The authors main purpose in this excerpt is to

the answer is b. dilapidated house. i'm also guessing i a little late seeing as though this was asked in 2017 and we are about to go into

i would tell them that you admire their sports skills and you hope to become a talented player like them one day

explanation:

since you're new to the sport you could ask them if they have any pointers to you succeed at the sport. you could even ask them if you could practice together sometime.