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Competition – Interactive Essay Lesson A

Hello this is AJ. Welcome this month’s interactive lesson part A.

This is an essay by a famous basketball coach named John Wooden. John Wooden was probably the greatest college basketball coach ever, in the United States. His essay is called ‘The Final Score’. Let’s begin…

The Final Score

The final score is not the final score. My final score is how prepared you were to execute near your own particular level of competence, both individually and as a team. There’s nothing wrong with that other fellow being better than you are, as long as you did everything you possibly could to prepare yourself for the competition. That is all you have control over.

That is all you should concern yourself with. It may be that the other fellow’s level of competency is simply higher than yours. That doesn’t make you a loser.

In 1962, in the final four against Cincinnati, who won the championship that year, we lost in the last few seconds of our semi-final game. However, the UCLA players left the court as winners in my eyes.

I was disappointed that we lost, of course, but I had the greatest pride in how the team had performed and how they had prepared hard and progressed during the year. We were almost 20 points down in the first 10 minutes of the game and then came from behind to even it up at the half.

We fought very hard in the second half and Cincinnati, perhaps, had superior personnel.

But what I saw out on the court during that game was a UCLA team that came as close as we could come to being the best that we could be. That’s a wonderful accomplishment.

Goodness gracious sakes, I am proud of that effort. So proud, even now.

Was I disappointed we were outscored? I’m still disappointed we were outscored, but I was never dejected. Mostly what I was and am, is proud. Our team was outscored but we were winners. I had the greatest pride in how the players prepared, progressed and performed.

I felt this philosophy would have a much greater positive impact on the outcome of events than a stress on trying to outscore opponents. It’s a focus on improving yourself, rather than comparing yourself to the other team as indicated by a score.

Furthermore, when you get too engrossed in those things over which you have no control, it will adversely affect those things over which you do have control, namely your preparation.

You respect everyone. Then, you simply make the strongest effort to prepare to the fullest extent of your abilities. The result will take care of itself and you should be willing to accept it.

Okay, let’s learn some of the vocabulary from this essay.

Vocabulary

Going back to the beginning, we have the word, the verb…

To execute – to execute, in this example, to execute means to perform or to do. It can have another meaning but here it means to perform or to do, to execute.

Next phrase…

Level of competence – means, level of skill or level of ability. Level of skill or ability is level of competence.

Other fellow – other fellow means other guy. Fellow is a little bit of an old word. It just means guy, so other fellow means other guy.

The competition – the competition, here this means the opponent, the other team, the opponent, the competition. Now, it could also mean a contest or tournament, depending on the situation, but in this situation, he’s saying the competition, it means the opponent.

Concern yourself with – to concern yourself with something means to think about it, to focus on it. To think about something. To focus on something. Concern yourself with something.

The final four – the final four is the semi-final level of the college basketball tournament in America. So, it’s the final four teams in the tournament, all right?

It’s a big tournament, starts with, I think, 64 teams something like that and then one by one the teams are eliminated until you get to the last four teams, those last four teams.. That’s called the final four, the final four, and specifically we use this in America for the college basketball tournament, the final four.

Cincinnati – is both a city and it’s a college, a college in that city. So, when he talks about Cincinnati, he’s talking about the Cincinnati college basketball team.

Semi-final – it’s the game before the final, all right? In the final game, the last two teams play each other, but in a semi-final, you have four teams.. Two teams play each other, the other teams play each other, the winners go to the final. That’s called the semi-final.

UCLA – UCLA is another college, another university. It’s the University of California in Los Angeles. John Wooden, the writer here. John Wooden was the coach of UCLA, of UCLA’s basketball team.

Twenty points down – we use this in sports. If you say UCLA was 20 points down, it means they were behind, 20 points behind. They had 20 points fewer than the other team.

They were 20 points down.

Then they came from behind – came from behind, it means they were behind. They had fewer points and then they caught up. They equaled the other team or passed the other team. That’s to come from behind.

We use it in sports a lot, when one team is losing the game and then suddenly, they tie or they win. They come from behind or the past tense they came from behind.

Even it up – to even it up- to even it up in sports means to tie the game. They were behind then they evened it up. It means they tied the game, equal scores. To even it up.

Superior personnel – superior personnel just means better players, better staff or better players.

The court – the court is the area where they play basketball. Of course, court has another meaning also, a legal meaning, but in sports we call the place where they play basketball, that’s called a basketball court, right? In soccer we call it a field, there’s a soccer field but in basketball it’s called a court, the basketball court.

The best that we could be – the best that we could be means, to reach our full potential, to play our best, to be our best, the best that we could be.

Next phrase…

Goodness gracious sakes – this is a very, very polite, it sounds very old fashioned. Not many people speak like this, but John Wooden was a very very polite man. He coached basketball back in the 50s, 60s and 70s.

So goodness gracious sakes means, my God. It’s the same meaning as my God! My God! Goodness gracious sakes, but goodness gracious sakes, it’s a very, very, very, very super polite, really probably too polite way to say my God or oh my God.

Dejected – is an adjective. To be dejected means to be depressed, very, very sad and hopeless feeling, dejected. Dejected means feeling sad and hopeless, dejected.

A positive impact on – a positive impact on something means, a positive influence on something, a positive effect on something, a positive impact on something.

A stress on something – means a focus on something. If you have a stress on pronunciation in your English learning, it means you have a focus on pronunciation. It means you’re focusing on it, you have a stress on it. It’s important to you.

As indicated by – as indicated by just means as shown by, as shown by. Indicated, shown, very similar.

Next phrase…

Engrossed in – to be engrossed in something. To be engrossed in something means you give something all of your attention, all of your focus, all of your energy.

To be engrossed in basketball means to be obsessed with basketball, to be completely focused on basketball, to be engrossed in basketball, to be engrossed in something. It has a positive meaning.

To adversely affect – this means to badly influence something or to negatively influence or to negative effect. Adversely means, in a bad way, in a negative way. So if you adversely affect something it means you have a bad effect on it.

Namely – namely, here namely means for example. Namely, for example. Or sometimes it can mean especially, especially.

To the fullest extent – to the fullest extent means as much as possible. It means 100%.

So, you know, do your best to the fullest extent, means do your best as much as possible.

Do 100% of your best. Do your best to the fullest extent, to the fullest extent, the most possible.

Finally, something takes care of itself – takes care of itself – it just means it will happen automatically. The score will take care of itself means, the score will happen automatically without worrying about it, without focusing on it too much.

If something takes care of itself, then it happens automatically without extra effort, without extra focus. It happens automatically, takes care of itself or to take care of itself.

Okay, that is our interactive lesson part A with our vocabulary. In part B, I will ask you questions about the essay and you will answer with very short, simple energetic answers, so that you learn this vocabulary completely.

I will see you in the next part.