Voluntary Community Sports Coaching for Girls

Voluntary Community Sports Coaching for Girls

This Community Girls' Sports Project needs volunteers with athletics experience, leadership skills, sports coaching and discipline skills and would welcome any volunteers with youth counselling experience. The project combines sports with weekly sessions to discuss social issues relative to the needs of the girls. All ages of volunteers are welcome, whether you join the project during a gap year, in the summer holidays or as part of a career break.

The Aseibu Community Girl’s Sports project was started in 2010 by Projects Abroad volunteers and local community members. Aseibu is located just outside Cape Coast on the south coast of Ghana and is considerably less developed than Cape Coast itself.

There is a severe lack of health and sexual education for local teenagers and a great inequality between genders. The community already had an after-school sports programme for boys, but there were no enrichment programmes for the girls in the community. In an effort to provide extra-curricular activities with a focus on social development and empowerment for the girls of Aseibu, the project was taken before the Aseibu chief and council where it received wide approval.

The project has also included school and home visits to make the community aware of the positive impact the programme is making.

Coach Sports to Girls with Projects Abroad

The programme currently attracts between about 40 to 60 girls as well as some younger children who have nothing to do after school. Projects Abroad volunteers work alongside a local Ghanaian supervisor.

A typical afternoon starts with warm-ups, running laps and stretching. You will then organise the children into groups to do football drills and physical games, before playing a full football match or occasionally a game of netball. The day is finished with a discussion to address any problems the girls may have. Additionally, on Fridays, the volunteers begin the afternoon session with a social discussion, sometimes including confidence and team building activities.