Amazing sporting gap years

Thank you Sport Lived for a fantastic gap year experience. Having researched a number of options, the sports program offered our son everything he wanted. From our initial enquiries, through to pre-trip support and to do lists, the Sport Lived team were fantastic. On arrival, Kathy and Melbourne Unicorns Rugby Club made him so welcome and we can’t thank both enough for the support and opportunities he had during his stay. Melbourne is a great city to spend time in, especially if you love sport! Jack attended the F1 Grand Prix on his first weekend in Melbourne, enjoyed many visits to the MCG for AFL games and a packed John Cain Arena for SSN netball. Prahran With welcome drinks, socials and trips out of the city he has so many great memories. Wouldn't hesitate to recommend.

My son has recently returned from Melbourne playing hockey at MCC. He was only able to do a half season to fit between 1st & 2nd year university term dates. We were initially a little hesitant due to cost factor but the Sport Lived UK team (Elaine & Ian) were great with the pre-planning, lots of calls & helped set up a programme that worked for him. Going with Sport Lived rather than independently meant we knew he would be looked after from Day 1. He was picked up from the Airport & taken straight out to dinner to meet everyone & was straight into hockey training the next day. Kathy was a real support in Melbourne sorting banks, gym pass, travel cards etc as well as some great social & sightseeing events for them. Accommodation at Quest sounded fantastic & brilliant to share with other like-minded people. Karen & Matt from Quest were also so supportive & welcoming and helped him out so much. Going with Sport Lived was certainly the best choice for him & he now wants to return to do a full season! Thank you team Sport Lived!

We did some searching before landing on SportLived for a sporting gap year programme, and we are glad we did. Joshua has had the experience of a lifetime and there were no logistic problems at all. This speaks volumes about the organisation and approach of the UK and Melbourne based team. The accommodation and club were ideal and I guess the best evidence is that Joshua wants to go back !

Sport Lived has been an excellent programme for our son. He has loved it all, from the cricket club he was introduced to, the accommodation, the city, the new friends he has made and the whole experience. As parents, we have loved the fact that Kathy, Elaine and all the team were there to help us get sorted before he went and helped him out while he was in Melbourne. Luckily for us, everything went really well, but it was great to know there was a friendly reliable person to help if something went wrong. Thanks Sport Lived, it's been a blast x

We just wanted to say a huge thankyou for all you do for the young men and women who come out to Australia on a Sport Lived Programme. From our son Callum's very first conversation with Ian to all of the pre-trip organisation with Elaine Stansbury and then Kathy Young on the ground in Melbourne, we were massively impressed with your company. Callum had the time of his life living in Melbourne and playing with South Yarra CC who made him so welcome! It made all the difference in the world to us as parents knowing that there is someone local keeping an eye on things as well as organising some fantastic events. We would have no hesitation in recommending Sport Lived to any young person looking for an adventure during their gap year! Rob & Caroline

Our Son Hugh has just finished 6 months playing cricket with Malvern Cricket Club with Sport Lived. From start to finish we could not fault Sport Lived and the team, from initial contact with Ian and Elaine in the UK to Kathy in Melbourne. They organised everything from the accommodation, Cricket Club and playing kit, SIM cards, Medicare, bank accounts, and transport to and from the airport. Hugh loved playing with Malvern and got on particularly well with the members of the club and enjoyed many social events with them as well as some great cricket. Quest Prahan accommodation was very nice, in a great central location and Hugh enjoyed living with all of the other Sport Lived guys. Kathy was fabulous, the boys loved her and she organised some great trips out as well as tickets to the Boxing Day test, Melbourne Cup, and Melbourne Open. She also helped him find work locally through her many contacts which he really enjoyed too. We cannot recommend Sport Lived and the entire team more highly, it has been a brilliant gap year experience for Hugh in a fantastic city. He has made lifelong friends and memories and it has set him up ready for Uni in September.

Playing rugby in Melbourne was the best decision I ever made! The 4 months I was there felt like 4 weeks and I wish I was still there now. Kathy, Ian and Elaine were amazing the entire time. They organised lots of activities such as the F1 and surfing. The rugby was of a very good standard and the colts side were a good laugh and a great group of lads. If I was to go back I would travel more but I highly recommend Byron Bay for all those who have never been to Australia before. Thanks to all that made the trip so memorable.

