Were you screaming at the TV as Nicole Cooke battled to win the women’s road race?
Did you hold your breath as Andy Hodge & Co. inched past Australia in the coxless fours? If you did, you understand the power of sport!
As people have witnessed in this year’s Olympics, sport can do amazing things. It can make people laugh, cry, shout, smile, scream, but most of, come together. At Real Gap, we discovered the power of sport two years ago and have helped unleash it ever since.
You could use the power of sport to help underprivileged communities...
Every year, we send thousands of volunteers abroad, many of whom choose to help sport work its magic on underprivileged children. Our volunteers organise sports coaching sessions and competitions for all levels on their gap year. There’s a huge amount of undiscovered talent in Africa and Asia and some of the children you work with might go on to be professional sportspeople.
But for the most part, sport is magical because it gives neglected or poverty-stricken children something to concentrate on. And more importantly, something to smile and laugh about. Definitely something to be proud of.
You don't have to be on a par with Michael Phelps to unleash the power of sport!
Volunteers don’t have to be skilled at a sport to be a sports volunteer – just enthusiastic and willing to devote time to a project. The rewards are huge! If you enjoy sports and you’d like to put your energy to a worthwhile use, take a look at our gap year sports programmes below. Then, give a Real Gap travel advisor a call and let them tell you more about changing children’s lives.
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Just to put you in the picture - most of us take sports for granted, whether as a knock-around in the park or netball in PE lessons. Children in third world countries often don’t have that luxury – some have never had a proper football and have to make do with kicking scrunched up carrier bags.
This is a unique opportunity to reach and experience the heart of real South Africa in a small community near Cape Town and get involved with the children as you help with their sports activities at the school, one thing is for sure, their enthusiasm will be unbelievable!
Sample some of Africa’s exhilarating highlights. Camp in Kruger National Park with the big five, do a volunteer placement in Swaziland and learn to scuba dive in Mozambique. An adventure with a bit of everything!
Spend your time in Malawi introducing children to community sports and getting involved with community projects. Based in an idyllic but desperately poor country, you’ll make a real difference to young people’s lives.
Live ranch life to the full with activities such as horse riding, cattle gathering, branding, trail riding and ranch chores. Campfires and scenery straight from the big screen make it perfect for horse-loving travellers!
Keep young people off the streets with sports sessions. Coach football, netball, rounders or whatever you fancy – even the simplest drills will fire their enthusiasm! Get involved in successful conservation and construction projects, too.
Let sport work its magic on enthusiastic but deprived children in Swaziland. Organise sports days and run training sessions in football, tennis, netball and volleyball – or all four. Don’t be surprised if the children mob you!
Immerse yourself in a very different, very welcoming but very poor community and help with academic lessons and sports coaching. Perfect for people wanting to put their interest in a range of sports towards a worthwhile use.
