International Volunteers First Scottish Induction
Gearing up for a Summer of International Volunteering, students from multiple Universities met at Saints Sport for their first Scottish volunteering induction.
Last weekend Saints Sport hosted a Zambia induction for students from St Andrews, Edinburgh and Stirling universities who are volunteering this summer on the Volunteer Zambia and Saints Sport Volunteer Livingstone programmes.
This was an excellent opportunity for students to get to know each other, meet and hear from programme alumni, practice scenarios they may face whilst in Zambia and to partake in a coach education workshop.The morning consisted of icebreaker activities and traditional Zambian games to get students integrating and out of their comfort zones! Followed by our alumni students taking them through a day in the life, what to expect on placement, Zambian culture and a Q&A. During the afternoon session, students worked in groups to run through typical in country scenarios and participated in a coach education workshop delivered by the Sports Development Team and Directors of Sport.
In June our students will be travelling to Lusaka and Livingstone Zambia, to volunteer alongside NGO Sport in Action. Whilst in Zambia, students will be working collaboratively with Zambian coaches to run coaching workshops, share best practice and coaching knowledge. The aim being to ensure sustainable sports programmes and initiatives continue across Zambia year-round.
Amy Gordon, Netball Development Officer for 2023 said “The Scottish induction was great! It provided us with the opportunity to get more familiar with our fellow volunteers from St Andrews and also allowed us to meet with the other volunteers that will be travelling with us from the both Stirling university and Edinburgh University. The day was extremely informative as we got to practice delivering, reflecting and planning short sessions to give us an initial idea of what we will experience when in country with our fellow volunteers. The most insightful part of the day for me I would have to say was hearing from a previous volunteer who travelled with the program in 2022, it was so nice to hear first hand from someone who has experienced exactly what we are going and we were given some amazing advice that will be so useful on the lead up to and when in country ourselves. Overall, the day was amazing and instrumental in helping us gain an understanding of what we are truly in for this summer and has left me so excited to experience this amazing opportunity in the summer of 2023!”
To find out about the University of St Andrews students fundraising, please visit their Saints Funder Campaigns.