Volunteer Abroad in Costa Rica, international experience in teaching, care, conservation and Spanish-language placements

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Volunteer Teaching Sports to Children in Costa Rica

Coaching soccer in Costa Rica

Sports volunteers in Costa Rica are based in schools in and around Liberia, the capital of Guanacaste province. Teaching Sports is a great way to get involved in the local community and to inspire the next generation of young Costa Ricans to lead a healthy and active lifestyle.

Many of the schools we work with are underfunded and are unable to employ a full-time or even part-time physical education teacher, so as a volunteer teacher you will fill the void. In these schools you will be the main teacher during the sports lessons, sometimes in the presence of a member of school staff. You will either teach independently or teamed with another volunteer. In schools where there is a local PE teacher, our volunteers work as assistants to the local teacher.

You’ll have plenty of support from the Projects Abroad Sports Coordinator, who will be happy to give you advice and arranges regular workshops for you and the other sports volunteers, where you can share your ideas and plan new activities.

Coaching Sports in Schools with Projects Abroad

Stretching

Sports volunteers are involved in organizing a wide range of recreational activities for the children. The aim is for children to get fit and have fun, and to encourage them to develop a lasting habit for staying active and playing sports throughout their lives. There is a strong focus on general active games and activities that promote fitness, health, and wellbeing, such as dodge ball, hide and seek, and dancing. Many schools also teach different sports such as volleyball, athletics and of course soccer. Any ideas for games or sports you know particularly well can often be incorporated. Some schools have only limited space and facilities and coaching materials can be scare, so it is up to you to use your imagination and creativity to adapt the sports and games accordingly.

The majority of our Sports placements are in primary schools, with children aged between about 5 and 13 years old. We also have a couple of placements in high schools, working with students from about 11 to 18 years. If you are at a school with a local PE teacher, they will listen to your ideas for how to help coach the children. They will be eager to learn about any new techniques you can bring from your home country, as well as to have an extra pair of hands to help out. If you are at a school without its own PE teacher you will certainly be kept busy and the children will benefit greatly from your help.

Please let us know if you have any experience and are interested in taking on more responsibility in a school that lacks physical education staff, so we can match you to the most suitable placement.

Other Opportunities for Sports Projects in Costa Rica

Kids playing soccer

We can also arrange Sports volunteers to work at the local university, coaching sports to students from the ages of 18 and up. Volunteers work as an assistant to the head coach, helping out with sports such as swimming, soccer, and volleyball. Volunteers can also help teach weekly swimming lessons for young children and help with swimming lessons at a local high school a couple of times a week.

Our volunteers are sometimes asked to cooperate with the Ministry of Education on special sporting events. For example, volunteers have been judges at the Liberia stadium in a regional competition of provincial games. The volunteers helped arrange the logistics and Projects Abroad sponsored the event.

As a Sports volunteer you should be prepared to sometimes work evenings or weekends. You may also be asked to help with sports activities after school has finished in the afternoons and evenings and there may sometimes be matches scheduled on the weekends.

If you would like some extra work, the schools appreciate any help with English lessons, so if you are happy to help in this area too, please let us know.

The schools in Costa Rica have their main vacation from mid-December to mid-February, with a shorter break in July. Volunteers are able to travel or enjoy the festivities with their host family over the Christmas period, then from the first week of January we organize a variety of special community programs. These may include sports coaching, teaching at the Projects Abroad run language school, painting projects, and working with children at the care centers that are still open during the vacation period.

All volunteers on Teaching, Care, Sports, Journalism, or Spanish projects in Costa Rica have the opportunity to add a 7-Day Conservation Project to the end of their main placement. For more information visit our 7-Day Costa Rica Conservation Project page.