Short answer: Sport is one of IELTS's most predictable Speaking and Writing themes, so precise words such as endurance, stamina, resilience and prowess are among the fastest ways to lift your Lexical Resource band.
The 30 words below each come with a meaning, a natural collocation and an example sentence you can adapt straight into an answer.
Sport questions recur throughout IELTS: whether governments should fund elite athletes or grassroots facilities, why exercise matters for health, the pressures of professional competition, and the value of team sports for young people.
Because the theme is so predictable, the vocabulary is learnable in advance — and a candidate who writes about building endurance, the resilience sport teaches and the athletic prowess of the best players instead of "being fit" and "very good at sport" signals a higher band immediately.
This guide gives you 30 genuine Band 7+ sport words, each with the collocation that makes it usable and an example sentence in an essay-style context.
Why topic vocabulary lifts your Lexical Resource band
In both Writing and Speaking, Lexical Resource is one of four assessment criteria, each carrying equal weight, so it accounts for a full quarter of your mark on those papers.
The public band descriptors state that Band 7 requires "a sufficient range of vocabulary to allow some flexibility and precision" and the use of "less common lexical items… with some awareness of style and collocation", as set out in the official IELTS Writing Task 2 band descriptors.
Preparing topic vocabulary in advance is the most efficient way to meet that standard on a predictable subject like sport.
The honest caveat is that the descriptors reward accuracy, not decoration. A less common word placed in the wrong collocation — "do an endurance", "a big stamina" — reads as reach without control and can lower your band rather than raise it.
That is why every entry below pairs the word with its natural partners. For a structured month of building this kind of active, in-context vocabulary across topics, follow our 30-day vocabulary plan.
30 Band 7+ Sport words
Read down the table for the meaning, then across to the collocation and example — the example shows the word doing the job it would do in a real answer.
| Word | Meaning | Collocation / common usage | Example sentence |
|---|---|---|---|
| athlete | a person who is proficient in and trained for sport or physical exercise | an elite athlete, a professional athlete | Elite athletes follow strict training and nutrition regimes for years. |
| endurance | the ability to sustain prolonged physical effort | build endurance, physical endurance | Marathon running demands exceptional endurance rather than raw speed. |
| stamina | the energy and staying power to sustain effort over time | build stamina, lack stamina | Interval training is one of the most effective ways to build stamina. |
| agility | the ability to move quickly and change direction with ease | great agility, improve agility | A good goalkeeper needs the agility to react in a split second. |
| discipline | controlled, consistent training and self-control | strict discipline, mental discipline | Reaching the top of any sport requires years of relentless discipline. |
| competitive | strongly wanting to win; involving rivalry or contest | highly competitive, a competitive edge | Talent alone is not enough; the most successful players are fiercely competitive. |
| spectator | a person who watches a sporting event rather than taking part | a spectator sport, thousands of spectators | Football is the world's most popular spectator sport. |
| aerobic | relating to exercise that improves the body's use of oxygen | aerobic exercise, aerobic fitness | Aerobic exercise such as running strengthens the heart and lungs. |
| grassroots | relating to sport at an ordinary, local or amateur level | grassroots sport, at grassroots level | Investment in grassroots sport helps talented children rise to the top. |
| accolade | an award or an expression of high praise | receive an accolade, the highest accolade | An Olympic gold medal remains the highest accolade in the sport. |
| officiate | to act as the official who enforces the rules of a match | officiate a match, officiate at | Experienced umpires are chosen to officiate at international matches. |
| tactics | the methods and moves a team uses to try to win | attacking tactics, change tactics | The coach changed his tactics at half-time and the game turned. |
| rigorous | thorough, demanding and strictly disciplined | a rigorous training regime, rigorous preparation | A rigorous training regime left the squad in peak condition. |
| sedentary | involving much sitting and little physical activity | a sedentary lifestyle, sedentary work | A sedentary lifestyle raises the risk of heart disease, which regular sport helps to offset. |
| physique | the form, size and development of a person's body | an athletic physique, a powerful physique | Swimmers tend to develop a lean, powerful physique. |
| resilience | the ability to recover quickly from setbacks and defeats | mental resilience, show resilience | Sport teaches young people resilience in the face of defeat. |
| adrenaline | a hormone released in moments of excitement, effort or stress | an adrenaline rush, release adrenaline | The roar of the crowd gives players a surge of adrenaline. |
| camaraderie | mutual trust and friendship among members of a group | team camaraderie, a sense of camaraderie | Team sports foster a camaraderie that often lasts a lifetime. |
| perseverance | steady persistence in a course of action despite difficulty | sheer perseverance, require perseverance | Her success owed as much to perseverance as to natural talent. |
| rehabilitation | the process of restoring health and fitness after an injury | injury rehabilitation, a rehabilitation programme | The player spent six months in rehabilitation after knee surgery. |
| concussion | a temporary brain injury caused by a blow to the head | suffer a concussion, a concussion protocol | Growing concern about concussion has changed the rules of many contact sports. |
| doping | the illegal use of drugs to enhance sporting performance | a doping scandal, blood doping | A doping scandal stripped several medallists of their titles. |
| spectacle | an impressive or dramatic public display | a sporting spectacle, a great spectacle | The opening ceremony was a spectacle watched by billions around the world. |
| exertion | great physical or mental effort | physical exertion, intense exertion | After such intense exertion, athletes need time to recover fully. |
| prowess | outstanding skill or ability, especially physical | athletic prowess, sporting prowess | His athletic prowess made him a national hero. |
| underdog | a competitor thought unlikely to win a contest | the underdog, back the underdog | Fans love to see the underdog defeat a stronger, wealthier team. |
| sponsorship | financial support given to a team or athlete in return for advertising | a sponsorship deal, secure sponsorship | Lucrative sponsorship deals now dwarf the prize money in many sports. |
| recreational | done for enjoyment and relaxation rather than competition | recreational sport, recreational activity | Recreational sport keeps millions of people active without any wish to compete. |
| gruelling | extremely tiring and physically demanding | a gruelling schedule, a gruelling race | Cyclists face a gruelling schedule of races spread over three weeks. |
| hydration | the process of maintaining an adequate level of fluid in the body | proper hydration, maintain hydration | Proper hydration is essential during endurance events in hot weather. |
How to turn these words into marks
Learn each word inside its collocation, not on its own: memorising "endurance" is close to useless, but "build endurance" or "a rigorous training regime" gives you a ready-made phrase you can drop in without a grammar risk.
Use one or two precise items per paragraph where they are natural, and keep the rest of your English plain — accuracy outscores a sentence stuffed with impressive nouns you cannot control.
To make these words active, meet them in context: our sport reading practice generates Cambridge-style passages on this theme so you see the collocations working in real sentences, and the daily Word Coach gives you a word a day with practice in using it, which is how vocabulary moves from "recognise it" to "produce it under exam pressure".