Is there a place for high-performance sport in our schools?

In my previous article, I questioned whether we provide the right environments and opportunities to accurately label the student-athletes in our schools as being elite and high-performance athletes. I discussed from my perspective whether our student-athletes are in a sporting environment that is competitive enough for them to truly advance in their athletic development. Can they truly be considered a high-performance athlete and do they leave our schools equipped with the talent and experiences to match that of student-athletes from more traditional and culturally established sporting strongholds around the world?

It was a perspective and opinion from my 30 years and 19 years respectively as a coach and teacher, with 16 of those years being in the international school education system here in Singapore. I am pleased to hear that it raised many questions and created some robust discussion amongst my peers and colleagues, which was exactly what I hoped to open up. Two of the common questions I was asked after people had read the article were: What is high-performance sport at the high school level? and Is there even a place for elite sport and elite athletes in our high schools?? Again, I’ll share my perspectives and opinions for each of these questions in the hope of continuing the conversations to benefit the aspiring athletes we have within our respective schools.

In that first article, I alluded to the idea that high-performance sport could be different things to different people - coaches, athletes, parents; at the high school age level. It could be a definition agreed by those relevant stakeholders to set the basis of what the athlete’s individual goals are and what they are trying to achieve. This approach of course leaves the whole process open to interpretation and is in my opinion, more suited to student-athletes wanting to see how far they can go without really committing to anything wholeheartedly. If a student-athlete has set their sights big and wants to compete and be a serious athlete at the highest levels in their sport in the future, then there must be some consistency in this definition so it aligns with a more widely accepted perspective and allows some level of comparison within relevant communities at a more global level. Perhaps we can justify that we can have high-performance athletes in any environment because it’s just all relative to that environment - to that school, to that club, to that city, that region, that country. I would argue that it is relative until it isn’t relative.?

When competing against other student-athletes that have been conditioned in a more competitive and more demanding environment and are therefore capable of performing at a higher level, our athletes will struggle to advance. They will struggle to develop the skill sets and mindset needed to gain the opportunities and selections to participate and compete at a suitable level that will drive them towards achieving their goals. It could simply be too late for them. As I mentioned previously, I have found this is often the case when athletes graduate from our high schools and move abroad for their university studies or to explore their options for further sporting success. The bar was set high enough for them to excel in that ‘relative environment’ to achieve the success they wanted at that time. That’s what they become familiar with and that’s what determines their work ethic. These elite athletes were conditioned to win in that environment with little thought for preparing them for success beyond what they had become familiar with.

So, is there a place for elite sport and indeed elite athletes in our high schools? Absolutely! We offer opportunities for high achieving scholars, artists, musicians, and even more recently entrepreneurs and tech-savvy students, why would we not provide a high-performance environment for elite athletes. I’ve had conversations with parents and colleagues over several years who have argued that sport should be totally inclusive and that by creating an elite program I am segregating the smaller group of aspirational student-athletes from the wider group of sport-loving students. I always agreed with them that I am absolutely doing that! This is a topic for another time. Needless to say, I have never agreed with that type of narrow-minded thinking. Professional sport can be and should be a realistic and attainable pathway for any young student-athletes in our schools and as leaders in our schools, we have a responsibility to provide these pathways from an early age.

I have spent the past five years formulating a sports program to cater for student-athletes with aspirations of making it to the top of the world in their sport. With the combined enthusiasm and passion of myself and the small group of athletes I started out with, I developed an advanced athlete sports academy structure that provided student-athletes with the chance to work with like-minded peers to develop their athletic potential. Through trial and error, I have realised that when creating opportunities for student-athletes to excel as high-performers we need to focus on two things:

1. The holistic development of the athlete.
2. The long-term development of the athlete.

As obvious as these two things may be, in our positions as a coach, a Director of Sport or an Athletic Director, we have to ensure these things are happening in our schools. We have to ask ourselves are we putting the high-achieving, highly aspirational athlete first, or are we focused on using these athletes to help us get the short-term results for our teams that reflect positively on the school for that game, that tournament, that season, that year. If the best interests of the individual athlete are at the forefront of the school's sporting mindset, then the focus must be on working with athletes to establish a strong foundation for them to achieve their ultimate goals rather than just for the success of the school. I’m not saying that the success of the school is not important and should not be a major driver when working with our elite athletes, but we must be conscious of their goals and dreams and put the appropriate plans and programs in place to put them in the best possible position to achieve these once they have left us. The natural by-product of focussing first and foremost on the athlete will ultimately be sporting success for the school.

