A free on-court taster — English through tennis
Registry-standard tennis coaching where every drill is also an English exercise. Read the structure of a real lesson below, try the taster drill, and see exactly what lands in your inbox after you sign up.
Registry-standard, not self-declared
Member since 2010. Certified instructor pathway, ongoing professional development and international coaching standards.
Every session is also an English lesson: cues, feedback, match talk and reflection are delivered in clear, level-appropriate English.
Every lesson is planned personally by James Corden-Lloyd before you arrive — no generic drill sheets, no copied templates.
Anatomy of a 70-minute lesson
The same shape every session, so progress is comparable week to week. English cues, feedback and reflection are built in — not added on top.
- 0–10 minDynamic warm-up & movement prep
Split-step timing, first-step acceleration, shoulder and hip preparation. Injury prevention comes before intensity.
- 10–25 minTechnical block
One priority stroke per session. Contact point, spacing and swing path isolated with feed-based repetition, then progressed to live ball.
- 25–45 minPattern & tactical block
Serve +1, return +1, cross-court to change-of-direction patterns. Targets and success rates recorded, not guessed.
- 45–60 minPressure play
Scored games with constraints — tiebreak from 3-3, two-serve rule, deuce-court only. Decision-making under scoreboard pressure.
- 60–70 minDebrief & prescription
Two things that worked, one priority for next session, and a written homework drill you can do alone or with a partner.
Taster drill — Serve +1 targets
- Aim
- Convert a first serve into a controlled second-ball attack instead of a neutral rally.
- Set-up
- Two cones wide and two cones down the T on the deuce side. One cone cross-court behind the service line.
- Progression
- 6 serves to the wide cone — record how many land inside the target zone.
- 6 serves to the T cone — same record.
- Add the +1: coach feeds the return short cross-court; you drive to the far cone.
- Score 10 points: serve + first ball must both hit target to win the point.
- Standard
- Beginner 3/10 · Club 5/10 · Performance 7/10 or better.
Your Topball player manual
Issued by email once your booking is confirmed, then updated as you progress. Six sections, written for the player in front of us — printable and ready for your bag.
Level, dominant patterns, physical notes and the two technical priorities we will work on first.
PTR-aligned key positions for serve, forehand, backhand, volley and overhead — written in plain cues you can self-check.
Twelve drills with reps, targets and progressions: feed drills, live-ball rallies, serve targets and movement ladders.
Key phrases for instructions, match talk, between-point routines and self-coaching — the same language set used in the English Through Tennis manual.
Warm-up sequence, between-point recovery, changeover checklist and a one-page tactical plan template.
Session-by-session record sheets so improvement is visible — the same format as the Aide Mémoire Tennis Playbook.