How to start a sports academy in the Maldives

Most academies in the Maldives start the same way. A coach who loves the game gets asked by a few parents to train their children. Then a few more. Within a season there's a WhatsApp group of forty families, a notebook of who has paid, and a borrowed pitch on Tuesday and Thursday evenings.

That's a good way to start. But if you want the academy to last, a bit of structure early saves you a lot of trouble later. This guide walks through what to decide, who to register with, and how to run the first few months, from Malé and Hulhumalé to the islands.

1. Decide what kind of academy you're running

Before you print a poster, write down three things.

Your sport. Football is the most common, but academies here also run futsal, handball, basketball, athletics, swimming, badminton and netball. Some run more than one. If you're starting out, pick one sport you can coach well and add others once the first is running smoothly.

Who you're training. Most academies split players by age. A typical football academy might have:

You don't need all of these on day one. Many academies start with two groups and grow. Keep groups small enough that one coach can see every child. Ten to sixteen players per coach is a sensible range for younger groups.

What you're offering. Is it year-round training, holiday camps, school-term programmes, or a performance squad that plays in tournaments? Each one changes how you schedule, how you charge and how many coaches you need.

2. Find a venue you can rely on

In the Maldives, space is usually the hardest part. Pitches, futsal courts and pools are shared between clubs, schools, councils and the public, and evening slots go quickly.

Some practical tips:

• In Malé and Hulhumalé, ask early and ask for a fixed slot for the whole term, not week by week. Booking demand for courts in Hulhumalé is high enough that HDC has been building new facilities to ease it, so a regular confirmed slot is worth a lot.
• On the islands, the island council usually looks after the football ground and any courts. Speak to the council before you start, agree the days and times, and get it in writing if you can.
• For swimming, check whether you can use a pool, or whether you'll train in a lagoon. If you're using open water, your safety plan matters even more (see section 6).
• Have a backup. Rain, events and school use will take your venue from you some weeks. Know where you'll go instead, or how you'll tell parents quickly that the session is off.

Write down every venue and what you have there: the main pitch, the futsal court, the indoor hall, the pool. You'll use that list for your timetable, and later for booking sessions to the right surface.

3. Get your coaches right

Parents are trusting you with their children. Your coaches are the academy, as far as they're concerned.

Qualifications

Each sport's national association runs or supports coaching courses. For football, the Football Association of Maldives (FAM) supports AFC coaching licence courses held in Malé, including the AFC "C" Licence, and runs its own grassroots coaching course. FAM's own coaching roles have asked for at least an AFC "C" certificate or the FAM Grassroots certificate, which gives you a good benchmark for your own coaches.

For other sports, contact the national association for your sport and ask what courses they run and which certificate they'd expect for coaching children. Ask when the next course is, because they don't run every month.

Background checks

Ask every coach and helper who will work with children for a police clearance report. The Maldives Police Service lets you apply online and through the Police MV app. Keep a copy on file and renew it every year or two.

Agree pay and terms in writing

Decide whether each coach is paid a monthly salary, per session, or a share of fees. Put it in a simple written contract with their start date, sessions and pay. Disagreements about pay are one of the most common reasons coaches and academies part ways. We go through the options in how to pay sports coaches.

4. Register your academy

There are two separate things to think about here: the sports side and the business side. Rules change, so treat this as a starting point and check the current requirements with each office before you apply.

With the Commissioner of Sports

The Commissioner of Sports, under the Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Sports and Fitness, registers and keeps the official register of sports organisations, including sports clubs and sports academies, under the Maldives Sports Act.

Registration is done through SportGate, the ministry's online portal. The steps it lists are:

1. Reserve and get approval for your organisation's name.
2. Once the name is approved, register your academy.

Check the documents you'll need on SportGate or with the Commissioner of Sports before you start. Being registered matters if you want to enter official competitions, apply for support, or affiliate with your sport's national association.

Note that sports clubs registered under the Sports Act fall outside the Associations Act, so you shouldn't need to register separately as an association as well. If your situation is unusual, for example an existing NGO starting a sports programme, ask the Commissioner of Sports which route applies to you.

As a business

If you're charging fees and paying coaches, you are running a business, even if a small one. Business registration, including sole proprietorships and companies, is handled by the Ministry of Economic Development through the business portal. You can check and reserve a business name there too.

Speak to MIRA, or an accountant, about whether you need to register for tax and GST, and what records you'll need to keep. It's much easier to set this up at the start than to sort out a year of receipts later.

5. Set your fees and decide how parents will pay

Choose a simple fee structure

Most academies here charge a monthly fee in MVR. Keep it simple enough that every parent can understand it in one sentence. Common pieces are:

• A monthly fee for training.
• A registration fee when a player joins, often covering a kit or training shirt.
• A sibling discount for the second child in a family.
• Sponsored or free places for players you want to support.

