South Africa – Cape Town Physical Education and Sports

Please Note: This program is temporarily unavailable. Check out our alternative programs in Africa or schedule a one-on-one call with one of our expert volunteer advisors.

 

Share your passion for sports with children who have had few opportunities to learn and develop their skills in a structured yet fun environment. Inspire children to set goals and stay active, both on and off the sports field.

Program Highlights:

  • Gain experience working with children
  • Be a role model for local youth
  • Help encourage an interest in physical health and wellbeing
  • Join an additional volunteer initiative such as teaching or health care
  • Experience the beauty of Cape Town and its surrounds

 

Your Schedule at a Glance (Minimum two-week commitment):

Arrival Day, Monday: Arrive at Cape Town International Airport CPT. You will be met at the airport by the local team and taken to settle in to your accommodations in Muizenberg. There will be a full introduction to the program once all volunteers have arrived.

Days 1- 4, Tuesday-Friday: Rewarding volunteer work. Volunteers can choose to work solely at sports development and after-school coaching placements, or they can work at these placements and join additional placements. Additional volunteer placements in Cape Town include teaching and health care initiatives.

Days 5-6, Saturday-Sunday: Weekends are free for participants explore Cape Town. Cage dive with great white sharks, hike up Table Mountain, and enjoy!

Remaining Weeks: The remaining weeks will follow the schedule of working Monday-Friday, and having Saturdays and Sundays free. Departures are on a Monday.

 

Please note: During school holidays activities may differ from the usual schedule, but the work will be equally engaging and rewarding. Please ask your placement advisor for exact dates.

 

Click to see additional volunteering projects in South Africa.

 

Location icon Location of the Project: Cape Town and surrounding area, South Africa

Project length Project length: Min 2 weeks – Max 12 weeks

Arrival Airport Arrival Airport: Cape Town International Airport (CPT)

Volunteer Work Volunteer Work:  Work with children, sports coaching, community development

Age Age:  18-80. Age Exceptions: this project accepts volunteers who are 16 and 17 years old with signed documentation from a parent or guardian.

Number of Volunteers Number of Volunteers: Up to 6 international volunteers

 

What’s Included

Accommodations Accommodations: Shared room in a fully furnished house in Observatory, South Africa

Food Food: Three meals a day (excluding weekends)

Airport Transfers Airport Transfers:  Included on arrival and departure days

Orientation Orientation: Included upon arrival and includes introductions to staff members, fellow volunteers, Cape Town, and the local communities.

Support Support: Comprehensive and professional pre-departure travel guidance, 24/7 GoEco emergency hotline, experienced local field team.

 

What’s not Included

Flights, visas (if required), travel health insurance, meals on weekends, personal expenses

Voted one of the world’s top tourist destinations Cape Town boasts an incredibly wide range of attractions. The area hosts several unique cultural and heritage sites, such as Robben Island, Table Mountains, and the V&A Waterfront. As a city alive with creativity, color, sounds and tastes, Cape Town also offers an abundance of outdoor activites, from hiking, to surfing, to water skiiing.

The area of Cape Town in which this project takes place is called Cape Flats. This area encompasses a number of townships, including Khayelitsha, Langa, and Philippi. These communities are a melting pot of different cultures, ethnicities and languages. Yet across these differences, there are many parallels such as poverty, unemployment and HIV/AIDS.

 

In 1994 post-Apartheid, the South African government removed physical education from the school curriculum. While this course has since then been reintroduced, it only forms a small part of school curriculums and daily schedules. As a result, students’ physical activity is very low. The need for intervention remains great as sport and exercise is an integral part of childhood development and helps to increase concentration and keep children off the streets and out of trouble.

This project aims to encourage children in the struggling communities of Cape Flats to engage in fun, beneficial physical activity. Volunteers will have the opportunity to become role models and friends to the children they coach as they instill self-confidence and the importance of leadership, teamwork, and communication. On this project, you will have the option to work solely on the sports development project, or you may also choose to volunteer part-time with the sports development project and devote the rest of your time to teaching and health care initiatives.

Physical education: With this project, you will work alongside the school’s physical education instructor and be responsible for any of the following:

  • Help develop lesson plans and games
  • Design fitness tests and drills to improve and track physical fitness levels
  • Share any of your own personal skills or passions in the area with the coach and students

 

After-school coaching: Become a mentor and friend to these children while providing them with after-school activities to keep them active. With this program you will:

  • Plan fun and active games (think obstacle courses and drills) for the children to enjoy
  • Play and supervise sports games, including soccer, cricket, field hockey, or basketball

 

Volunteers who choose to volunteer part-time with the sports development program will assist with other initiatives in the community, including:

  • Teaching: work with teachers or provide one-on-one attention to children struggling to keep up in school.
  • Healthcare: assist caregivers prepare medication and vitamins for children affected by HIV/AIDS.

 

A typical day: Your day will begin at 7:00 am with a healthy breakfast before you head out to your morning project at 8:30 am. After lunch at 12:30 pm, it’s time to resume your afternoon tasks. Your work day will end at 5:00 pm, at which point you will return to the volunteer house for a debriefing and to discuss the schedule for the next day. Dinner is served at 6:00 pm, followed by free time to relax, watch a movie, go to trivia nights, or head off to one of the local pubs, coffee shops or restaurants.

 

Holidays: During school holidays activities may differ from the usual schedule, but the work will be equally engaging and rewarding. Please ask your placement advisor about exact dates.

Internet icon Internet: WiFi is available for small fee.

Laundry icon Laundry: A weekly laundry service is available for a small fee.

Accommodations icon Accommodations: Volunteers will stay in a fully furnished, comfortable house in Muizenberg that is just five minutes from the beach and half an hour away from the Cape Town city center. Volunteers will share a room with 5-7 other volunteers of the same gender and bathrooms are communal. The house is staffed with both a housekeeper and cook, and volunteers have access to a locked safe to store their valuables. Daily transportation between accommodations and project site is provided.

Food icon Food: Three meals a day are provided. Breakfast consists of hot or cold cereal, toast, coffee and tea, and is available on a serve-yourself basis. Lunch and dinner are prepared by the chef at the volunteer house. The chef has the weekends off, and therefore during these days the volunteers will need to purchase and prepare their own food.

 

Please take note of this project’s minimum requirements:

  • Minimum age of 17
  • Police clearance
  • Basic English
  • Passion for sports
  • Ability to work well with others
  • Immunizations (please consult your local travel clinic)

During your free time, you are welcome to explore any of the various exciting outdoor activities or culturally-enriching sites Cape Town has to offer. Past volunteers have enjoyed:

  • Exploring Africa’s “Big 5” game reserve
  • Swimming with Penguins at Boulder Beach
  • The hop-on, hop-off Cape Town sightseeing bus
  • Hiking or taking a cable car to the top of Table Mountain
  • Cage diving with sharks
  • Sky diving
  • Shopping at the V&A Waterfront

 

Add on our eight-day Garden Route Road Trip to enhance your South Africa experience!

Volunteer Experiences

Want to join this program?