Sports Excellence Programme

Programme Overview

The Sports Programme at the GEMS Bolitho School has been designed to maximise the children’s opportunities within Sport at all levels. To successfully build a comprehensive programme there are two key elements that must be in place. These two elements are a solid foundation and a clear and achievable vision.

The Sports Programme’s foundation is based on a philosophy that focuses on proven and effective work ethics based on excellence and results. The Programme seeks to build on this foundation by working to fulfill our mission statement, which is:

“To create an environment where everyone will be given the opportunity to maximise their potential, both as individuals and as athletes.”

The Programme is open to everyone - no matter what standard, age or background. Whether the athlete wants to be the best in the world, or just train in Sport as a sport for life to keep fit, the Programme will have something designed specifically for everyone. The overall Programme is divided into two tiers; the Performance tier and the Recreational tier. It is envisaged that the athlete will progress from the Recreation tier to the Performance tier should they choose to make this progression.

The Performance Tier

The difference between a recreational and a performance athlete is the attention to detail.

With this in mind, we have structured a High Performance tier that will seek to deliver excellence in every area. It has been designed to provide an environment where excellence will be encouraged in everything the athlete does. This can be seen from the minute the athlete arrives here at GEMS Bolitho School, through our initial assessment and goal setting done with every athlete on a one to one basis with one of our instructors, to our comprehensive reporting done at the end of the athlete’s stay.

Excellence in sport, as we know, places higher demands on the individual. The athlete has to deal with many situations, both in and out of competition, rapidly and effectively.

For this to happen consistently throughout the athlete’s life, it requires a certain individual with specific character and mental qualities. These are not developed overnight, however they need to be addressed from the start, in order for them to reach maturity at the right time.

These qualities expand beyond the competition itself. Therefore, we believe in developing first and foremost a complete individual, and then an athlete. We will achieve this by putting the responsibility of becoming an Excellent sportsperson onto the individual. One of the ways that we will monitor this is by asking the sportsperson to grade themselves at the end of every session.

The Programme will run in an environment where athletes will learn through the discovery method, by being involved in the process, rather than just being told what is supposed to happen. A path will be created for sportspeople to envisage and plan how their development can progress in future years.

Full-Time Sports Programmes (High Performance and Excellence players)

The High Performance and Excellence Training Programme will operate 48 weeks of the year and is designed around a balance of technical, tactical, mental and physical training to build a complete athlete. All full-time athletes are comprehensively evaluated at the start of their programme and re-evaluated at regular intervals. Parents receive regular written progress reports on their children.

The Programme will also utilize analysis software to give the athlete a better understanding of the finer technical points and biomechanics of each move. Strengths and weaknesses can be evaluated and corrected.

Fitness Programme

Fitness programmes are designed to comprise the following core themes:

• Agility: Improve sport specific movements, quickness, speed and power by way of specialized drills, efficient technique and adaptive work.
• Fitness: Enhance fitness with concentrated anaerobic, aerobic and strength training.
• Flexibility: Flexibility work can greatly improve an athlete’s recovery time, strength and range of movement, and help prevent injuries.
• Lifestyle/Nutrition: Learn what the body needs to achieve peak performance. How to fuel, hydrate, rest, and achieve a balance of these, which champions need to compete.
• Strength Training: Increase strength in core sport specific areas that combine to create overall enhanced power – the key ingredient for the modern athlete's explosive movements.

All athletes start their training programme with fitness testing and drills. The Fitness Card then provides training data and an improvement scorecard needed to help each athlete understand their own fitness level.

Education

GEMS Bolitho School actively supports the sportspeople to achieve academic excellence while pursuing their sporting potential. Both the school and the coaches work in conjunction to maximize training time, while still providing a quality education for each student. International student visas can be arranged.

GEMS Bolitho School has an excellent reputation for academic achievement, as well as achievements in the arts and in sport. In recent years over 95% of the school’s graduates went on to obtain a place at a university or other tertiary institution.

University

One of the outcomes that supports the students is the ability to use their interest to secure a university place. Both GEMS Bolitho School staff and programme staff can personally guide the students from application to acceptance into leading academic institutions. Their wealth of experience has led to an exceptional success rate over the last five years.