Volunteer Sports Coaching: Laos is a volunteer placement in Luang Prabang, from $442 a week per person with a $350 deposit. You coach football, basketball and community games to children at local schools in the afternoons, building teamwork, discipline and confidence. Stays run 1-12 weeks and suit travellers aged 18-38, flying into Luang Prabang. Start dates run from 18 October 2026.
Coach football, basketball and community games to children at local schools in Luang Prabang.
Luang Prabang
Laos
1 stop
You will be met at Luang Prabang's airport during the regular pick-up time and taken to the volunteer house. The rest of the day is yours to settle in, unpack and get over the journey, and dinner is a chance to meet the other volunteers.
Your first full day is about getting ready. After breakfast you prepare your first sports lessons and sort out the equipment for the week ahead. In the afternoon comes the coaching introduction session at 4:30, then a meeting with your team to share feedback, and dinner with the other volunteers.
Each day starts early, with a training session of your own from 6:30 and then breakfast. Mid-morning is for preparing the afternoon's lesson and checking the equipment, and after lunch your time is free until coaching, which runs from 4:30 to 6:30 and starts with stretching. Evenings are dinner with your team, and Friday ends with a farewell dinner for the group.
Breakfast, and then the weekend is yours. If you are staying on, Luang Prabang's temples, the morning alms giving, the waterfalls outside town and the Mekong are all close by. If this was your last week, checkout is at noon.
Luang Prabang sits where the Nam Khan river meets the Mekong in northern Laos, a small, unhurried town of temples, saffron-robed monks and morning markets. Its schools are where you will spend your afternoons, with a pitch full of children who will be waiting for you.
You coach children at local schools, mostly football and basketball, along with the community games they grow up playing. Each day has an early training session of your own, time mid-morning to plan the lesson and sort the equipment, and two hours of coaching in the late afternoon: around four hours in all. The skills matter, but so do teamwork, discipline and resilience, and what sport does for a child's health, body and mind.
You do not need to be a qualified coach, though a background in sport helps. What matters is energy, patience and a few ideas of your own, because new drills and games are what keep a class coming back.
You arrive on a Sunday. Monday is for getting ready: preparing your first sessions and the equipment in the morning, then an introduction coaching session in the afternoon and a meeting with your team in the evening.
Pair it with teaching. This program shares its volunteer house with Volunteer Teaching: Laos, so you can spend one week teaching English and the next coaching sport without moving. Add the teaching weeks as an extra when you book.
Come with an open mind and realistic expectations. Life on a volunteer project is simpler and slower than at home: shared rooms, basic facilities, heat and humidity, and a culture with its own customs. Everyone feels a little out of place at first, and that is normal.
Before you travel, read the programme information we send you. When you arrive, the local team introduces you to the project, the house rules and local customs, and they are there to talk to if you feel homesick or unsure. Most volunteers find the first few days are the hardest, and the rest flies by.
We should always be healthy and maintain our fitness. However, it depends on the project you choose and you should always be ready to work.
Nothing formal. Pack modest, practical clothes that you do not mind getting dirty. On teaching and kindergarten projects, wear neat, casual clothes that cover your shoulders and knees. On construction and conservation projects, wear hard-wearing clothes and closed shoes you do not mind ruining, plus a hat and light long sleeves for the sun. Vest tops and short shorts are not allowed while you are working.
Away from the project, dress with respect for local customs, especially in villages and at religious sites. Your coordinator will tell you about any local rules when you arrive.
Your arrival transfer is included. You will be met at the airport and taken to your accommodation, so there is nothing to arrange for the journey in.
The departure transfer at the end, from your accommodation back to the airport, is not included. You can add it as an optional extra in your account, or make your own way.
Once you have booked your flights, log in to your account and add them under Flight Details so we know when you are landing.
Of course! We encourage everyone to talk over our social networks. You can find a list of them at the bottom of this page. If you’ve joined a tour, we will send you an invite to a dedicated Facebook group made for your tour a few weeks before it starts. Your tour guide and a tour manager will also be in the group to answer any questions you may have. You can also join the General Discussion Board on Facebook!
This program has no minimum or maximum age.
Under 18s can join with signed parental consent. Anyone over 65 needs medical clearance before travelling.
Pop your name and email in and we’ll send a voucher code straight to your inbox.
By signing up you agree that we may occasionally send you marketing emails. This voucher code is for new bookings only.
