Some countries achieve international success, building specialised sports facilities for top athletes to train instead of providing sports facilities that everyone can use. Positive or negative?

There has been so much worldwide buzz over the years about public sports resource management that it has become a worldwide topic. While some countries managed to stand their ground insisting that much priority should be given to top athletes who can showcase their talents on a global stage, others may beg to differ, for they believe that facilities should be governed in the interest of the majority of public. WHAT’S YOUR POSITION? IS IT POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE?
On one hand, To begin with, some of those specialised facilities never benefitted top sportsmen, as a direct result of low density in local prospects. Let us not forget what happened in Brazil since last summer’s Soccer World Cup. They built a stadium in a suburb of Brasilia in an effort to win the bidding for the hosting right of the tournament and thus draw the most elite players from the world to perform in Brazil, in the hope that it could bring accolades and worldwide reputation to the country. Unfortunately, because of a lack for a lacking of local sports team in the region, the stadium only managed to host two games after the World Cup. In order to cover the staggering maintenance expenses, the management firm eventually leased the vicinity of the venue to a bus company. Ironically, the world’s second most expensive stadium had become the world’s most expensive parking lot.
On the other hand,On the contrary, in developed countries like America specifically, much attention was given to the general public when it comes to sports facilities. In my days in the US, I had the opportunity to visit a few public high schools in my neighbourhood. To my surprise, all these schools possess state-of-the-art training and rehabilitation facilities.One of the schools even hashad a mini golf course for its varsity team, with financial backing by state and federal funds. Personally, I believe prevalent access to sports venues for young players is the reason behind the dominant performance of the US team in every summer Olympics game.
In my personal opinion, it is necessary to produce top talents and promote them as role models in order to draw the general public into participating. Yao Ming, undoubtedly the most influential Chinese sports figure, almost single-handedly put basketball ahead of soccer and table tennis as the most popular game among youngsters and students in China. AndIt all happened in the blink of an eye after he was selected with the number one draft pick in the NBA. In this sense, I have to admit the money was well spent on exclusive facilities to train players like Yao.
To summarise, in developed countries, where other social resources from conglomerates and non-profit organizations are readily available, governments should dedicate their budget for public disposal. aim their funding at disposal tothe general public. However, in developing countries, specialised facilities for top athletes would be positive to the public and thus the country, given thatthe careful planning in place to avoid misuse of already sparse resources.
HI, how are you?

You have an impressive command of the language. There are just a few very common terms that ought to be avoided, but the general vocabulary is admirable nevertheless. The only problem here is the likelihood of the introduction pulling a likely good rating. Just be cautious of the introduction next time.



There has been so much worldwide buzz over the years about public sports resource management. While some countries managed to stand their ground insisting that much priority should be given to top athletes who can display their talents on a global stage, others may beg to differ, for they believe that facilities should be governed in the interest of the majority of public.
To begin with, some of those specialised facilities never benefitted top sportsmen, as a direct result of low density in local prospects. Let us not forget what happened in Brazil since last summer’s Soccer World Cup. They built a stadium in a suburb of Brasilia in an effort to win the bidding for the hosting right of the tournament and thus draw the most elite players from the world to perform in Brazil, in the hope that it could bring accolades and worldwide reputation to the country. Unfortunately, because of a lack for a local sports team in the region, the stadium only managed to host two games after the World Cup. In order to cover the staggering maintenance expenses, the management firm eventually leased the vicinity of the venue to a bus company. Ironically, the world’s second most expensive stadium had become the world’s most expensive parking lot.
On the contrary, in developed countries like America specifically, much attention was given to the public when it comes to sports facilities. In my days in the US, I had the opportunity to visit a few public high schools in my neighbourhood. To my surprise, all these schools possess state-of-the-art training and rehabilitation facilities. One of the schools even had a mini golf course for its varsity team, with financial backing by state and federal funds. Personally, I believe prevalent access to sports venues for young players is the reason behind the dominant performance of the US team in every summer Olympics game.
In my personal opinion, it is necessary to produce top talents and promote them as role models in order to draw the public into participating. Yao Ming, undoubtedly the most influential Chinese sports figure, almost single-handedly put basketball ahead of soccer and table tennis as the most popular game among youngsters and students in China. It all happened in the blink of an eye after he was selected with the number one draft pick in the NBA. In this sense, I have to admit the money was well spent on exclusive facilities to train players like Yao.
To summarise, in developed countries, where other social resources from conglomerates and non-profit organizations are readily available, governments should dedicate their budget for public disposal. However, in developing countries, specialised facilities for top athletes would be positive to the public and thus the country, given the careful planning in place to avoid misuse of already sparse resources.