My time in Melbourne was a really special one. It was a surprise for me how welcoming and open everyone was, from the people at SportLived, who managed to organise my trip on a very last minute basis, to everyone I shared an apartment with and all the people at the MCC hockeyclub. Kathy was a great help for me to feel at home right away, and she organised all the events and social gatherings so well, this made the trip even more worthwhile. The day that we went surfing and afterwards to a wildlife park with koala's and kangeroo's was for me the best day I think. The surfing was so fun to do with everyone and made me feel so relaxed afterwards. The weather was also very nice that day, so that also helped of course. (Even though it was autumn when I arrived, there where still a lot of days when it was around 20+ degrees) Matt and Karen from Quest, where we lived in apartments, were also very chill and cool about everything, and very welcoming. I owe them a big thanks. Also I liked the overall vibe of Melbourne very much, it is a big city in theory, but it doesn't feel like that, especially not when you are in Prahran, which has everything you need by the way. The city center is big in the sense that it has some high buildings, but it isn't as vast and wide as other big cities I think. But there is a lot to do, qua food and drink, but there are also a lot of museums and other cool experiences like big sporting events. At the MCC hockeyclub I was surprised at how quickly everyone sort of knew who I was, and everyone from the players to the coaches made it very easy to fit in. Also they spent a lot of attention on a good club culture and celebrate and remember a lot of significant events for the club, which was nice and sometimes very impressive. And they organise events like a golf day, which was also very fun! Overall there are a lot of great guys there, so in whichever team you'll play, I bet you'll have a great time! I would definitely recommend going on such an adventure as this, and SportLived is an excellent company to do it with, they make it so easy, from the booking to your stay in Melbourne. Thanks a lot for everything everyone!! And by the way, I went for 10 weeks, and this went by very quickly, so you might even consider going a bit longer.

Our son loves to play hockey and that is why he decided to spend part of his gap year in Melbourne (Australians play the best hockey there is!). From the beginning the contact with this organisation was great. Ian (UK) spoke to our son a few times and he made it possible to speak to other dutch hockeyplayers who joined Sport Lived before. And after arriving in Melbourne, it was great to have Kathy around, who was very supportive. She organised many social events, like surfing, AFL-game, Formula 1, etc., so they all feel welcome. The appartment is great as well and so nice to live with other peers. Daan spent 4 months playing and coaching hockey and working in Melbourne and made great friends. He had a great time with his hockeyteam as well. They were so nice and welcoming. We highly recommend Sport Lived if you are looking for a the best sport-based, gap year experience ever!! Thanks again, Ian and Kathy!!

My son loved his 6 months in Melbourne coaching tennis and hockey and playing hockey and cricket for MCC. He met lots of of lovely people, the flat was in a great location and Kathy, the Sport Lived rep, was always close by to help with issues.

I had the best time ever in Melbourne! Everything was organised perfectly and the people around you are really nice. Social events were really cool especially the formula 1 for me. That's a dream come true for me. I really wanna thank Kathy for organising the best social events. I also had the best hockeyteam which sport lived also organised for me. Couldn't have wished a better hockeyteam to play with. They really invite you to all kinda of things which was really nice. The location where I was staying was also really chill and only 10 minutes away from the city. The owners of the apartment are really nice and make you feel at home. This is why I really recommend sports lived and i hope more people are gonna experience this cool adventure!

As a parent you naturally worry about the support there is on the ground, are your children going to be all alone or helped through the first few weeks or months? The great news is that the team on the ground are absolutely first class, from SIM cards , to bank accounts, to finding work, to having someone to talk to for local advice, the support network is truly outstanding. They are there when needed, but not to babysit, allowing your children to get the most out of the experience of being away from home, in many cases for the first time. We found it incredible preparation for university the following September. Can’t recommend highly enough.

I had a great 6 months in Melbourne playing cricket with Sport Lived! All the staff were brilliant answering my questions while I completed the booking process. Booking through Sport Lived made it very easy and stress free for me, helping me find a suitable club to play cricket at. I played cricket at Brighton, which was a good standard of cricket and, more importantly, a lovely club who were very welcoming. The Sport Lived Co-Ordinator who looked after me while I was away, Kathy, was amazing. She organised many brilliant socials events for us, my favourite being going to the opening AFL game of the season at the MCG. Matt and Karen, who are the owners of Quest Prahran, were incredibly helpful with everything whilst I was out there. They also very kindly employed me to do some work for them which allowed me to not worry about money whilst being out there. Overall, I would strongly recommend that you take the opportunity to go out to Melbourne with Sport Lived because you certainly won’t regret it and when the time does come to go home, you’ll end up thinking how fast the time went by.

