Sports idioms for sport lovers (and everyone interested in idioms!)

Have you been watching your favourite sport team in their main matches during this second week of the Olympic Games?

This event and sport in general, have always influenced people’s lives and even the language!

 English, for example has some sport idioms: these are combinations of specific words which come from the sport vocabulary that are used in everyday life as well. So whenever a person says you are neck to neck with them, don’t worry about it. They just told you you’re close to each other in a competitive way.

English native speakers are known to be funny with words and language in general, and if you’re thinking that these idioms are too strange to be real then you should try using some and see how  people will respond to you. Trust me, you’re not going to skate on a thin ice (=do something risky)!

If you now feel like

racing against time (=there is almost no time left to accomplish something) and you want to keep up your English knowledge with these idioms, don’t worry. You can find them wherever you want to, but here are some to quickly learn the ropes (= understanding new things): Just by watching the Olympic Games and supporting your favourite teams, you are taking sides which means you choose what to cheer for. Whenever you feel frustrated because you have just seen your favourite athletes failing while others have just won, you are maybe thinking they just won hands down (they just had an easy victory).

Here are examples of some other idioms from the sports field:

the ball is in your court 
-it's your decision or responsibility to do something now
"Do you think I should accept the job offer?" "Don't ask me. The ball is in your court now".

blow the competition away
- win easily
"If you wear that dress to the beauty pageant you are going to blow the competition away."

front runner 
- one of the people who is expected to win
"Angela is a front runner for the new supervisor position."

give it your best shot
- try your hardest
"Give it your best shot and you may just make it to the finals."

go overboard
do or say more than you need to
"You can't believe everything Janice says about Rick. She tends to go overboard when she's complaining about him."

Source: 
https://www.englishclub.com/vocabulary/idioms-sports.htm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/radio/specials/1253_olympics_2008/page4.shtml

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Peartree Languages is a language school located in Cardiff.