T) or false (F), or if the text doesn’t
determine (D).

1. Basketball was invented after tennis.

2. The height of the baskets in basketball has changed many times.

3. More people watch basketball on TV than soccer.

4. There are some players in the NBA who are not American or Canadian.

5. Basketball was invented before 1900.

6. Australia was in the men’s basketball final in the 2008 Olympic

Games.

7. The best team in the NBA is the Los Angeles Lakers.

8. The baskets in early basketball were different from those in modern

basketball.