Our son has just finished his six months cricket programme in Melbourne. It has been a life-changing experience for him. We researched a number of gap year programmes and found that the Sport Lived one offered the best all-round package for a sports-based experience. And they have delivered on every aspect. Their checklist for all the things that need to be sorted before departure was very useful and made the process very straightforward. Our son was given a range of cricket clubs from which to choose and his choice, Brighton, proved to be the right one for him. They were very welcoming and a very social club which is what my son was looking for. They played a very good standard of cricket with well run training sessions twice a week. The Sport Lived Co-Ordinator in Melbourne, Kathy, was excellent. She picks up the participants from the airport and then helps them to sort out all the local requirements – SIM cards, bank accounts, insurance numbers etc – that can be confusing to a non-local young person. Our son stayed at Quest Prahan apartments in Melbourne which were high quality and in an excellent central position for his cricket and the rest of the city. Kathy acts as a true ‘in loco parentis’, reading the riot act where necessary to ensure the apartments are kept in a fit state for cleaning (!), and sorting out any relationship issues that arise when you put young people together way from home. Becoming self-supportive was a key objective for our son and through Sport Lived, he obtained work with PE Sports, for whom he officiated various sports fixtures and managed some teams. In addition, he also undertook maintenance work for Quest which, together with the PE Sport work, meant that he didn’t require ‘top ups’ from the Bank of Mum and Dad! Kathy also organised a number of trips including to the Boxing Day Test at the MCG, the Australian Open, wildlife sanctuaries and AFL games, as well as a surfing trip, She has always been supportive to the participants and there to answer any questions they had. We would recommend Sport Lived as the provider of a first class gap year experience.

My daughter Flora has loved her time with Sport Lived and you have done a fantastic job of helping her grow up and stand on her own feet. I really do think it’s been the making of her and has set her up for university and the next stage of her life brilliantly. Flora has decided to stay on in Melbourne and continue tennis coaching after the Sport Lived Program. She’s also determined to come back to Oz as soon as she can. So thank you Kathy, Karen and all the team.

My son Quentin spent half a season playing hockey in Melbourne. Sport lived arranged everything. He had a great time in his team at MCC hockey and sprortlived organized trips and events The best thing was that true the network of sportlived he could find a nice job and develop a social network. Tim van den Dijssel . The Netherlands

I had a great time in Melbourne playing hockey with Sport Lived! All the staff were brilliant answering my questions while I completed the booking process, and the Sport Lived staff who looked after me while I was away, Kathy, was amazing. She organised some brilliant socials for us, my favourite being kayaking down the river Yarra at sunset, and looked after me really well while I was away from home. Booking through Sport Lived made it so much easier for me to play hockey in Australia as they guided me through the process of being released by my club and England Hockey at home, while completing my registration for my Australian club and Hockey Victoria for me. Overall I had a great experience playing hockey in Melbourne, and Sport Lived made the process of registering to play so much easier, while providing brilliant socials. Would definitely recommend!

My son has just finished a half season cricket programme in Australia and has loved every minute living in Melbourne and playing cricket for South Yarra. Sport Lived were fantastic from the start as Australia had only just opened up during the pandemic. It was a rush to get visa’s and organise everything he needed at such short notice, but Ian was really supportive guiding us through the process right up to departure. My son stayed at Quest Prahan apartments in Melbourne which were high quality and in an excellent central position for his cricket and the rest of the city. Kathy has been brilliant organising many trips for the boys including Big Bash and AFL games as well as surfing trips to Torquay, and a week long road trip along the Great Ocean Road amongst many other experiences. She has always been supportive to the boys and there to answer any questions they had. He loved playing cricket at South Yarra, welcomed whole heartedly into the club, making many friends and socialising regularly even after the season had finished. He was also invited to play in a league U21 representative side on Australia Day where he won the man of the match award. The whole experience has been life changing for my son, developing him as a cricketer and as a person giving him the time of his life. He has gained a lot of confidence and is now extending his trip to go to the GP and then to travel around Queensland for a few weeks before he returns to the UK. His outlook on life is far wider than it was only 3 months ago and is now more than ready to take on the challenge of going to university which he had been apprehensive about. I’d like to thank Ian, Elaine, Kathy, Karen and everyone at Sport Lived for providing this experience for my son, but also for your support throughout the programme if ever we needed. I highly recommend this company to provide a wonderful sporting and life experience.

My time out in Australia with sports lived was wonderful. I rowed for Mercantile where I experienced the Ozzie way of rowing. Despite not being able to race at Nationals due to COVID I made some lovely friends from the rowing club who I wish to visit again. Not only was the rowing great but the friends I made who were also part of the sports lived programme are friends for life. Living out in Australia for 6 months at the age of 18 was made so much easier by Kathy (part of sports lived) and Karen & Matt (in charge of where I stayed). They were extremely kind and made me feel a part of an Ozzie family. Kathy arranged many social events, my favourite being surfing and stroking Kangaroos. This experience is great for any athlete or coach who wants to travel but also keep up their sport and most importantly have a tonne of fun.

- Misleading - no social events or any effort to help you integrate - staff are very rude and unresponsive once you are abroad - AVOID THIS COMPANY at all costs