a: what’s your favourite ball sport?
A; I like basketball. I really enjoy watching the NBA games on TV.
B: who’s your favourite player?
A; I don’t really have one but I support Huston.
B; do they have a good team?
A; I think they do, but I’m biased¹. They have a good manager and a great coach.
B; I can’t keep up with the game. The players play so quickly that I can hardly see what they are doing.
A; I have the same problem. The players are really very skilful². I wish I could play that well.
B; you play for an amateur team, don’t you?
A; yes, I do. We’re doing pretty well this season. We’ve won most of our games, but we’re not top of the league table.
B; how many more games are there this season?
A; we’ve got four more games. I hope we can win all of them.

Intermediate
A; what’s the difference between football and rugby?
B; those tow games are quite different. First, there’s the size of the teams. In football, a team has 11 players. In rugby there are 15 players on each team. The biggest difference is that in football, only the goalkeeper can use his hands. In rugby, the ball is usually carried forward by players, though kicking is permitted.
A; in rugby, players pass the ball by throwing it to team mates, don’t they?
B; that’s right. However, players can only pass the ball backwards³. They cannot pass the ball forwards to their team mates. That’s a foul⁴.
A; I know how goals are scored in football, but how about in rugby?
B; if a team carries the ball over the goal line, they score points. A team can also score points by kicking the ball between two tall posts at each end of the pitch.
A; there’s a lot more physical contact in rugby, isn’t there?
B; yes. Players usually need to bring a player down to stop him form moving forward with the ball. This is called”tackling”, as in football.
A: the ball is a different shape in rugby, isn’t it?
B; yes. It’s not perfectly⁵ round like a football. A rugby ball is oval in shape. There’s a match on TV this afternoon. Why don’t you watch it with me? I’ll try to explain the rules and tactics while we’re watching.
A; ok.

Words
Football pitch football volleyball rugby basketball baseball
basketball court referee batsman team player goal point shoot penalty score