Decide these before you open registrations, and write them down. Changing fees halfway through the first term confuses everyone. Our guide on how to set sports academy fees goes into the numbers.

Make paying easy

Most Maldivian parents already pay by bank transfer, from BML, MIB or another local bank. Make that the normal way to pay:

• Put your academy's account name and number on every invoice.
• Ask parents to send the transfer receipt and keep a record of who has paid each month.
• Decide what you'll do with cash. If you take it, record it straight away and give a receipt.
• Pick a due date and stick to it. Many academies invoice on the 1st and send reminders through the first ten days of the month.

The part that wears coaches down is not the money itself. It's checking screenshots in WhatsApp, matching them to children, and chasing the families who haven't paid. There's more on getting this right in how to collect sports academy fees.

6. Safety, safeguarding and consent

This section is short, but it's the one you can't skip.

Collect the right information at registration. For every player you need their full name, date of birth, a parent or guardian's name and phone number, an emergency contact, and any medical conditions or allergies. See our sports academy registration form guide for a full checklist.

Get written consent. Ask parents to agree to the activity, to emergency first aid, and to whether you can use photos of their child on social media. Keep that consent with the player's record.

Know the law on children. The Child Rights Protection Act (Law No. 19/2019) defines a child as anyone under 18. Treat every player under 18 with that in mind: no coach alone with one child out of sight, no physical punishment, and a clear person parents can raise concerns with.

Train in first aid. At least one person at every session should hold a first aid certificate. The Maldivian Red Crescent runs first aid training across the country, and you can register online. For swimming and open-water sessions, ask your national swimming association about lifesaving qualifications.

Think about insurance. Ask an insurer about cover for injuries to players and for liability to others. Rules and products vary, so get advice for your situation.

Have a plan for the heat and the weather. Water at every session, shade where you can, and a clear rule for when lightning or heavy rain means training stops.

7. Get your first players

You don't need a big marketing budget. Most academies here grow by word of mouth.

• Start with the families you know. Ask them to bring a friend to a free taster session.
• Talk to schools. Many schools are happy to share news of a local academy with parents, especially for sports the school doesn't offer.
• Use social media well. Instagram and Facebook posts with photos from real sessions (with consent) work better than designed posters.
• Make sign-up easy. A short online registration form, shared as a link or a QR code, beats a paper form that gets lost in a school bag.
• Be clear about the basics. Every post should say the sport, the ages, where, when, and how to sign up.

8. Running it week to week

Once you have players, the work shifts from starting to running. A simple rhythm helps.

Every session

• Take attendance at the start. Present, absent or excused, with a reason. Paper registers get lost and typed up late, so do it on a phone if you can. See taking attendance at a sports academy.
• Note any injuries, and tell the parent the same day.

Every week

• Confirm next week's sessions, coaches and venues.
• Tell parents about any changes in one message to the right group, not across five chats.

Every month

• Send invoices on the 1st.
• Check receipts as they come in and mark who has paid.
• Remind the families who haven't, a few days apart.
• Pay your coaches on time, from the sessions they actually coached.

Every term

• Review groups. Move players up when they're ready.
• Ask parents for feedback.
• Book venues for the next term early.

If you're doing all of this from notebooks and spreadsheets, it works for the first thirty players. After that it starts to eat your evenings. When you reach that point, our guide to moving your academy off spreadsheets can help.

How AcademyPro fits in

AcademyPro is sports academy management software, and 47 academies across the Maldives already use it, running football, futsal, handball, basketball, athletics, swimming, badminton and netball.

It's built around how academies here work:

• Players, parents, groups and coaches in one place, with online registration forms you can share as a link or QR code. Registration can scan a player's national ID card to fill in their details.
• Sessions scheduled to the right venue and surface, with clashes flagged, and coaches taking attendance in the app.
• Monthly invoices in MVR with your bank details on them. Parents transfer from BML, MIB or any local bank and upload the receipt in the app, and you approve it in a tap. Unpaid families are reminded on the 5th, 7th and 10th.
• Staff contracts, payroll and payslips, and notices that reach every family through the app.

Our team sets your academy up with you, in person in Malé or Hulhumalé, or over WhatsApp or a call anywhere in the atolls. Bring the spreadsheet you already keep.

As Nafsath Mohamed Waheed, Manager and President of Ratu Academy, put it: "Managing both our football and handball programs seamlessly within a single app has eliminated all operational headaches and saved us an incredible amount of time every single day."

See how it works for sports academies in the Maldives, or look at pricing. You can try it free for 30 days, no card needed.