Nick in South Africa - The Power of Sports

Participant

Nick

Programme

Internship

Country

🇿🇦 South Africa

Duration

2.5 weeks

Short bio

My name is Nick, I’m 20 years old and I’m currently doing the Sport and Physical Activity course. In my free time I do a lot of sport (fitness/boxing).

I’ll carry the experience of South Africa with me forever; I still think back to South Africa every day. I’m grateful that The Power of Sports gave me the opportunity to do volunteer work here!

How satisfied were you with the support from Holland?

I’m very happy with the support; everything was perfectly arranged!

Transport
Our transport was very well organised. I got my return flight ticket well in advance. In the country itself, transport was also well arranged by The Power of Sports, as they have their own buses.

When I arrived at the airport in South Africa, I was picked up straight away by a minibus from The Power of Sports. During my time doing my internship here, I never had any problems with transport. We had to go to several schools to teach, and we were taken from place to place every time we had to teach.

Schedule
At the accommodation itself we were told that you could choose from several sports to coach. It wasn’t only sport, there was also daycare, where you teach the children at school. After you’d chosen a sport/sports or daycare, you were put on a schedule. So they don’t make you do something you really don’t enjoy. If it turned out that something you’d chosen wasn’t as much fun as you’d hoped, you could talk about it and be moved to something else.

Free time
Besides the work, there was also room for free time to discover the country/culture. The organisation also arranged fun free-time activities at the accommodation, such as a games night. Activities weren’t only organised at the accommodation but also outside it, for example skydiving, bungee jumping or a safari.

Support
In South Africa there were coordinators who were easy to approach. If there was ever anything, you could always go to them.

My story

“All in all, I had a truly amazing time. Put together, it’s too much to tell and describe. I already miss it, and I’ll never forget the feeling I had there.”

Nick · internship in South Africa

Examples of days I experienced in South Africa.

On the first day, when we arrived, we were picked up from the airport and taken to our accommodation. when I arrived at the accommodation I was given a tour. The accommodation had quite a lot, for example a small gym, a swimming pool and a chill-out room with a pool table and dartboard. My sleeping place was fine too; I shared with a roommate, which was really nice. At the accommodation there were lots of nationalities: German, English, French, Dutch.

a day
we had a briefing and were given the task list for the different sports or daycare you’d be giving. After going through the task list, we went round the area to look at the grounds and the schools. When we got back, we practised coaching for the next day, which we did on each other. after that I had free time. On the first day I’d mentioned that I’m a boxer, and the group asked if I wanted to come along to the boxing gym in the area.

a day
I coached with the group at the schools for the first time. We had to teach 4 groups in total, and each lesson is 1 hour. The first lesson was learn to move with the really little children, and the other 3 lessons I taught netball. There are 2 of you at each lesson, and you can decide yourself how much you want to lead the class. On the first day you can stay a bit in the background, but after talking it through you can also take more initiative to lead the lesson. I noticed on the very first day that the children are super enthusiastic. Their smiles stretched from ear to ear.

A day.
we gave 4 lessons again that day; the first was learn to move and for the other 3 I taught football. Some of the children were good at football and some a bit less so, so you constantly have to adjust your level a little. In the evening we went to watch the football, as we had our own football team that plays against other clubs in the region.

on a day off
I went to the beach and went sandboarding with the group. when we got back in the evening, I did some training at the gym and to round off the day I sat round the campfire with the group.

a day
I handed out clothes I’d collected to 2 schools. The children/people were so happy with what I’d collected, and it was really lovely to see. On top of that I gave 2 sports lessons. After teaching we went back to our resort for half an hour, as we were heading straight off on safari. The safari was an unforgettable experience. I’d never seen an elephant, giraffe, lion and other animals so close up. We also stayed overnight at the safari, which was great fun too; we had a brilliant time as a group.

In short:
The trip was an unforgettable experience; this unique experience not only improved my teaching skills but also my social skills. I had lots of social interaction with my own group and the local people. I gained a better understanding of the people in the country. I’ve come to realise that I’ve got no reason to complain about my life and that I’ve really got it good.

This trip was more than a sporting experience. It was a journey of self-discovery, cultural exchange and personal development.