If I want to say "play volleyball" or "play golf", is it a standard way to add "al" after the verb "jugar"?

Question

In English, we don't need "the" before the name of the sports. For example, "play baseball" or "play basketball". But do we need "al"( "a" and the article "el") right before the sports name in Spanish, such as "jugar al voleibol" or "jugar al golf"?

Answer 1

Neither do you in Spanish. You can say:

Interesting. We learned both jugar al beisbol and jugar al tenis. Sometimes, I wonder who writes these books.

There is nothing wrong with saying jugar al tenis, but that's more of a Castilian Spanish thing. - francobollo, May 17, 2013

Rog, not that I play any of these, but if I wanted to I would say ' jugar a' . You get my vote! - annierats, May 17, 2013

Answer 2

Neither do you in Spanish. You can say:

Jugar voleibol

Jugar béisbol

Jugar baloncesto.

I've heard jugar al tenis (more in Spain than in Latin America), but jugar tenis is totally acceptable and correct.