Topball · English through sport
ESL / ESP English
Rugby · free sample chapters
English Through Rugby
A CEFR-mapped English programme built around rugby. Every session trains call-bank fluency, tactical discussion and welfare language while the contact is controlled.
Buy the full manual · $19 USD · instant access
Pay by PayPal and the complete manual opens straight away — your private link is emailed to you at the same time for printing or saving as a PDF.
Loading secure PayPal checkout…
Sample 1
Rugby is a communication sport first
Scrums, lineouts, defensive lines and rucks fail for the same reason: the call was late, unclear, or never made.
- ▪Every session phase carries a rugby job and a language job, timetabled together.
- ▪English is compulsory in non-contact and controlled-contact work, and never allowed to delay a safety correction.
- ▪Contact progressions run technique, then controlled, then live — no exceptions for a language target.
- ▪Load, contact level and language aim are recorded on one session card, filed as inspection evidence.
Sample 2
Taster drill · 4v2 breakdown call-out
A controlled-contact drill where possession is decided as much by the call as by the clear-out.
- ▪Rugby aim: first arrival square and low, second player sealing, ball available inside three seconds.
- ▪Language aim: naming the role before arriving — 'over', 'seal', 'out' — in the correct order.
- ▪Constraint: a silent arrival concedes the ball; a wrong call concedes it and the phase restarts.
- ▪Progression: add a third defender so the call must change mid-phase.
- ▪Review: two past-simple sentences per pair on the ball they lost and why.
Sample 3
Why clubs use it for elite juniors
A player who can lead a defensive line in English travels further than one who cannot.
- ▪Half-backs and captains carry the heaviest language load in the team — and gain the most, fastest.
- ▪Trials, academy interviews and coach feedback conversations are rehearsed, not improvised.
- ▪Welfare vocabulary is taught deliberately, because concealing a head knock is the default instinct.
- ▪Squads licensing the manual receive the rubrics and reporting templates, not only the drills.
In the full manual (8 parts · 20+ sections · A4 print-ready)
- ▪Part 1 — The session as English practice — The 75-minute rugby-and-English session, phase by phase, with the language job written on the same card as the rugby job.
- ▪Part 2 — Rugby language by level — A1–C1 ladder plus the twenty-call core bank and the positional English each role lives in.
- ▪Part 3 — Breakdown commentary method — Live English commentary at the ruck: the fastest fluency environment in any sport.
- ▪Part 4 — Tactical literacy — Phase play, territory, exits, defensive systems and set piece in graded English.
- ▪Part 5 — Match-day and welfare English — Team talks, referee interaction, interviews, and the injury language that protects players.
- ▪Part 6 — Assessment and reporting — CEFR rubrics for speaking under load, plus parent- and club-facing report templates.
- ▪Appendices — Session cards, a touchline language mat, a 4-week camp planner and self-assessment sheets.
Pay $19 USD by PayPal and the full manual is released instantly — no waiting and nothing to email. Free updates for twelve months. Paying by Wise instead? Send the reference to coachjcl@cordentennisacademy.page and the link is issued by hand the same day.
From manual to campus
The manual is the programme. The camps are where it is coached.
Topball teaches this curriculum 365 days a year at the Cebu campus, at satellite learning camps in Oxford and Sussex, and online. Students and parents working through the manual at home can join the same programme in person — accommodation included on the Cebu retreats.
Share this pageInstagram and TikTok don't accept web shares — use “Copy caption”, paste into your post or Reel, and put the link in your bio.
← All English-through-sport manuals