Sport is a beautiful tool for both social and cultural change and development, bringing communities together and creating new and exciting opportunities for children and young people.
If you want to spend your gap year doing something rewarding and have a passion for sport, these programs are ideal for you.
There are paid and voluntary sports coaching opportunities available all around the world and probably also near where you live. Popular sports to instruct include football, rugby, cricket, netball, tennis, basketball and athletics – just to name a few.
Popular Sports Instructor Programs
Summer Camp Canada
• 4 months
• £795
Summer Camp in the UK
• 4-5 months
• Price from £795
Summer Camp USA
• 2-3 months
• Price from £995
Surf Mentor in Cape Town
• 2-4 weeks
• Price from £1,395
Community Work in Cape Town
• 2-12 weeks
• Price from £1,545
Sports Coaching Jobs
Are you looking for the perfect paid gap year job or long term career? Short and long term paid jobs in the sport industry are available in so many countries around the world. Imagine getting paid to coach football, this certainly beats most 9-5 office jobs!
As a sports coach, you can help provide opportunities for enthusiastic young players and adults to practise and improve their sporting skills in an organised and fun environment as well as teaching them personal life skills which will equip them for the rest of their lives!
Popular places to find paid work as a sports coach include summer camps, boarding schools, hotels and resorts, cruise ships or with a sports club. Summer jobs working in the USA coaching American children are really popular with students and graduates.
If you fancy a career on the slopes, you could take a ski instructor course and find work winter jobs at ski resorts. You’ll get to work in spectacular settings doing one of the most fun jobs in the world in places like Canada, USA, Italy, France, Switzerland and Austria.
For most paid jobs you will need to have experience and or courses to prove you are suitable for the role.
Volunteer Sports Coaching Jobs
Spending time volunteering on a gap year is a really fantastic opportunity to learn more about other cultures and people, and help children develop their skills.
A sports development project on your gap year or career break is not only a great way to travel, have fun, experience a new culture and improve your CV, but also to give something amazing back to children for whom sport is both a passion and a chance to improve their current situation.
Popular places to help include Africa, Asia and South America but you can find placements all around the world. There are also award winning sports development organisations who offer you the chance to coach sport in paradise on your gap year, in places like Australia, Fiji and Mexico!
Volunteer coaching gives you the chance to work with other likeminded people and coach sports to help children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Make your gap year mean something and change lives through sport!
FAQ
What Will I Be Doing?
Under the leadership of local staff you will usually work five days a week coaching children of various ages, normally between nine and 16, on both in-school and after-school placements at various schools.
You will normally work with children who are from disadvantaged backgrounds and you will become so much more than just a coach to them. As their mentor and friend, you will lead them on a sports training program as well as teaching parts of a life-skills curriculum designed to be both enjoyable and educational.
The majority of your placement will involve running training clinics and matches for the children as well as providing them with decent sporting equipment. You may also get the opportunity to organise tournaments, holiday camps and various educational activities depending on when you travel and local school holidays. Over the course of your project, you will see the children develop and improve under your guidance, making this an exceptionally rewarding project!
Whilst you are on the project there will also be a range of exciting activities on weekends, for example, if you join a placement in South Africa you could do a game drive at a local game reserve, trip to the famous Jeffrey’s Bay where you can go dune boarding for an extra fee, as well as taking all of our volunteers to watch the terrifying bungy jumping which again you have the opportunity to get involved in for an extra fee.
Requirements
For most positions you don’t need to be a qualified coach or star player, just be enthusiastic and passionate. Most placements are tailored to your needs and ability. It’s your gap year and your placement, so if you would rather only coach children on grassroots projects, work mainly with the adult and national set ups or take more of an assistant role it is entirely up to you and organisations will work to make your time perfect for you!
