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.