Category: Sports Dictionary

Electroplating : The deposition of a metal coating onto an object by putting a negative charge on it and putting it into a solution which contains a metal salt. The metal salt contains positively charged metal ions which are attracted to the negatively charged object and are “reduced” to metallic form upon it.

Acoelomate  : A type of animal, such as a flatworm, with a body plan that lacks a fluid-filled cavity between the body wall and the digestive tract. Rather, semi-solid mesodermal tissues between the gut and body wall hold the animal’s organs in place. Contrast coelomate and pseudocoelomate.

Button: A collar on the oar that keeps it from slipping through the oarlock. This is useful.

Coxswain: The crew coach and the one responsible for steering the shell.

Bow: The first half of the forward section of the boat is the bow

Bar Down: This is when the puck hits the crossbar and lands up in the net. This is when a point scores.

Bender: This refers to a bad hockey player with bending ankles when they skate due to an inability to skate well.

Biscuit: A hockey puck is a biscuit. It consists of vulcanized rubber and plays the role of a ball as in other games.

Snatch: The objective of the snatch is to lift the barbell from the ground to overhead in one continuous motion. There are four main techniques of snatch used: squat snatch, split snatch, power snatch, and muscle snatch.

Volley: A major foul in Volleyball, and it’s an illegal shot in table tennis. On doing this players lose the point. The player is not allowed to hit the ball while it’s on its way to bouncing on the table.

Drive Spin: Spin given onto the ball using the racket in a tangential brushing action. But when brushing your racket against the ball at an angle of less than, or more than, 90° using an upward, downward, or sideways movement, the ball will spin

Chop: A shot in which The racket face points primarily horizontally, perhaps a little bit upward, and the direction of the stroke are straight down. The object of a defensive chop is to match the topspin of the opponent’s shot with your own racket speed

Back Hand: It involves topspin and is an attacking stroke. These use float balls.

Libero: In this position, you’re expected to cover the whole court and make sure the ball doesn’t hit it.

Penetration: This technique includes moving a back row setter into the frontcourt in order to perform a set. A front-court setter can then act as a third smasher.

Smash: A high energy powerful shot which takes place when the ball is at a good height and near to the opponent’s court.

Crawl: The fastest of the 4 primary strokes, in these arms, move alternately overhead accompanied by a flutter kick.

Pool: The structure designed to hold water and enable swimming as a sport.

Lane: Swimmers swim up one side of the track called Lane. They swim up and down the same line. Swimmers in a lane swim in ‘chains’ – they leave a few seconds gap in between. The fastest swimmer is usually given the center lane.

Butterfly Stroke: A technique in which the arms come forward above the water. It helps create propulsion and allows the swimmer to keep its head of the water.

Point: A wrestler whose opponent regularly refuses to take caution receives a point. Three cautions automatically result in the match being won by the opponent.

Heave: To raise or lift with effort is to Heave. It is a common skill during the wrestling match.

Hal Nelson: This is a type of wrestling that is easy and effective. This is like folkstyle wrestling and is very commonly used. The half-nelson uses only one hand, bypassing it under the arm of the opponent and locking the hand on the opponent’s neck.

Freestyle: A type of wrestling practiced throughout the world. The main aim is to throw and pin the opponent to the mat, which results in an immediate win. This is also included in the Olympic games.

Break: To win a game as a player or team, there is a breaking serve that takes place. At a high level of play, the server is more likely to win a game, so breaks are often key moments of a match.

Grandslam: This refers to the accomplishment of winning all four major championships- the championships of Australia, France, Britain (Wimbledon), and the United States in the same calendar season.

Grass Court: A court made from different compositions of grasses for the sport of lawn tennis. This is one of the 4 major types of courts.

Netplay: Refers to the activity or play made from a position close to the net.

Red Belt: For the 9th and 10th ranks and above, the belt is solid red.

Blue Belt: It is one level below the Green belt and it takes 1-2 years of training to reach here.

Green Belt: This belt depicts the intermediate level especially in Japan.

Free Pistol: A 50-meter pistol is a Free pistol. It has the most amount of precision and is also a part of the ISSF shooting events and some principles are also used in the Olympics.

Bull’s Eye: Category: The aim is to score points by hitting and targeting around shooting targets as close to its center as possible. This encourages slow precision firing.

Air Rifle: A rifle propelling a projectile with the use of compressed gas rather than a gunpowder explosion. It has a spring-loaded piston pump. It is also called a BB gun.

Polo-Bunker: A specially prepared area that tests a player’s ability to play a ball from the sand. A bunker is a depression, but it doesn’t always have to be full of sand.

Mallet: An equipment used to strike the ball in the game of Polo. It is also called a Polo stick i.e. having a long handle and a head like a hammer.

Chukker: A playing duration or period of a Polo game.

Move: This refers to the chance to turn off a player to go ahead with their game trickles according to the rules of the game.

Gambit: A chess opening in which a player sacrifices a possessioned material in order to achieve an advantageous position. Eg: Sacrificing a pawn.

International Master: A title awarded to brilliant chess players under the level of grandmaster. This lasts for a lifetime and the giver is an international chess body called the ‘FIDE’.

Checkmate: Instance of maneuvering the opponent’s king into a check or trap from which there is no way out. It is a warning symbol of threat and usually used when the game is about to end.

Sixer: When a batsman hits a six or scores 6 runs due to the ball crossing the outer boundary of the stadium. Majorly used in Indian cricket.

Dead Ball: When a ball served is not playable and the game cannot occur without the permission of the umpire.

Mid-Wicket: A fielding position which is 40° I.e approximately midway between the square leg and the mid-on.

