Coach sports in South Africa - South Africa

Product Details

If you feel more at home on a pitch than in a classroom and you want to make a difference, a structured and professional coaching placement in this village will certainly allow you to make your mark. And have a lot of fun in the process!

For sports lovers everywhere there is no better way to volunteer then sharing your passion with equally enthusiastic children under the sunny skies of South Africa! You don’t need any qualifications, just a love of sport and an enthusiasm to share what you know.

Teaching through sports is valuable on many different levels including teaching English, social interaction and increasing confidence and self awareness for the children. Sport promotes a natural feel-good factor and a healthy high. By allowing these children to embrace sports and improve their individual performance you give them direction which will have positive roll-over effects on the rest of their lives. If you are interested in community sports development too, you can get the teachers involved, enable schools to compete against each other, get the parents down to watch!

The school

This placement is based in the Limpopo region in the small town of Giyane. Khanyisa School is a community-minded school set in a particularly beautiful location opposite a nature park. The school was recently allocated a grant from the lottery to build and improve their sporting facilities for the children of the school and for the use of children from neighbouring schools which are particularly poor. Khanyisa school is now the proud host of a grand sports complex with an athletic field, huge pool and all the necessary equipment for a fully fledged sporting programme. What the school lacked however was an adequate number of sport coaches, which is where you come in! This is a very special school looking for volunteers with compassion and a relaxed personality.

The sports

If you have particular experience, expertise or passion for any sport not listed let us know because it can probably be arranged!

- Football
- Rugby
- Netball
- Hockey
- Basketball
- Swimming
- Gymnastics
- Cricket
- Volleyball
- Athletics
- Tennis

The placement

Travellers has recently taken on a professional and experienced sports coordinator in South Africa to set up this excellent coaching programme.

Khanyisa is by far the frontrunner in the Limpopo region for its sporting achievements. People with a drive for sport will be warmly welcomed and encouraged to ‘take over’ the logistics of forming teams and even leagues within the surrounding area’s schools. You will concentrate on your chosen sport but you will have the option to coach other sports as well.

You will see the same children on a regular basis so that both you and they can really get the most out of the training sessions. You will probably coach the same group of children around twice a week.

We are looking into establishing links between the school and local sporting clubs. This will mean that you may well be able to train with local coaches and join weekend club matches if you wish – really becoming a part of the community. There will be a good balance between coaching and personal time during your placement; it is most likely that you will coach Monday to Friday for two hours, leaving your evenings and weekends free for travel, relaxation and fun!

As well as coaching the local children we want to encourage our volunteer coaches to do more than that. Below is a list of extra ways that we can make a difference:

- If you have any expertise in other areas related to sport (such as refereeing or nutrition) these can be used to help educate the children on how to better their game.

- Using coaching techniques that the children may never have experienced before is another way to develop sporting abilities. By using blackboard sessions to talk about the way the game is played and reviewing either professional matches or recordings of the children’s games we can give a greater understanding of the way the game is played. The school has good facilities and you can use video cassettes, computers and other facilities to help you in the classroom setting.

- You may want to organise local tournaments and matches between the schools.

-You may have skills in writing training programmes for the children to make them better players.

During the project you will hopefully achieve the following with the children:

- Introduction to the basic skills of the game
- Introduction to the basic rules of the game
- Introduction to basic attacking/defensive drills
- Introduction of some basic fitness to prepare them for the season
- Introduce the players to warming up, cooling down and stretching
- Introduce them to team work
- At the end of your placement you will write a basic report for each sport you coached at each school identifying key areas. This will be passed on to the next volunteers to ensure a smooth continuity after you have left.

Accommodation

All volunteers will live together in a house owned by the school which is situated in the residential area of Kremetart, about a 10-minute drive from the school. The house consists of three bedrooms with bunk beds, a bathroom with toilet, a separate shower room, a kitchen and a lounge/diner area with TV. A few of the teachers from the school also live nearby.

In Kremetart there is a basic grocery shop as well as a small local pub with a big screen TV. Other than this, socialising revolves around the many braais - the name for the legendary South African barbeque!

Transport

The school will provide your transport to and from school each day or you will get lifts with the other local teachers.

And for fun!

Tennis courts, squash courts, large outdoor pool, internet, games and many other facilities are available for use at the school for your pleasure! Not to mention the limitless weekend travel opportunities...!