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Sports Travel During Your Gap Year
Taking part in sports during your gap year is a great way to have a real focus to your trip. Whether you want to train, coach, instruct or volunteer there are plenty of sporty options for you to choose from.
You could share your passion with young people throughout Africa, Asia and Latin America in areas that are crying out for enthusiastic coaches to help improve the level of sport. You don’t have to be qualified or experienced, you just need to have a passion for sport and people! Often you will be bringing something totally new to these communities by recognising the kid’s talents and harnessing their skills. Your role is to bring their talents into a team – you never know, you might just discover the next sporting star!
Volunteer sports coaches are needed in many destinations. In Africa for example there is a passion for all balls games from football to netball, basketball to hockey. South Africa and Ghana offer some of the best opportunities for volunteer sports coaches to really get stuck in and start making a difference. Alex Bennet recalls his experience whilst in Malawi “One of the children had so much fun playing football that I gave him an old pair of trainers I had. It wasn’t much for me to give, but meant the world to him”.
If you want to stun your friends with impressive sports skills, then a sports academy is a great option. You can learn directly from top coaches in some of the world finest sporting facilities. There are sports academies for the most popular sports, such as football, rugby, golf, cricket and tennis, and also some exciting but less mainstream sports – martial arts, scuba diving, Thai boxing, surfing and rock climbing. As Grant Oliver recalls, joining an overseas sports training programme is a cultural experience too “at weekends we would go to the temple to watch members of the family that we train with fight. What an experience. The Thai people are the nicest people in the world and they love Thai boxing. It’s a family event”.
If you want to take sport that step further, then consider joining a sports instructor course. Whether you chose to qualify as a PADI dive master, or become a snowboard or ski instructor you will find the experience rewarding and exciting. This can lead to a new career as your become a professional in your field. There are courses to suit all sorts of interests with examples including surf instructor courses, and horse riding instructor courses.
Real Gap offers a wealth of opportunity when it comes to sports on your gap year. Choose from trips from two weeks to twelve months. www.realgap.co.uk