Sport Leisure

This section explores useful terminology relating to sport, fitness, leisure and recreation in their various forms, whether you’re working in or studying them, or simply taking part.

The world of sport, fitness and leisure

What used to be called simply ‘the leisure industry’ is now firmly established as a range of very specialised industries or sectors including entertainments, events, fitness, sport and recreation , and overlapping significantly with tourism and hospitality industries. Understanding the language relating to these industries and their provision can help enormously as you work to achieve your international aspirations. Each sector, like business in general, has its own jargon. Some of this terminology is shared by people working in many countries, and some translates to a greater or lesser extent into different languages and cultures in different ways. For example, marketing to a Spanish speaker may be el marketing or el mercadeo.

Studying for a career in sport in particular could involve exploring various paths and specialisms including sport management and business – dirección y gestión deportiva,; physical activity and sport sciences – ciencias de la actividad física y del deporte; sports coaching – entrenamiento deportivo; or sports performance – rendimiento deportivo. These could lead to any of the following job opportunities:

Animador deportivo – sports leader
Director de empresas de servicios deportivos – Manager in a sports service business
Entrenador personal – personal trainer
Preparador / monitor–entrenador deportivo (club o federacion deportiva) – coach / instructor in a sports club or association
Monitor en gimnasios privados, o en centros de salud integral – instructor in a private gym or health centre
Monitor de ocio – leisure activity instructor / attendant

There’s a useful wikipedia page in Spanish on sport in Spain, which gives some background and offers an opportunity to practise and learn new vocabulary. Also, you’ll find a link to some interesting classifications of recreational activities in the section below.

Specific vocabulary

Some useful adjectives and adverbs relating to sport, leisure and studying or working in these fields, are listed below:

sports / sporting – deportivo/a
sports equipment – equipos de deporte
competitive/ly – competitivo/ competitivamente
recreational – recreativo/a
voluntary – voluntario/a
professional – profesional
amateur – aficionado
team – de equipo
individual – individual
participation (sport) – (deporte) participativo
paralympic – paralímpico
minority – minoritario
dominated – dominado
closely contested – reñido
women’s – de la mujer
men’s – del hombre
athletic – atlético/a
fit – en forma / en plena forma

Sports – los deportes

A player (in general) is un/a jugadora, and a competitor in sports terms is un/una competidora. A player of a specific sport (e.g. a footballer or canoeist) is generally described by the name of the sport plus ~ista on the end regardless of gender. So a footballer would be un/a futbolista and a canoeist would be un/a piragūista. To ‘do’ sport is hacer el deporte, or for specific sports without el/la: e.g. hacer windsurfing

‘The Olympics’ in general are Las Olimpíadas and the Olympic Games are Los Juegos Olímpicos.

archery – el tiro con arco
athletics – el atlético
badminton – el bádminton
basketball – el baloncesto
canoeing – el piragūismo
cycling – el ciclismo
diving – el salto (a diving board is un trampolín)
football/soccer – el fútbol
golf – el golf
gymnastics – la gimnasia
martial artrs – las artes marciales
rugby – el rugbi
sailing – la vela
squash – el squash
skiing – el esquí
skiiing (cross-country) – el esquí de fondo
swimming – la natación
table tennis – el tenis de mesa
tennis – el tenis
trampoline – the equipment is una cama elástica
volleyball – el vóleibol
waterskiing – el esquí acuático
weightlifter – un/a halterófilo/a
windsurfing – el windsurfing
winner – ganador/ ganadora
loser – perdedor / perdedora
tie-breaker – un tie-break

Recreational activities – las actividades recreativas

Of course many sports are played recreationally, but there are plenty of other ways to spend your time recreationally. So here are a few of the more common pastimes, whether more or less physically active.

aerobics – el aeróbic
cinema – el cine
cultural trips – las visitas culturales
dancing – bailar
fitness classes – las clases de acondicionamiento físico / clases de fitness
mountaineering – el montañismo
photography – la fotografía
reading – la lectura
rock climbing – el alpinismo
sport fishing – la pesca deportiva
theatre – el teatro

Academic sport and leisure

el recreo – recreation
el ocio – leisure
un/a maestro/maestra – teacher (primary) – m/f
un/a profesor/a teacher (secondary), lecturer / professor
director/a – course leader / director
un/una estudiante – a student (m/f)
un/a alumno/alumna – a student (m/f)
estudiar – to study
aprender – to learn
las ciencias – science
la sociología – sociology
la psicología – psychology
el negocio / la dirección– business

Examples of some titles for sports courses or modules:

Teoria e Historia de la Actividad Física y del Deporte – theory and history of physical activity and sport. [Note that y (and) becomes e before i or hi. ]
Organización de Eventos Deportivos – organisation of sport events
Habilidades y Destrezas Motrices Básicas – Basic motor skills and abilities
Estrategias Para la Obtención y Tratamiento de la Información en Actividades Físico-Deportes – Strategies for gathering and handling information in physical activities and sport (e.g. research methods)

Sports venue, industry and occupational terms – la industria deportiva

instalaciones deportivas – sports facilities
un campo de golf – golf course
el carril para bicicletas – cycle path
el estadio – stadium
el polideportivo – sport centre
la piscina – swimming pool
una piscina el aire – outdoor pool
la pista – ski slope / piste
la pista de patinaje – skating rink
la pista de principiantes – nursery slope
una pista de tenis – tennis court
la playa – beach
el puerto – port

entrenar – to coach.
un/una entrenador/a – a coach
enseñar – to teach (a subject)
instruir – to teach (a skill)
la educación física – physical education
el turismo deportivo – sport tourism