Silly Point: This refers to a fielding position located very near the batsman on the offside.

Floor Exercise: Exercises and movements performed on the floor in an area of 12 meters square. Only cushioning of the floor is there and the time duration for this is short.

Parallel Bar: Consisting of two wooden bars on uprights about 11 feet high, adjustable in height, and used for swinging, vaulting, balancing exercises, etc.

Horizontal Bar: An equipment bar placed parallel to the ground for exercises such as chinning up used majorly by men.

Sit Up: A strength and endurance exercise to tone up and highlight the abdominal muscles.

Faults: If the horse touches any part of the water, it counts as a fault, which is actually equivalent to knocking down a rail on another kind of jump.

Showjumping: Competitive horse riding race events conducted in which hurdles are also placed to test the participants on speed and their ability to overcome the obstacles.

All Square: A tie match wherein both the opponent teams have won an equal number of holes is an all-square match.

Bogey: This consists of one stroke over par on a hole or simply an average golfer’s score used as a standard for a particular hole or course.

Ballooning: Hitting down steeply will cause the club to pass a high rate of backspin to the ball, leading to the probable occurrence of a ballooning shot.

Ball Mark: An indentation on a putting green takes place when a usually long, high approach shot lands on the green.

Track Race: A bicycle racing sport that occurs on banked tracks that are specially designed or velodromes. It is present in both – Olympics and Paralympics.

Sprint: An event taking place between 2-4 riders, though usually, it is a one on one match between opponents who start together at the same mark cycling at full speed giving their best.

Time Trial: These include episodes of competition wherein individual cyclists or a team of cyclists goes out at intervals to cover a specific distance on a road course.

Point Race: This is an event that involves large numbers of cyclists together on one track. It is one of the Olympic events too. The top 4 finishers get awards and this is a part of long-distance cycling.

Scoring: Potting balls by a cue ball into a pocket. This is done by cannons too. This helps to score a point.

Break Shot: Breaking the racked object balls pocketing at least one ball and starts to pocket the remaining balls without giving a chance to the opponent at the table.

Object Ball: The first ball struck by a cue ball is the object ball. It is usually referred to as any ball except the cue ball.

Cue: A sporting equipment stick used to strike a ball. It is a tapered stick about 60 inches long.

Dive: To feign a boxing knockout in order to lose purposefully or intentionally.

Cornerman: A trainer or coach who assists the boxer during an ongoing bout. They may also apply ice, adrenaline to reduce hurt and swelling symptoms.

Low Blow: An unpermitted blow below the waistline of the opponent. It is a foul and is not allowed. The players upon doing it receive a warning or have 1 point deducted.

Knock Out: When the fight has ended, it is a winning criterion in combat sports. One boxer is unable to resume playing the game.

Grand Slam: The bet and winning of all the tricks during the play of one hand. It means winning all available bids in a particular year or a sports season.

Master Point: These are the points given by bridge organizations to individuals for success in competitive bridge tournaments. Generally, the awardees are members of the issuing organization.

Trump: The wild cards known as trump cards or the final bid for the entire hand.

Shot – Put: Throw of a spherical weight which is probably a metal ball from the shoulder to attain a maximum length. It is a measure of the explosive power of a player.

Cross Country: A race run across large terrains by individuals or teams in an open-air manner. This comes under Umbrella Sports.

Relay: A race consisting of four stages, which is usually run by different members of the same team. One runner passes the baton to the next runner in a marked zone.

High Jump: The participant takes a running jump to achieve a certain height above a crossbar.

Pinch Hitter: Refers to a substitute batter who is often an infielder or outfielder.

Homerun: When a batter hits a fair ball and scores without getting the benefit of an error made. He cannot be out due to which he can circle the ground at his own rate.

Base Runner: A player at the bat who is either at the first, second, or third base or is reaching for the base.

Throw: To arm throw a baseball in a forward manner as it further propels through the air. It includes the straightening of the arms and wrists.

Fore Hand: A swinging shot made by the racket which moves across the player’s body with the moving hand’s palm first.

Double Fault: When both the umpire and the service judge call out a fault for the server. It means there were two faults committed.

Shuttlecock: The equipment which acts as the projectile goes from one side to the other. It has a conical shape with feathers based on a rounded cork base. It is aerodynamically very stable.

Net: The equipment which divides the court into 2 equal halves. The shuttlecock must pass over this to play a continuous rally game.

Smash: A quick, sudden, powerful shot that takes place from high above to below landing in the opponent’s court. It refers to taking control over the game for that particular instant.

Defender: A player whose role is to stop the attacks and attempts to score goals by the opponent team members.

Hattrick: Term used when a player scores 3 goals in a single football match.

Goal: Scored when the ball crosses the goal line at any end of the football field between the goalposts which are set up.

Penalty Kick: A method of resuming the game, wherein a player gets the opportunity to score on the goal which is only defended by the goalkeeper of the opposite team.

Lay Up Shot: When a shot occurs from very near to the hoop, occurring usually when a player moves towards the basket.

Free Throws: These are also known as foul shots. This is for the opposite team when the members of their opponent team commit a foul. These are also given out after technical fouls or when the foul conducting team enters the bonus or penalty situation. The player has to shoot from a 15 – foot free throw line.

Technical Fouls: These refer to the fouls displaying a lack of sportspersons spirit. There is an inclusion of ill behaviors and poor conduct during the game. This includes aggressiveness against opponents, coaches, referees, etc.

Personal Fouls: These refer to the fouls caused by commencement of contact with an opponent player. These are of 2 major types – offensive and defensive. These include charging, holding, tripping, elbowing, blocking.