DO, GO, PLAY - SPORTS AND ACTIVITIES

Verbs: do, play or go with sports and other activities

Pay attention to the table below. There is a list of sports and activities that collocate with the verbs 'do, go, play':

In British English, you can "do sport". In American English you can "play sports".

A typical mistake non-native speakers make is using the verb practise for sports:
*I love practising sport. This should be: I love sport.
*I usually practise sport every evening. This should be: I usually do sport every evening.

However, in American English you can use the verb practise or practice (as it is spelt there) to mean "to train": The team is practicing for tomorrow's competition.

When other words related to sports are used, we may use other verbs:

"What sports do you do?"
"I play tennis".

HOW TO USE THIS VERBS:

PLAY VOLLEYBALL

Go is used with activities and sports that end in -ing. The verb go here implies that we go somewhere to practice this sport: go swimming. 

GO SWIMMING

Do is used with recreational activities and with individual, non-team sports or sports in which a ball is not used, like martial arts, for example: do a crossword puzzle, do athletics, do karate. 

DO AEROBICS

Play is generally used with team sports and those sports that need a ball or similar object (puck, disc, shuttlecock...). Also, those activities in which two people or teams compete against each other: play football, play poker, play chess.

Some exceptions:

*You use do with three activities that end in -ing: do boxing, do body-building and do weight-lifting, because they don´t imply moving along as the other activities ending in -ing.

*Golf: if there is an idea of competition, you use the verb play. However, you can say go golfing if you do it for pleasure: Tiger Woods plays golf. We'll go golfing at the weekend.