If you are really into sport, and it’s perhaps something that you want to continue with your career and become a coach or a sports instructor, you may want to consider a slightly different path to the more traditionally taken one of going to university and studying a sports degree.
Often going to university can be an excellent choice, if you want to work within sport but remain at an academic or research level within the organising bodies behind sporting clubs or events. However, if you want to be a sports coach or teacher but haven’t had any experience of this other than being part of a club yourself, then it can be a good idea to become immediately stuck in and take on some volunteer coaching first. This is a good thing to do as it can tell you whether you like coaching, which is something that is quite important to know when you are considering what you want to do with your future. But also, it can show you that you may not perhaps need to go to University before you start work, as you will have gained many necessary skills and leadership qualities through your volunteering beforehand. Often with sports coaching, you can gain a qualification through college or through a club, so you can get hands on experience whilst you work towards your qualification. And if you have had some valuable work experience abroad, you will already be halfway there!
For some, going to University is the right choice and some are even lucky enough to be offered a scholarship to study sports while playing for the university team. However, for others, it is unnecessary and something that they don’t mind missing out on. Now that fee prices are rising, and the cost of living increases, some are finding it to be a better option to go straight into work and gain a qualification while working. Training to become a sports coach can be done in this way, so you don’t have to be out of pocket while you work towards what you want to achieve.
If you want to do some sports coaching, either because it’s your passion or because you also want it to lead into your career you can go to a number of countries abroad to do so. Of course it goes without saying that you don’t have to leave the country in order to do some volunteer sports coaching; but if you do go abroad then you are less likely to be competing with already qualified contemporaries, and you are more likely to be able to take the lead and gain some fantastic independent skills that will stand you in good stead when you return. You can travel to South Africa, Fiji, and the Maldives on a Frontier volunteer project and get fully involved in teaching local children to play a variety of sports. It is a chance to change some children’s lives and do something memorable, but also a chance to develop your skills as a coach and give you something very valuable to come home with and use to become a qualified coach, without going to university.
Author Ellie Cambridge works for Frontier, an international non-profit volunteering NGO that runs more than 300 volunteering projects and ethical adventure trails around the globe. She can be found blogging on Frontier's Gap Year Blog or posting on theFrontier Official Facebook page.
