Neil Barnes: Football Coaching and Playing Project in South Africa
Neil Barnes spent a few weeks as a sports coach in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Read his account of a typical day below; handy if you’re thinking of volunteering in your gap year…
“In the summer after my graduation I was bored out of my skull. University was finished and with no idea of what I wanted to do with my life, I scoured the internet for inspiration. A few friends from uni coached football in the USA each summer (I stayed at home and suffered working in retail) and it had me thinking: maybe I should do something similar?
It was an idea at least and I felt comfortable teaching sports, but the USA didn’t really appeal to me. I wanted somewhere different. After many a Google-search, I settled on five weeks in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, teaching sports at local schools and sport centres.
I was one of 25 volunteers on the project. All of us stayed in the same hostel, which had Sky TV and a swimming pool: result! We had the weekends to travel or go out partying, but each of our working days went a bit like this…
