Voluntourism: Sports Coaching in Ethiopia

Traveling abroad offers many opportunities to volunteer your skills to help developing communities and children in need. A great way to do so is to use athletics to help teach kids the value of teamwork and discipline. For your next voluntourism trip, consider becoming a sports coach in Ethiopia with Projects Abroad.

Their track and field program combines athletics with in-school physical education classes to help ensure kids in Ethiopia understand the importance of hard work and living a healthy lifestyle. You can choose to participate in both aspects of the program or just one, it’s entirely up to you.

The athletic training for the track and field program takes place three mornings a week at one of the different centers and works with one of 20 athletes working there. They’ll help train you on how to properly teach the kids about track and field, while also preparing you for an official road race event.

You’ll take what you learn there and use it to help teach kids ages 11 to 16 the basics of sports like basketball, volleyball, soccer and aerobics. They won’t force you into teaching on your own if you aren’t comfortable with it; there will always be someone else to help you lead. Unless you’re confident in your abilities, then you’re free to craft your own lesson for the kids.

The kids get to cycle through the different sports to see which they like most, while you engage with them and help foster self-esteem and confidence. Meanwhile, you’ll be gaining a ton of work experience that could help you down the road.