Coaching Football in South India is a rewarding experience both for you and the children. The kids are wonderful to teach and incredibly enthusiastic about learning sport.You'll usually work with all age groups, in secondary and primary schools, and your coaching may be in three sessions of morning, afternoon and evening. You may also be able to coach at a local sports club. You can coach a variety of other sports, your choice is not limited to football alone. However, the other sports will be as an extra curricular activity and you'll combine the sports with teaching in the schools.

PROJECT OVERVIEW:

The children turn up for training each day eager to learn new skills and play a game. Coaching has immeasurable indirect benefits for the chi

ldren, such as health awareness, increased confidence and social skills.

Travellers works with different types of schools and also a sports club. Some of the schools are well off but most are public schools and usually very poor. Most of the schools have some basic facilities, such as football and cricket fields; however, some don't have nets and only a couple of footballs. Although materials and resources may be scarce, the enthusiasm of the students and colleagues more than makes up for any hardships.

The Sports Club is for students aged 10 – 20 years of age and are for the football students from various schools in the area. Because most schools do not have the facilities to hold sports on their grounds they arrange for the students to participate in sports before and after school hours at these sports clubs. Coaching is held in the mornings from 6am – 8am and in the afternoon from 4pm – 6pm.

You don't need any qualifications to do this project, just a good knowledge of the game and lots of enthusiasm!

WORK CONTENT:

Coaching is usually done in three sessions, morning, afternoon and evening, at three different venues. You may work in secondary and primary schools and you will normally help out with all age groups and you will most likely be in popular demand everywhere. The Principal/sports director and/or relevant teachers at the school and sports clubs will liaise with you about your coaching assignments. Our Organiser will also be happy to assist you where necessary.

At the end of the last term, Tim Roberts, a Travellers volunteer who was coaching football at the time was keen on organising a tournament between two of the schools. With help from another volunteer who was coaching in addition to his teaching English project, they put together the tournament with Travellers sponsoring the event. It was a roaring success with the winning team receiving trophies and medals and the runners up also were handed medals.

Coaching football is not available during the holidays except for the Summer Vacation (please see the approximate dates below). At this time some of the schools hold classes for about 40 to 60 children in Summer Camps and our Teaching volunteers hold informal classes. These Summer Camps actually take place in the school grounds and are an opportunity to give more informal lessons, perhaps combining them with playing a sport or putting together a music concert or play – much more relaxed and not quite so structured. Alternatively, you can use the holidays to tour around the country and sightsee.

School Holidays: Holidays are in the latter part of December and running into the beginning of January. Dates are approximate: they may change unexpectedly as the Government decides to change them!

► First Term Vacation: 1st to 5th October
► Pooja Holiday: 8th to 9th October
► Diwali Holiday: 25th to 28th October
► Winter Holiday: 21st December to 3rd January
► Second Term Vacation: 24th December to 1st January
► Pongal Holiday: 13th to 15th January
► Summer Vacation: 1st April to 1st June

FREE COACHING MANUALS:

As a volunteer sports coach with Travellers, you have access to a large number of coaching manuals for each sport - these manuals have been produced in-house by our Sports Manager. These manuals are very useful and will help you to plan coaching sessions for your students.