Sport and Youth

Bringing up a healthy generation is a gigantic task. And it must be one of the most important concerns of every state. And every respectful government has to allocate a substantial slice of the budget for the public health services, physical education and sports.

We have always paid great attention to sport in our schools, colleges and universities. One can hardly find a school in Ukraine without a gym or a sports ground. In each school pupils spend much time going in for sports. First of all they have their physical education lessons. And after the school is over they may train at different sports clubs and sections. From time to time every school organizes competitions in different kinds of sport. Every boy or a girl who cares to go in for sports has the necessary facilities, equipment and coaching in their favourite sport. Many champions have started their athletic career at the children’s sports centers, which have been set up throughout the country. They provide not only inner but international exchanges and matches. Such sport events help young people of the world to meet on sports grounds and make new friends.

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College Sports

College sports constitute an important part of student life. Through athletics fit in with scholastic activities, there is no over-emphasis on sports. That is why the accomplished athlete is usually the excellent student as well. Good scholarship as a rule goes hand in hand with good sportsmanship.

The most popular kinds of sport in our universities are football, volleyball, gymnastics, wrestling, skiing, athletics and some other. Everybody can hear loud cheers of students’ crowds who support their college sportsmen or teams. Sport contests for winning the Inter-College Cup are very popular among the students not only in our country. American students, for example, are known as the most sport-minded youth in the world. American schools and colleges use sports activities as a way of teaching social values. Among these are teamwork and sportsmanship. The average high school offers its students a great variety of sports, including rowing, wrestling, tennis and golf, and, of course, baseball – a national American game. And this may explain why the Americans have traditionally done well in many of these sports. As a result, being intelligent and being good in sports are regarded as things that can go together, as an ideal. There are many colleges which have excellent academic reputation and are also good in sports. The American college-life’s experience in sport field can be very useful for the development of youth sport activities in other countries.

I. Divide the words and word combinations into columns:

Running, court, surfboard, hockey, ring, skiing, stadium, boxing gloves, course, ball, track, disc, cycling, racquet, rowing, baseball bat, skating-rink, chess.

kinds of sports	place of the game (sports)	sports equipment