Sport Lived - www.sportlived.co.uk Review

I enjoyed my time on the Sport Lived Brisbane rugby programme. There are a few things which should be addressed however. Firstly, when I arrived and was given my blue Go Card which had $100 on it, I thought this would be enough to last my the majority of my programme. However I used that up within the first 2-3 weeks of being in Aus, and then had to top up a further two times for the remaining part of my stay. Sport Lived would have communicated a rough idea of how long they money was going to last with the amount of travelling I was doing to and from the club. In the end I spent a further £85 on topping up my card which was unexpected, and I feel that it would have been better if more money had been put on the card from the start! I had no real complaints about the Quest accommodation that I spent the majority of my stay in, apart from it being quite unclean from the moment I arrived. I spent the final week and half of my programme in the backpackers, and whilst I do appreciate the need for two different cost options in terms of accommodation, I could not see how people could do an extended programme in the backpackers. Doing simple things like having breakfast or making a cup of tea required handing in a key card and so became quite tedious quickly! Having spoken to people who were living in the backpackers for 6 weeks who were on the same programe as me, they said 6 weeks was really the maximum amount of time they would want to spend there, and if they were doing a longer programme they would look elsewhere for accommodation as there was little storage space for belongings. Furthermore I did not see the point prior to departure, in filling out the rugby CV which was on our Sport Lived personal pages. This made it sound as if we were allocated a club out in Aus, based on what kind of level we had played at previously. However it turned out that we were all allocated the same club in Brisbane, regardless of what ability you were! Also one thing which was a a let down from Sport Lived was the whole finals system. Sport Lived should advertise on their rugby page about the opportunity of finals with the club as this would attract more potential players as they will undoubtedly want to be involved. Not only this, but it also informs those like myself that had no died about it going into my trip. Sport Lived did not communicate to me at all about this opportunity and I was only made aware of it 3 weeks into my programme when one of the coaches brought it up. Not only that, but it was only then that I was told that you had to have played a certain number of games for a team to play in the finals for them. Sport Lived should not only tell people about finals but also say whether the start date of their programme will allow them enough time to qualify for finals. Throughout my stay it seemed quite apparent that there was little communication between Sport Lived and their Australian counterparts, and the case of finals was just one example. Furthermore, it seemed quite ridiculous that the Australian boys doing the academy programme (same as me) were literally paying half of what we had to pay through Sport Lived, this just seemed like we were being ripped off. That being said I thoroughly enjoyed all the rugby and training I got whilst I was out there. The training and games showed me a whole new brand of rugby which I had never played back in England, and not only were the coaches very knowledgable, but also always more than willing to give up their own time in order to help players with position specific skills. I couldn't speak higher of both the rugby and gym coaches who were all very welcoming and accommodating and only wanted to help you get better. The attention to detail was great and the thought and prep which had gone into the training sessions made them both enjoyable and great to learn new things from. Overall, I loved the rugby and training aspect of my programme, but it was overpriced for what it was. Brisbane is a lovely city to go to and play rugby and the club chosen was also great.