The Athlete Development Program (ADP) is a unique offering designed for athletically talented students that focuses on aspects including practical skills, strength conditioning, training principles and sports science theory.
Athlete Development Program Outline
The ADP is an elective subject in Years 9 and 10 that provides young athletes with the best opportunity to excel in their chosen sport and to develop career pathways in sport. The program is tailored to the individual athlete and their needs, allowing each student to focus on sporting excellence while also achieving academic success.
Currently, the program includes AFL, Athletics, Badminton, Basketball, Cricket, Dance, Equestrian, Gymnastics, Hockey, Netball, Rowing, Soccer, Softball, Swimming, Triathlon, Tennis, Volleyball and Water Polo. Additional sports may be added according to student needs.
Individualised Program
The ADP is customised to each young athlete鈥檚 needs, with specialised coaches and experts providing guidance in all areas of athlete development.
Strength and conditioning: Under the guidance of specialised trainers, students work through core strength and conditioning activities applicable to their chosen sport. This builds student knowledge of their musculoskeletal balance and leads to enhanced performance and injury prevention.
High performance skill sessions: Students partake in individual or small group skill sessions with state and nationally accredited coaches to develop their athletic skills and knowledge. Athletes with heavy external training loads can use this time for academic studies.
Long-term athlete development: The program empowers athletes by providing them with knowledge in training principles, nutrition, biomechanics, coaching and other essentials for careers in the sport industry.
Tactical development: Athletes develop an understanding of game principles and technique adjustment through use of video analysis, GPS and personal reviews.
State and National Level Coaches
Highly regarded and specialised coaches are sought for each athlete鈥檚 chosen sport, working closely with our students to provide tailored training programs and high level feedback to shape development.
Current coaches include Michael Knoll (Sydney Swans and Norwood Redlegs Football clubs), Lucy Sharman (2021) (Australian Hockeyroos player), Trish Adams (former Australian Lacrosse Coach), Adriano Pellegrino (Adelaide United and other professional Soccer clubs).
Athlete Wellbeing
Athlete wellbeing is paramount within the ADP, where students are taught the ways in which it can affect their sporting performance and how to manage it effectively.
Student athletes have access to on-site physiotherapy as well as the School鈥檚 Wellbeing Team. They harness sports psychology principles and GPS data to monitor their training loads, recovery and sleep schedules.
Parents are invited to quarterly guest presentations offering support and strategies to families of high performing student athletes.
Selection to the Athlete Development Program
Selection to the ADP is via an application process with the following considered:
- Involvement in a high-level representative sporting team (e.g. state or national)
- Demonstration of potential involvement in elite programs outside of the School
- Performance in the Health and Physical Education subject
Enquiries about the Athlete Development Program should be referred to Mark Reid, Head of Athlete Development & High Performance: mreid@pembroke.sa.edu.au
This unique pro颅gram sup颅ports the devel颅op颅ment of stu颅dents (and their coach颅es) with poten颅tial for com颅pet颅ing on a nation颅al or even world stage. As an Olympic ath颅lete, I under颅stand the impor颅tance of high-qual颅i颅ty train颅ing and coach颅ing, and the ADP pro颅vides stu颅dents with this very oppor颅tu颅ni颅ty. I wish I had this when I was in school!
I focus on show颅ing stu颅dents how the best in the world do things, and love that I get to pass this on to young play颅ers. The play颅ers ben颅e颅fit as they can make changes to their tech颅niques that will make them bet颅ter play颅ers for the future.