For as long as schools have been encouraging their young students to participate in sports there have been school sporting tours. Whether it is just taking a rugby team to play the annual derby game against your closest competitor school, or taking a full international tour for a mixed age group of students.
Well organized sports tours can promote teamwork, build camaraderie, raise the profile of your school, and bring great life skills to the young students. How to live away from home, how to pack their bags and prepare, how to navigate through airports etc. And how to learn to cope with winning and losing and appreciate general sportsmanship.
One vital component of school tours is to have the right travel management partner. Professional coach companies such as Travel Safe Bus Hire will take the hassle of transporting your group of students from venue to venue without any dramas.
School Responsibilities
Schools know their care responsibilities towards their students, and when the children are in the school premises it is fairly straightforward to look after them.
But many schools will tell you the hardest part of looking after the students is when they are in transit to and from the school building. There are some innovative passenger management tracking and monitoring systems on the market today which will help track the children when traveling, School Travel Manager is one such system.
Types of Sporting Tours
There are many types of school sporting tours, including: skiing, rugby, football, netball, baseball, basketball, cricket, hockey, swimming…the list is almost endless.
And there are two types of actual tour, a day tour and an overnight or multiple night tour. Obviously the latter is far more complicated as it entails the children staying away from home in hostels or such like.
Overnight Tours
These tours are the most difficult for schools to arrange as they have duty of care for the students day and night. This is where a reliable travel partner becomes invaluable, an experienced driver with experience of how to handle and care for young passengers, will transport the children in safety.
You cannot trust young students to cowboy coach operators, where the vehicles may not be up to standard and have the appropriate safety equipment.
Overnight tours need to be planned with precision, ensuring the accommodation is not too far away from the venue you are visiting. After a full day of sporting activity young students need food and rest and not a five hour journey.
Overseas Tours
These tours are the most difficult of all, it is best to involve a proper travel agent to help with arrangements and to provide documentation to students and parents about the trip. Regular meetings between the school, students, parents and agent should take place so everyone knows their responsibilities off by heart.
There is no reason that with the correct planning that overseas tours can be a lifetime experience for the good. Students will build friendships that could last a lifetime and become comfortable with travel and how to prepare for such an important journey.
It will also be a great experience for the school, and will build its reputation as a modern and forward thinking educational institution.
Without doubt school sports tours, if handled properly, are definitely a great thing for everybody concerned. As with anything in life, if it is worth doing, it is worth doing well.