This year, I was delighted to join Highgate School and relaunch the High-Performance Programme (HPP), to provide a bespoke support system for pupils in Years 9-13 competing at the highest level in their sport. Now, two terms in, we have 15 pupils on the programme, from a variety of sporting disciplines, and it’s really encouraging to see and hear the positive impact it’s already having on the student-athletes.
The HPP is designed to be a holistic support system, helping our student-athletes to reach their sporting aspirations, whilst achieving academically. The strength and conditioning element of the programme is structured to complement the individual athletes’ current training regimes and competitive season, as well as providing personalised support so they can best manage their academic demands and maintain social balance outside of school and sport. Essentially, I want the HPP programme to be a safe environment and support structure, to ensure that pupils remain physically, emotionally, socially and mentally healthy.
I opened the application process at the start of the year, where pupils were asked to self-nominate themselves, explaining their achievements and competitive representation. The programme is designed to support athletes at regional level and above, and this year’s cohort excel in cricket, swimming, water polo, heptathlon, figure skating, tumbling, hockey, netball, high jump and fencing.
My role is to act as a bridge between the many areas of their life – checking in with all stakeholders such as tutors, Heads of Houses, parents and coaches – to establish a united partnership of care for each athlete. I look at how we join these strands together to relieve undue pressure on the pupils and work towards a common goal to improve their athletic and academic performance. We’ve also assigned each pupil a mentor in the SpEx department who they may already work closely with, or who specialises in their sport.
The first part of the course was all theory based, lecture format. As a qualified nutritionist, I led sessions on performance nutrition, highlighting how youth athletes should eat significantly differently to the average human being. We looked at meal timing, what they should be eating, and how much, according to their energy expenditure, how often they train, their age, weight, sex etc to optimise performance and support recovery.
We’ve looked at goal setting and how to do that properly through reflection and engaging in performance analysis. It’s very different being a student athlete – it’s a bit like being semi-pro as an adult, juggling work and training. But these are adolescents who don’t yet know how to handle that balance and mental load while navigating puberty, so I am trying to give them the skills and tools to do so.
After Christmas, we started our practical Strength and Conditioning (S&C) training, principally working on their individual physical targets. We worked 1:1 to examine their goals and what they needed to work on for their own sport. For example, our swimmer wanted to improve her pulling power, so I wrote her a programme to help achieve that. One of our pupils is recovering from an injury, so we’ve personalised his programme to be more focused on rehabilitation.
I have a programme of what I want to deliver, but we are responsive to pupil priorities and evolving demands. Pupils have requested help on managing their time, and sleep, which we’ve incorporated. Before Christmas, it occurred to me that they might need support in how to navigate the holiday period, when they’re out of routine. So, we did a session to best manage these changes.
The programme also offers a valuable group support network. Sadly, as a student athlete, you must make sacrifices in terms of who you surround yourself with. Some adolescent pastimes are not particularly healthy or aligned with student-athlete goals, so you need to set boundaries, or surround yourselves with people that are in a similar situation to you. It can be challenging but being in a group with people that are like-minded, in a supportive and ambitious environment, is reassuring. Mental health, as an athlete, is something we check in on regularly; I talk about wellbeing a lot.
Performance schedules are a big challenge for them – they have no time. Pupils train in the morning, come to school, train after school, get home, eat. And they still have their homework to do. I’m in a fortunate place where I can help them navigate between the various priorities and support them on any issues. Pupils commit to an ‘athlete agreement’ as part of their enrolment on the programme, including hitting their academic standards and being a positive role model.
Obviously, we’re still in our early days with this, but I’d love to add another layer in the future. Perhaps to include a developmental programme that caters for our younger pupils, or some of the older pupils who haven’t quite reached maturation. Boys, especially, mature at very different rates – some boys are fully developed at 13, whereas others might not begin to excel in their sport until a lot later. I’d love to make the information content I provide on the HPP programme more accessible to everyone and have a wider reach – perhaps through school lectures or webinars. It would also be great to do some trips, to show how their sporting pathways might develop at university and into different careers.
The feedback we’ve had so far has been amazing. Obviously, all these pupils have specific sports coaches, but the extra input on S & C training, planning, nutrition and mental preparation is going down really well. I wish I’d had something like this when I was a teenager and playing England lacrosse!
As one of our parent notes: “Ben has really appreciated the small intimate set up – and has enjoyed the structure and the regular sessions.”
Alexandra, who represents Great Britain Fencing, adds: “I have learned a lot of really helpful things mainly about nutrition and sleep in our lecture sessions. Having a daily goal for protein is very useful, as well as knowing how to help maximise my sleep quality. For the practical sessions I can feel myself gradually improving and I think they are really great.”
About the author Michelle Fox-Sayer, Head of Senior Exercise and Athletic Development Michelle joined Highgate in Sep 2024 to rejuvenate the High-Performance Programme, bringing a wealth of experience working with young, elite athletes in the education setting in the UK and Internationally. She competes as a CrossFit Athlete and enjoys walking her dog in the countryside, travelling and trying new cuisines.
