How to choose a sports academy for your child in Victoria
If you’ve got a child with a bit of sporting talent, chances are you’ve considered one of Victoria’s top sporting schools. But are these academies worth the commitment — and the dollars?
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We love sport. Nothing new in that. We idolise our elite swimmers, footballers, runners, tennis players and the rest. So, it’s little wonder so many young people harbour hopes and dreams of being Australia’s next big thing.
Today, public schools, more than ever before, are helping our young cultivate those dreams.
According to the Victorian Department of Education and Training, in 2018 more than 2700 Victorian students were enrolled in specialist sports academy programs in Victorian public schools.
But sporting academy programs cannot guarantee success and, despite being offered at public schools, they don’t come free. So, if your child shows a whiff of sporting potential are sports academies worth the commitment and the dollars?
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Of the 11 Victorian public schools to offer specialist sports programs, Maribyrnong Secondary College is the only fully state-funded sports academy.
A tour of the school reveals state-of-the art facilities reminiscent of US colleges. It feels professional. Sport at this school is serious business.
Being fully funded, annual fees to the Maribyrnong Sports Academy range from $200-$300 after a one-off Year 7 enrolment fee of $750, this compares to annual fees ranging anywhere from $1400 per year to more than $3000 a year at other government schools.
But competition to get accepted into the program is tough, says academy director Mark McAllion.
“Our biggest challenge is talent identification at age 12,” Mr McAllion says.
“We get 300-400 applications for 100 spots for Year 7 and we are trying to predict which one of things kids have got the ability, the attitude and everything else to potentially cope with the demands of the program and be an elite athlete in the future.”
To be offered a place, students must submit a written application, undergo a physical test, attend a tryout day in their chosen sport and submit school reports for assessment.
Mr McAllion says sporting achievements at age 12 are not always the best indicator of future success. Assessors look for genetic traits as well as aptitude to make selections.
“In a 20m sprint you can work out who is an athlete and who is not. This gives you a good indication, but is not foolproof.
“We do some game-related activities to see a bit of grit, or determination and to see how they cope with different things, so we try and measure that too.”
The school has an abundance of staff, including physiotherapists, psychologists, strength and conditioning trainers, student wellbeing officers and professional coaches, including Olympians, former AFL players and test cricketers, across a vast breadth of sports. The aim here is to grow Victoria’s — and Australia’s — next athletes.
“It’s not about winning, it’s about kids progressing through to state and national teams and about kids’ academic results,” Mr McAllion says.
“We aim for 20 per cent (of academy students) to be in state or national teams and we are above that now.”
School sports academies are a long-term investment. Depending on the sport, it can take years to see real results.
“We are starting to see the benefits now, we have been going for 12 years,” Mr McAllion says.
In Melbourne’s east, Rowville Secondary College is attracting large numbers of students from more than 100 primary schools to its sports academy program. Of 1800 students enrolled at the school in 2018, 740 were enrolled in the Rowville Sports Academy.
The school self-funded its own $4.5 million stadium, which opened in 2014 and incorporates indoor basketball courts, a fitness centre, on-site physiotherapy, ice bath and cafe, with some services and facilities also accessible to the public, so the investment has also benefiting the local community.
School principal Julie Kennedy says that a big-ticket item attracting students to the school in the past five years has been those seeking US college scholarship.
“A lot of students come to us because they want a pathway to a US scholarship and they have to do a specialised program to be eligible,” Ms Kennedy says.
Of past students, Rowville Secondary College has 44 on US scholarships, including 10 graduates in 2017 alone.
But despite the success stories — and there are many — Ms Kennedy says the school’s philosophy is heavily focused on a “student first, athlete second” ethos.
“I think we are developing great people, not athletes,” she says.
“There are benefits (to the academy), not just physically but psychologically, in their development as a team player, as leader. It’s the whole package that they just don’t get on the sporting field.
“Not every student comes in wanting to be the AFL superstar or thinking that they can get there. It’s really about doing what you love and connecting to school because you are doing what you love.
“It’s that connection that gives it power.”
The opportunity academies provide students to do the sport they love and focus on school is a sentiment supported by two of Rowville’s students Leah Santomaggio and Piper Stubbs.
Aged 17, Leah is a development player with the Women’s National Basketball League’s Melbourne Boomers squad and also plays at state level for the Knox Raiders.
“I started there (Rowville) in Year 7 and I fell in love with the training and thought that it was really cool that I could train and go to school,” Leah says.
During her Year 12 studies last year, Leah juggled basketball commitments of up to 15 hours per week with a heavy academic load.
“I wasn’t as stressed as I thought I would be,” she says.
“I would have struggled massively because there is so much work you have to do in year 12 but the flexibility of the coaches allowed me to do both.”
Leah says that the academy experience opened up a world of new opportunities.
“There are many doors for me and many pathways I can endeavour on. I can go overseas if I want to or stay here. I know I can always go back to the school and ask for help if I need to because there are bonds there that can never be broken.”
Piper, 15, is an aspiring golfer who has already competed at a state and national level. She says the academy has allowed her to focus on golf and her studies.
“I think we have some phenomenal coaches and it makes a huge difference,” Piper says.
“As a student at Rowville you don’t just ‘train at school’, they are teaching us how to become elite athletes if we are up for the challenge.
“I believe that people leave Rowville with a pretty good idea about what kind of person they are or want to be.”
If Piper’s assessment of sports academies is anything to go by, even for the majority who don’t make it to the elite level, if they leave school with a “pretty good idea” of who they are what they want to be, it’s a sound investment.
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