Sports Coaching And Community Development Detail

Sports Coaching And Community Development

The main focus of this programme is based on teaching community sports, either football or netball during the afternoons. Then this leaves your mornings free to take part in teaching, or other community activities available at the time of your programme.

Your afternoon sports activities will usually start around 2pm and finish around 5pm. During this time you can get involved in coaching and playing sport with a local team of mixed ages to gain good coaching experience. Matches can also be organised against other teams. Football is by far the most popular sport in Malawi, as in much of Africa, and Netball is also played by many of the girls; with the schools having teams for both sports. The football team and training sessions are well established, so if you choose to coach football you will be working alongside the local team coach. We are also training with a number of junior teams, which is equally as fun and rewarding and you will be involved with both, as required. The girls are keen to play netball and posts are installed in the sports area. You can get involved in training the teams, coaching and organising matches.

Other sports are also available and volunteers with particular skills, or interests, may help out with these i.e. basketball and volleyball.  As equipment for alternative sports is often limited, you may sometimes need to be creative to get the most out of the training.
Team sports are also a good opportunity to provide education on important issues, such as HIV/AIDS. These sports have a large following, so from time to time tournaments or sporting events are arranged to involve the local community and communicate a message or focus on a particular initiative.

Whilst you will not be forced to participate, you are expected to be flexible and assist where you are most needed when not coaching sports.  The sports volunteers really enjoy assisting with the teaching work at primary schools in the mornings and often the kids that you teach will be the same kids who attend afternoon sports sessions.
Please note: As a volunteer you will need to be creative and proactive to get involved - the schools are really in need of your help and with a bit of initiative and determination, you will have a rewarding experience.

Many of the schools are seriously under-funded and therefore any materials, or equipment, for example sports equipment, that you can take with you to help with lessons and activities that you are keen to be involved with are very welcome.

Before spending the afternoon coaching and assisting with various sporting activities, you will assist in the local community in various aspects during the course of the morning. You will rotate between the following community projects:

Assistant Primary School Teaching:

Your help is welcome teaching at the primary schools and you may be requested to assist with teaching academic subjects such as English, Math or Vocational Skills.

HIV/AIDS Orphan Care and Education

There are three orphan day care centers currently supporting approximately 40-80 young orphans and vulnerable children each, many of whom are affected by HIV/AIDS. You will be involved in a range of activities, which include some pre-school teaching to prepare them for their education ahead, helping with feeding each day, teaching the importance of health, nutrition and HIV/AIDS prevention.

In general, your day is primarily focused upon making the children smile and providing much needed love and support. You will be working typically from 8am until 11am each day.

Please Note: This centre is extremely under-funded and therefore, any extra donations and financial support you can raise would be very welcome. For example, £20 will buy enough grain to feed the children for nearly a month!

Building Projects:

Assist in building and maintenance project work in local communities.