Holistic athlete development is an area that I have grown to appreciate and learn more and more about over the past few years. By understanding and implementing programs of holistic athletic development, we as a consequence also address the long term development of each athlete. In the past, I too have been guilty of coaching athletes for the purpose of having them perform at a level that benefits the team I’ve coached to get them to do what is required to achieve short-term results so the team and consequently I look good. I realised some years back that a massive part of my job is to work with those dedicated aspiring athletes and set them on a pathway to reach their sporting goals. To do this I realised the need to look at these athletes as a whole to ensure they were given all the tools to find their success. So, along with looking at ways to improve their sport-specific skill sets and game understanding, and the familiar measurable components such as strength, power, endurance, speed, agility, and coordination; we have to also factor in time to educate our athletes about the less glamorous aspects of being a successful athlete. These components include aspects such as nutrition, hydration, preparation, self-reflection, evaluation, goal setting and sleep.? Often these things are forgotten about or do not have the same emphasis placed on their importance in the athlete’s development because the impact they have on performance is not as measurable as some of the work done in the weights room, for example, and we don’t often see the results until months and years later.?

The other component to holistic athletic development that I have realised is as equally important as the physicality of an athlete and I believe underpins their progress and subsequent success is character development. When we start to explicitly teach and identify the athletes' use of skills like communication, collaboration, problem-solving, reflection, deep practice, resilience, mindset, discipline, and dealing with pressure in our sports programs, we start to show each student-athlete all of the parts they need to be accountable for. If we can show our athletes how to take ownership of building their character just as much as they do by increasing their speed, then they start to ensure their development and success in their chosen sport by establishing and maintaining effective personal habits. Often these soft skills are undermined or even completely omitted from any athletic coaching or individual development by coaches who spend all their time again focussing solely on the short-term results for the athlete and the team.?

What will often frustrate coaches is the fact that by focusing on the long term holistic development of an athlete the results will not be evident until years after they have left their school or sports program, and the care of that coach. Any future success of the athlete is often attributed to the coach, school or team they are part of when that success is achieved with little or no acknowledgement of the work or pathways that were instigated for that athlete earlier that gave them the foundation for that success. However, if we are truly sincere about setting our student-athletes up for the greatest successes possible for them in the future, we have to provide opportunities for them that set the foundation they need to make themselves accountable for their own success. Again this is achieved by ingraining a strong understanding of the habits, preparation, balance and commitment required to develop sustainable practices for long-term holistic growth. This is what we must do to set our athletes up on the right pathway to success, and it is extremely important that we get this right.?

In a future article, I will discuss some of the specifics I have developed and continue to develop, in my programs to address this holistic athlete approach. I will add that my experiences working with these programs have also proven to me that by developing the character of each student-athlete and focussing on their long term progress as a person, the values and principles from sport spills over into the rest of their school life. Over the past 3 years, the average GPA for the student-athletes in my program has been 6.3 out of a maximum of 7. Several of these athletes are also involved across the school as house leaders and student council presidents, they have held lead roles in the musical production, and have been selected as student mentors. Elite high-performing athletes do not have to be just sports junkies, and they shouldn’t be. It’s a long hard road to the top of any sport, and without the right grounding and tools, and character to deal with the struggles along the way, there is no way your student-athletes will get there. We have to be dedicated to setting expectations, promoting balance and providing guidance for our athletes to develop as well-rounded people as much as we are coaching sports specifics and providing opportunities for them to develop as elite high-performing athletes.

What foundations do you currently have in place to provide for the holistic development of your aspiring student-athletes? How are you setting them up for success as elite high-performance athletes in the future?

DANNY TAUROA. November 2021

I am an educator, coach, and mentor for student-athletes. I have held positions as Director of Sport and Head of Physical Education for a number of years in international schools, and I have experience playing and coaching sport at an international level for New Zealand and Singapore. I have built a strong network of sporting specialists and am using my experience, knowledge and connections to provide challenging training and learning environments to support aspiring elite student-athletes.