Defining High Performance in School Sport

What does it truly mean to have a “high-performance” sports programme at school level? This was the core question explored at session 1 of the IBSC International Boys' Schools Coalition (IBSC) Boys in Sports Ideas Lab, which I facilitated with colleagues from South Africa, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand.

While high performance is often associated with state-of-the-art facilities, cutting-edge equipment, and ‘professional’ coaches, we concluded that the true essence of a high-performance school sports programme lies in its ability to holistically develop each individual student's full potential through a well-rounded educational approach. The consensus was that high performance should not be a one-size-fits-all concept but rather tailored to the specific needs, goals, teams, sports, and age groups.

The key question remains: how can schools achieve this, and is it truly a priority? I was encouraged after the session that the answer is yes, as the schools still prioritise the educational aspect of sports programmes, although this is not always reflected in implementation and may be something we need to work on in schools.

Over the next three weeks, the goal is to develop a clear framework for high-performance school sports programmes, identify the building blocks to achieve high performance for each team, sport and age group, and gain a deeper understanding of the students participating in the sports programmes.

A few takeaways and ideas from the session:

Pathways: structuring your programme to have separate pathways or divisions for high-performance student-athletes versus participant student-athletes.

Roles: Establish two types of roles in your sports programmes: one that focuses on your core/high-performance main sports and one that focuses on participants. Director of Sport vs. Head of High Performance?

Coaches: Quality coaches are a big part of a school's programme's success. Not only do they need technical/tactical knowledge, but they also need to understand the students and the school's philosophy. The session emphasised coach development, an area I think will be explored more in session 2.

Challenges: include allocating resources/facilities, finding quality coaching, managing schedules/workloads, integrating all performance support services, and creating a cohesive development pathway from junior to senior-level sports.

All teams: can drive ‘wins' by instilling a high-performance culture and mindset of continual improvement, commitment, and personal accountability.

In essence, schools can create high performance for each individual student, tailored to sport, age group, and team. The school's goal (academics, music, sports) is for students to reach their best. When it comes to sports, we might just need to think more about our sporting codes, age groups, and teams to achieve this.

I'm looking forward to session two, which will delve into the fundamental components of a comprehensive high-performance sports programme for the entire school. ?

What is your definition of a high-performance school sports programme? What sports require the most ‘attention’ at your school?

Jimmy Davies Greg Di Losa Jonny Mallett Benn McBrearty James Melville Charles Meredith Jamie Pybus Ashley Robson Reuben Spicer Bruce Collins Jack Joslin