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http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/mnl-school-sports-int 1/5 NEWS LESSONS / Autumn-born children better at sport, says study / Intermediate

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S I T E© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2014

Autumn-born children better at sport, says study

Level 2 l Intermediate

Key words1

Fill the gaps in the sentences using these key words from the text. The paragraph numbers are given to

help you.

Find the following information as quickly as possible.

1. How many children took part in the research?

2. What were their ages?

3. When did the tests take place?

4. In which month were the ttest children born?

5. How much faster (expressed as a percentage) can a boy born in November run than a child born in April?

6. How many athletes does UK Sport fund?

1. ______________________ is the ability to make a lot of effort over a long period of time without getting tired.

(para 3)

2. ______________________ is the strength with which you can hold something in your hand. (para 3)

3. ______________________ refers to things connected with the heart and the blood vessels. (para 3)

4. If you ______________________, you move more quickly. (para 3)

5. An ______________________ is someone who is not as successful as they could be at work, at school,

in sports etc. (para 6)

6. ______________________ is full growth or completed development. (para 7)

7. If something is ______________________, it is likely to be true. (para 8)

8. ______________________ is the ability to move quickly and easily. (para 8)

9. If you ______________________ in something, you do it extremely well. (para 8)

10. An ______________________ is one of the things that gives something its character or makes it effective.

(para 9)

Find the information2

excel handgrip stamina accelerate underachiever

plausible ingredient agility maturity cardiovascular



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Autumn-born children

better at sport, says study

If you want your child to make the school team,

try to ensure they are born in November or

October, say researchers

Denis Campbell, health correspondent

22 June, 2014

1 Do you want your child to be good at sport, playfor the school team and, maybe one day, evencompete in international competitions? Well, try

to make sure that your future Olympian or WorldCup winner is born in November or October. A study by one of the UK’s leading experts onchildren’s physical activity has found that schoolpupils born in those months are tter thaneveryone else in their class.

2 November- and October-born children were tter,stronger and more powerful than those born inthe other ten months of the year, especially thosewhose birthdays were in April or June. Dr GavinSandercock of Essex University and colleaguesfound that autumn-born children had “a clearphysical advantage” over their classmates.

3 The research involved 8,550 boys and girls agedbetween ten and 16 from 26 state schools inEssex. All were tested between 2007 and 2010on three different measures of tness: stamina,handgrip strength and lower-body power. Theresults revealed that a child’s month of birthcould make “signicant” differences to their levelsof cardiovascular tness, muscle strength andability to accelerate, all of which predict how goodsomeone is at sport.

4 November-born children were the ttest overallas they had the most stamina and power and

were the second strongest. Those born inOctober were almost as t, scoring highestfor strength and coming third for power, withDecember children close behind.

5 The gap in physical ability between children in thesame class but born in different months wassometimes very wide. “For example, we found thata boy born in November can run at least 10%faster, jump 12% higher and is 15% more powerfulthan a child of the same age born in April. This is,potentially, a huge physical advantage,” saidSandercock. Such gaps could decide who becamea top-level athlete because, as the paper says,

“selection into elite sports may often depend onvery small margins or differences in an individual’sphysical performance”.

6 The study, which has been published in theInternational Journal of Sports Medicine, foundthat, when scores for the three kinds of tnesswere combined, those born in April were theleast t, then those in June. That could seethose children excluded from school teamsand becoming sporting underachievers,Sandercock said.

7 The ndings seem to show that children bornin the early months of the school year enjoy adouble “autumn advantage” – they are alreadyknown to have an academic advantage and, now,

they also appear to be better equipped for sport,too. The results show that something other than“the relative-age effect” – the greater maturity ofthose born early in the school year – is the cause,especially as the ttest children were not thetallest or heaviest, he added.

8 The authors believe that autumn-born children’sgreater exposure over the summer months,towards the end of pregnancy, to vitamin D is themost likely explanation. “Seasonal differences invitamin D concentrations in the womb seem mostplausible,” they say. John Steele, chief executiveof the Youth Sport Trust, said the quality of a

young person’s introduction to sport at school canbe “a major factor” in their sporting development.“Children that get a high-quality rst experienceare those that will have greater agility, balanceand coordination, and are more likely to developan enjoyment of physical activity and excel insport as they grow up”, he said.

9 UK Sport could not say if a disproportionatemajority of the 1,300 athletes across 47 sportsit funds were born in November and October.Natalie Dunman, its head of performance, saidthat while the differences highlighted in the newndings were borne out by teenagers competing

in junior-level competitions, they had disappearedby the time sportspeople were taking part inadult competitions. She said: “With elite, seniorathletes, there are many factors that makea champion and our work hasn’t uncoveredanything to suggest that month of birth is one ofthe key ingredients.”

© Guardian News and Media 2014

First published in The Observer , 22/06/14



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Find the word4

1. Children born in October or November are tter than those born in April or June.

2. Children born in December were the least t.

3. Children born in April can jump 12% higher than those born in November.

4. The “autumn advantage” refers to the academic and sporting advantage that children born in the autumn have.

5. The “relative-age effect” refers to the fact that children born early in the school year are less mature than

other children.

6. Differences caused by the month of birth in junior competitions have disappeared when sportspeople take part in

adult events.

Are these statements true (T) or false (F) according to the text?

Find the following words and phrases in the text.

1. a noun meaning someone who competes in the Olympic Games (para 1)

2. a noun meaning someone who is in your class at school (para 2)

3. an adverb meaning possibly true in the future but not now (para 5)

4. a verb meaning deliberately prevent someone from being involved in an activity (para 6)

5. a noun meaning the state of being put in a situation where something might affect you (para 8)

6. an adjective meaning bigger or smaller than it should be in comparison to something else (para 9)

7. a verb meaning provide the money for something that costs a lot (para 9)

8. a two-word phrasal verb meaning show that something is true (para 9)

Comprehension check3

Match the words in the left-hand column with those in the right-hand column to make phrases from the text.

1. elite a. strength2. physical b. differences

3. major c. sports

4. muscle d. equipped

5. better e. activity

6. seasonal f. factor

Two-word phrases5



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Do you think people born in the autumn have academic and physical advantages over their classmates?

Complete the table using words from the text.

Word-building6

Discussion7

adjective noun

1. t

2. mature

3. strong

4. agile

5. active

6. pregnant



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KEY

1 Key words

1. stamina

2. handgrip

3. cardiovascular

4. accelerate

5. underachiever

6. maturity7. plausible

8. agility

9. excel

10. ingredient

2 Find the information

1. 8,550

2. between ten and 16

3. between 2007 and 2010

4. November

5. at least 10%

6. 1,300

3 Comprehension check

1. T

2. F

3. F

4. T

5. F

6. T

4 Find the word

1. Olympian

2. classmate

3. potentially

4. exclude

5. exposure

6. disproportionate7. fund

8. bear out

5 Two-word phrases

1. c

2. e

3. f

4. a

5. d

6. b

6 Word-building

1. tness

2. maturity

3. strength

4. agility

5. activity

6. pregnancy

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Mnl School Sports Int