Central Coast Sports College growth: AFL, basketball and dance added to program

Three new sports have been added to the list as Central Coast Sports College continues to grow. Find out which codes have been added to the growing school.

The Central Coast Sports College’s continued growth has seen three new sports added to its repertoire.

The K-12 private school in Kariong has announced the launch of basketball, AFL and dance to its specialist academy programs starting in 2023.

The sports currently on offer include football, rugby league, rugby union, netball and tennis.

Central Coast Sports College is located in Kariong.

The school’s director of sport Michael Cooper said the school, formerly the International Football and Tennis School, had grown during the Covid pandemic from 500 students to more than 650.

“None of us knew how Covid would affect us,” he said.

“We currently have five sports but for the number of students we have we need more pathways and avenues. We also want to improve the male to female ratio. We have had parents asking for different types of sports for girls.”

CCSC started in 2013 with a six per cent ratio of female student athletes with this growing to 35 per cent in 2022. Female participation in football and rugby union has also been significantly increasing at the school.

Mr Cooper said both AFL and basketball had strong male to female ratios.

Students in action at the school gym.

Central Coast Sports College captain Kasey Boelhouwer.

The school has grown during the pandemic. Picture: CCSC

“Basketball has a high male to female ratio from participation to representative level,” he said. “The market there is pretty strong.”

He said the school would soon announce the lead coach positions for the three new sports.

“We have the luxury of being able to employ full time coaches in each new sport,” he said.

“We want to have plenty of options for our students. We provide time every day with a qualified coach which really helps them in the long run.”

Principal Paul Chapman stated said launching the new sports was an exciting time for the college.

Central Coast Sports College principal Paul Chapman said it was an exciting time for the school.

“This will ensure we provide an array of options for our young student athletes coming through the College and we are very much looking forward to welcoming new student athletes in 2023,” he said.

“ Many families on the coast may not know that we currently have two streams of classes from K-6, however, we have four streams of classes from Year 7 and we are always seeking to recruit new students into the High School. We are recruiting focused student athletes who want to pursue their passion in sport and academics.”

The College will be running trial days in May for the new sports. For more information visit the school’s website.