B2 Class 3 Reading
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The document discusses the challenges that retired athletes often face when adjusting to life after their sports careers. It can be very difficult for athletes to know when the right time is to retire, as some have trouble accepting the loss of status, recognition, and excitement from their sport. While retirement is difficult for many, some athletes go on playing too long or make unsuccessful comeback attempts. Only a few retired athletes find new careers or roles that fulfill them as much as competing did.
B2 Class 3 Reading
- 1. Reading
- 2. You are going to read about retired sportsmen.
- 4. WHEN YOU HEAR THE FINAL WHISTLE (F)One of the hardest things for any sportsperson to do is to know when to retire. Do you retire when you are at your physical 'peak' or do you wait until your body (or your coach) tells you that it's time to go? But even harder is finding the answer to the question 'What am I going to do with the rest of my life?' ____________________________________________________'There's a high risk of depression and people often find adjusting to a new way of life difficult', says Ian Cockerill, a sports psychologist. 'For sportspeople, there's an extra trauma - the loss of status, the loss of recognition, and the loss of the glamour. That's the hardest part'. As Eddie Acaro, the US jockey says, 'When a jockey retires, he becomes just another little man'.
- 5. ___________________________________________________. Perhaps they just can't stand life without the 'high' of playing professional sport. Michael Jordan, the greatest basketball player of all time, retired three times. He retired once from the Chicago Bulls, made a successful comeback with the Bulls, then retired again. His second comeback with an inferior team ended in failure and he retired forever at the age of 38. Jordan said, 'There will never be anything I do that will fulfil me as much as competing did'. ____________________________________________________ Muhammad Ali needed the money, but his comeback fight, at the age of 39, against Trevor Berbick, was one of the saddest spectacles in modern sport. After losing to Berbick, Ali retired permanently. Three years later he developed Parkinson's disease. ____________________________________________________ As Jimmy Greaves, an ex- England international footballer said, 'I think that a lot of players would prefer to be shot once their career is over'. Many of them spend their retirement in a continual battle against depression, alcohol, or drugs.
- 6. ____________________________________________________. Franz Beckenbauer is a classic example of a footballer who won everything with his club, Bayern Munich. After retiring he became a successful coach with Bayern and finally president of the club. John McEnroe, the infamous 'bad boy' of tennis, is now a highly respected and highly paid TV commentator. But sadly, for most sportspeople these cases are the exceptions.
- 7. Think of an athlete from your country who has retired. What is he / she doing now? Do you think he / she retired at the right time? Include additional fun facts and use gerunds and infinitives.