Good luck!

Tip for the day
Writing an IELTS Essay Introduction
Writing the Introduction
In the writing for task 2, you must write an IELTS essay introduction, but you only have 40 minutes.

In this time you need to analyze the question, brainstorm ideas to write about, formulate an essay plan, and then write your response.

Even for a native writer of English, this is a lot to do in 40 minutes!

So you need to use your time carefully. You need a good IELTS essay introduction, but one thing you do not want to do is spend too long writing it so that you end up rushing your paragraphs.

Your paragraphs are the most important thing as they contain all your supporting arguments and demonstrate how good you are at organizing your ideas.

You therefore need a method to write your IELTS essay introduction fairly quickly. When you write an introduction, you should make sure you do two things:

1. Write a sentence introducing the topic and giving some background facts about it
2. Tell the reader what you are going to be writing about this is the answer to the task question and also serves as your thesis

How you do this will vary depending on the question, but here is an example:
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Example 1:
Question:
Blood sports have become a hot topic for debate in recent years. As society develops it is increasingly seen as an uncivilized activity and cruel to the helpless animals that are killed. Blood sports should be banned.
To what extent to you agree or disagree?

Sample IELTS essay introduction:
Despite the fact that killing animals for sport is popular in modern society, it remains a contentious issue. I believe that blood sports are cruel and uncivilized and so should be banned as soon as possible.
____________________________________________
As you can see, the first sentence consists of the topic plus some background facts on the topic which have been taken from the rubric.

The second sentence then gives the writers opinion and tells us that in the essay the writer will be arguing the reasons why it is cruel. This serves as your thesis. You must always have a thesis.

Paraphrasing
Another important point - don't copy from the question! You must paraphrase (put it in your own words). To do this you can use synonyms and move the order of the sentence around.
Using some of the same words is acceptable, but don't copy whole phrases.
You can see how the question above has been paraphrased. All the information is from the question, but it has been written in a different way and has not been copied.

Further Examples
Example 2:
Question:
Science and technology have helped the world make many advances. The Arts, such as painting, theatre and dance, to name just three examples, however, are also valuable.
What things do the Arts provide to the world that Science and Technology do not?

Sample IELTS essay introduction:
Societies have developed rapidly over time due to the many advances in science and technology. However, the arts are also very important and provide our world with many things such as creative thinking and emotional control that science and technology cannot.
____________________________________________

Example 3:
Question:
According to a recent study, the more time people use the Internet, the less time they spend with real human beings. Some people say that instead of seeing the Internet as a way of opening up new communication possibilities world wide, we should be concerned about the effect this is having on social interaction.
How far do you agree with this opinion?

Sample IELTS essay introduction:
A recent study has shown that as people use the Internet more, they are spending less time with human beings. I believe that although this has increased the communication around the world in positive ways, it has also led to negative effects on the day-to-day social interaction of human beings.
____________________________________________
Example 4:
Question:
Unemployment has become an increasing problem in the recent past.
What factors contribute to an increase in unemployment and what steps can be taken to solve the problem?

Sample IELTS essay introduction:
Over recent years, the level of unemployment has been increasing at an alarming rate in many countries around the world. Among the factors that contribute to this is overpopulation of a nation and under-qualification of people. To remedy such problem, governments should create policies on family planning as well as fund institutions to better the methods of education.
____________________________________________
Example 5:
Question:
Some people think children in secondary school should study international news as part of the curriculum. Others think that this would be a waste of time as there are already too many subjects for children to concentrate on.
Discuss both views and give your own opinion.

Sample IELTS essay introduction:
Awareness of international news is valuable especially when people aim to be globally competitive as individuals or as a nation.While some people are of the opinion that it would be useful to include international news as a subject in the school curriculum, others believe that this is a waste of students time because they are already overloaded with subjects to study. In my opinion, knowledge international news is important but need not be included in the curriculum.