KYABRAM P-12 College’s sporting department has introduced a new program to kick-off the 2020 school year, focused on improving its young athletes’ general sporting performance, capacity and knowledge.
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Dubbed the Kyabram P-12 College Sports Academy, the program currently has 25 students from Years 5 to 12 who come from a number of different sporting backgrounds — from football to netball to lawn bowls.
The students take part in four training sessions week, all with the overall goal of improving their athletic performance in a general way as opposed to sport-specific drills and activities. On each of the four days, the students rotate between a general cardio session, a circuit-based session, a core session and an injury prevention session.
P-12 physical education teacher Brad Mellington said it was great to see students from different backgrounds come together and work for the same goal, as well as bring their own knowledge and experience to the table.
“We’ve got students who are high-level footballers and high-level in athletics, then we’ve got people who are at a high level in lawn bowls,” he said.
“It’s hard to cater for every sport. It’s more just trying to develop their different fitness components and improve them as an overall athlete, rather than sport-specific.”
Mr Mellington said the academy also offered an opportunity that students living in the country did not usually get.
“You look at your major sporting schools in Melbourne and Geelong, and they have major sporting academies that cater for these different types of athletes,” he said.
“This is giving the kids something to set them up outside of school if they do pursue a sporting career.”
