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IMG introduced the Hunts to Adam Cuffaro, a real-estate agent with Michael Saunders & Co., the school’s broker of choice, whose office is located on campus. Mr. Cuffaro helps IMG families rent or buy one of the 142 units on campus—where prices range from $300,000 to $1.2 million to buy a home, and from $3,000 and $5,000 to rent a furnished apartment. Mr. Cuffaro can also help families find off-campus properties.

The Hunts rented a large, four-bedroom apartment on campus for $9,000 a month. Delighted by how much less expensive Bradenton property is compared with the Bahamas and their hometown in England, they purchased a $310,000 house near campus in October. They are going to spend $300,000 to “completely gut” and rebuild it into a British West Indies-style house, said Mr. Hunt. They plan to stay there until their kids graduate from high school, he said.

Not all sports schools provide real-estate services. In Barcelona, Spain, ES International School has 104 students from 32 different countries, 80% of whom train at the Academia Sanchez-Casal tennis academy; both schools are owned by Emilio Sanchez-Vicario, a Spanish tennis star who also founded a sister program in Naples, Fla. Nearly all of the remainder participate in other sports programs around the city, including soccer, basketball and water polo, said Carlos Lizardi, director of admissions.

If families ask, Mr. Lizardi refers them to real-estate agents. But most parents find their own places located near the school and wherever their child trains, he said.

Charles Doherty took the DIY approach. While living in Fullerton, Calif., Mr. Doherty was searching for a development program in water polo for his daughters, Kelly, 17, and Alison, 14. He discovered the Barcelona International Water Polo Academy, which offers intensive training and competition. The only problem: They had never been to Barcelona.

So in spring 2015, Mr. Doherty took a plane there, found a real-estate broker online and asked to see apartments in the $3,200-a-month range—a figure he guessed he would need to spend.

“I studied the map of Barcelona and the subway map, and spent about 10 hours driving around the city,” said Mr. Doherty, 54, an operations manager for a construction company. He was happy to find a three-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment about 10 minutes by bus from the water polo center for about $1,500 a month, well below what he had budgeted.

Still, the plan has required some sacrifices: Last year, Mr. Doherty’s wife, Kathleen, moved with both girls to Barcelona, while he moved to New York, where his company is based. He shares a house with four other men on Long Island and visits Spain every few months. The girls started in a public school, but both have since transferred to ES International School.

In November, Kelly signed a letter of intent to accept a water-polo scholarship with the University of California, Berkeley. Both girls are now fluent in Spanish and speak some Catalan, and love living in Barcelona so much they will stay for a second year, Mr. Doherty said.

Relocating for kids’ sports can be controversial. In the U.S., most public schools and some private schools forbid switching schools or districts for athletic reasons. Thus, parents who want to prioritize sports often turn to private schools and clubs without these restrictions.

Even then, they’re taking a risk in buying real estate. Kofi Nartey, director of the sports and entertainment division of Compass, a national real-estate brokerage, often recommends leasing over a purchase. “If you have no other compelling reason to be somewhere in the off season, we don’t advise buying,” Mr. Nartey said. Any athlete’s position on a team is subject to risks, such as an injury or being traded. Closing costs and the sudden need to sell during a downturn in the market or at the wrong time of year can eat into equity, Mr. Nartey said.