Golf Day and Fancy Dress Christmas Party

On the 17th December Sport Lived organised a Golf Day and Fancy Dress Christmas Party for the players and coaches based in Melbourne.

The Golf Day was held at the ‘13th Beach Golf Course’ which is located 90 minutes from Melbourne and is rated as one of the top ten courses in Australia.  Nearest the Pin and Longest Drive Prizes were up for grabs as well as the Sport Lived Shield for the overall winner. 

Congratulations to James Herbert who won the Nearest the Pin Competition, Michael Brown who had the Longest Drive and Robin Curtis who was the winner of the Sport Lived Shield.  Well done too to Simon Dorrington who shot the lowest round of the day (83).

The following evening the Sport Lived Fancy Dress Christmas Party was held at  Transport Lounge in the city.  The Fancy Dress Theme was ‘When I Grow Up I Want to be…’.  Everyone made a great effort and there were some outstanding costumes on display.

During the evening some amusing prizes were given to the Sport Lived players.  Harry Moores received Performance of the Year for the hundred he scored for his club in October and Rick Moore received the Ian Bell Award for ‘Always getting a start but not going on’. 

Rick Moore displaying his Ian Bell Award

Lots of fun was had by all the Sport Lived players and coaches based in Melbourne.

Louisa Gilbert – Coaching Tennis in Oz

Louisa Gilbert(left) with Charlotte in Melbourne

Coaching on one of our exclusive Sport Lived programmes in Australia is a fantastic way to spend part of your gap year however you look at it – you get to live in an exciting new city, spend your days soaking up the sun whilst helping kids to improve playing the sports they love. Not only is it a fantastic opportunity to spend some time abroad discovering new friends and exploring new places, it is a constructive, positive way to build on your existing skills that will be invaluable no matter what you decide to do in the future.

Louisa Gilbert took part in one of our programmes, coaching tennis for 3 months in Melbourne. ‘Working in Oz was great,’ she says, ‘the kids were keen and the head coaches were great at letting us get on with it, leaving us with a team of kids who we were each responsible for. That definitely helped improve my organisational skills and I found that by the end I was really close to my team which definitely made the experience better.’ Louisa taught at one of the best sporting schools in Melbourne giving her a fantastic opportunity to work with enthusiastic, talented kids.

Louisa with friends at the 12 Apostles on the \

Louisa lived in the vibrant South Yarra region of Melbourne during her Sport Lived programme with other coaches teaching tennis, cricket and rowing in the city and admits that there was a fair amount of beach-bumming during their days off! ‘South Yarra was an awesome location for both work and social life – public transport made it so easy to get around! The city centre has some great little bars and a fantastic music and fashion scene, I saw heaps of live music when I was there.’ South Yarra is renowned for its young and trendy atmosphere due to its abundance of café-bars, chic designer boutiques and hip street-markets; it’s no wonder the area has for years attracted a diverse mix of young people and remains at the heart of Melbourne’s rich culture.

If you are also looking to explore more of what Australia has to offer as well as coaching kids during your time away, the freedom offered by a Sport Lived gap year allows you to have the best of both worlds. Louisa took advantage of this flexibility by taking time at the end of her coaching commitments to travel up the east coast of Australia. ‘I spent most of my time in Byron Bay and have loved it. I definitely think I would not have travelled alone had I not done the Sport Lived programme, it gave me a really good head start with confidence and independence in Australia.’

The relaxed pace of life and laid-back Aussie attitude has certainly attracted countless travellers to its shores over the years, but Louisa has discovered some extra benefits from her time away, ‘I think it was a great experience and I have learnt a lot of skills for the future. I think regardless of whether or not I go on to do more coaching, the job will look great on a CV to future employers. I think it is such a great way to see a country and meet new people.’

If you are interested in coaching sport abroad and want to live in a fantastic, lively city with like-minded individuals, why not apply for a Sport Lived coaching programme today!