GAP Year in South Africa

1. YDS VOLUNTEER SPORTS COACHING PLACEMENTS

Nelson Mandela Bay (Port Elizabeth), South Africa

4 week – 12 week sessions

From 450GBP.


1.1 Sport in South Africa

Having been awarded the hosting of the 2010 FIFA World Cup (the first African nation to do so) and being a great cricket and rugby nation, the love for sport in South Africa could not be greater, and nowhere more so than in the coastal city of Port Elizabeth (PE). The townships surrounding PE are full of keen and often talented young players and although the passion never fades, the opportunities to play and develop in a well-structured environment are very limited. Some sports have a tendency or tradition of being associated with people from wealthy and affluent backgrounds. And, while South Africa has had many top players over the years in all sporting codes, few have yet come from the poorer areas and townships, which sadly still have very little infrastructure in place to allow these enthusiasts to develop in the game. Our programmes as well have initiated a notable change in this regard. Also, by working as a sport coach in South Africa during your gap year, career break or volunteer holiday, you will contribute to enabling children to enjoy the fun and educational sides of sport through structured trainings, whilst using the power of sport to instill life skills and raise awareness on a wide variety of social and health topics, which most children have to face daily. We are dedicated to sustainable development. This is why part of the fee you pay goes towards buying decent equipment for beneficiary organisations in South Africa. You will often use this equipment during your project and it is usually left with the community when you leave. In some cases, an equipment donation may not be appropriate so a financial contribution is made instead.

1.2 Your Placement & Activities

The children you work with are largely centered in the so-called "black townships" and "coloured northern areas" that skirt the city. The YDS placements will mainly involve working with informal township and street leagues, which means there might at times be a lack of organisation, seen from a "European perspective" at least! However, so long as you have the ability to accept that things may not always go as planned; this really will be an exciting and rewarding placement as you will be making a real impact on grassroots sport and youth development. The first stage as a coach is to help organise and run training clinics and matches for the children, as well as providing them with decent sporting equipment. This is great for forming relationships with the players and developing your own confidence. The second stage will be planning tournaments, holiday camps, motivational talks and a variety of other educational activities that incorporate both fun playing and the promotion of health and social awareness and knowledge. Though the focus is on sport, the priority is foremost on developing personal life skills by equipping children with the necessary tools to face daily challenges, feel empowered and advocate responsible citizenship. Obviously, children who are lucky to have special talent should be identified as we work closely with sports academies. With transformation in sport high on the South African political and sports agenda, you might find individuals who will form South Africa's next generation of professional athletes. As previously mentioned, it is important to understand the concept of "Youth Development through Sport" (YDS), which is very different from "Sport Development". The emphasis is not on developing Africa's next international stars but about getting alongside children from less-advantaged backgrounds and building relationships conducive for the success and sustainability of the projects and their intended goals and objectives. It is from here that you will start to give enthusiastic players the chance to play the sport they love in an organised and fun environment. Whatever your background, be assured that you will be able to offer something positive to the children and sports projects you work on.
Placements are either in-school or after-school. You will get a taste of both, each one having its own specificities. Generally, with the in-school placements you will interact with a greater number of children, but will have to do with a more counted amount of time, which limits the project in terms of the in-depth implementation of the curriculum. You will change classes and schools regularly, enabling you to reach out to many more children, but making it more difficult to develop to sustain the relationships. Currently, our program reaches some 14'000 children in 25 schools. On the other hand, the after-school placements are more street outreach-based. The context is therefore less scholar and more streetwise. You will interact with fewer children (we currently have some 400 overall beneficiaries), but more regularly. This leads to a bigger effort needing to be put on full curriculum implementation, thus increasing the levels of interaction with the participants.

1.3 Your Role

We welcome sports volunteers who enjoy playing or coaching sport, be it socially with friends, representing your school, club or university team or even as far as holding coaching qualifications. You will work under the supervision, leadership and in close collaboration with our permanent local staff. Being a sports coach in South Africa will mean you are responsible for running and supervising all trainings and matches for the players. Importantly as well, you will be a conduit for the proper implementation of our YDS curriculum, which you will receive prior training on. The project is larger than sport, it is about developing responsible youth, reducing at-risk and delinquency behaviours, keeping children off the streets in a fun but serious and consistent way, as well as bridging social divides, creating platforms of opportunity and enhancing awareness and knowledge on a wide range of key social and health issues. This is done through specific games, workshops, motivational talks, group discussions, events, holiday camps, knowledge and self-assessment tests and promoting a positive conduct day after day, all of which you will required to actively participate in. Any other creative ideas you may wish to share will always be welcome. Finally, you may be required to assist with the administrative management of the projects, which includes keeping attendance registers, equipment and other stock counts, completing participants' profiles, getting parental consent forms signed, overseeing the feeding schemes and all other tasks related to the proper implementation of the YDS curriculum, its monitoring and evaluation systems. This may sound daunting but you will soon realise that a big part of your role will simply be to act as a role model, by displaying a positive, vibrant, professional and pro-active attitude. You will have an understanding of basic social / health knowledge that the youth desperately need to gain, so share as much as you can. Sport wise, by introducing the basics of team play, movement, position holding, general health and fitness - usually in fun, group sessions - your players will develop rapidly. The rewards are great because the raw talent is often there, but the experience of a team structure is not. Children are willing and eager, and as your sensitive approach boosts their self-confidence and self-esteem, you will be able to develop quality relationships which will benefit both you and the children. You will also have solid support from the other volunteers, our in-country staff and local coaches and will be able to exchange views and knowledge on training methods and ideas that you might need.