Hockey Coaching Volunteer Programmes in South Africa

As a sport, hockey is growing in popularity as more people begin to participate throughout the world. If you love hockey, you might have considered becoming a coach but aren't sure how to get the necessary experience to start your career. If you have participated in a college coaching certification, you might know of some local schools or sports centres that take volunteers, but for many people, finding the facilities in their local neighbourhoods can be challenging.

If you want to gain some initial hands-on experience, or want to supplement any experience you may already have, you should consider volunteering to coach abroad in South Africa in one of the structured programmes available. Programme length and activities vary, but volunteers get the chance to learn skills and develop a background teaching the sport, which will be invaluable to a future career in the UK.

Heading to South Africa

Those who decide to coach abroad on one of the volunteer programmes to South Africa will be working with children in local townships who might have little or no experience playing hockey. While this might seem like a huge task to take on, new recruits might work with more experienced professional hockey coaches to help introduce them to the necessary skills required for teaching. During the course of your stay you may get the chance to work with local kids to set up tournaments and develop training programmes.

The children of South Africa are, without exception, enthusiastic and grateful to the volunteers who coach abroad, because without them, they would not have access to the equipment and the fields to play hockey. These excellent projects benefit the coaches being trained and also the children who participate, making a genuine difference in the local communities.

Hockey in South Africa

Though most people don't think of hockey when they think of South Africa, the national team has actually shown great skill and talent at almost all levels, including at the Olympic level. Since South African hockey has been so successful at the Olympics, many South Africans have developed a passion for the sport, which unfortunately has not been matched by local and national funding initiatives. (Though many sports - such as rugby and cricket - aren't well funded, hockey is even less so.) This makes the volunteer programme even more important, since equipment can be expensive and access to the sport is almost impossible without volunteer projects like this.

Location

The volunteer programmes place people who want to coach abroad in the South African city of Port Elizabeth, which is on a beautiful coastal region near Algoa Bay. Here, visitors have access to the beautiful ocean, and many people take up scuba diving, snorkelling, or surfing in their free time. There are also wildlife parks and reserves, including Addo Elephant Park, where volunteers have the opportunity to see some of the spectacular native fauna.