Conditioning for Peak Sports Performance at College

The Sport Excellence Programme at the College has been developed and refined over the years, changing from its early focus on tennis and golf to now encompass the elite development of our top athletes across all our sporting codes.  Sitting alongside an already very comprehensive, busy and successful sports programme, the primary aim of Sport Excellence is to identify and develop our premier sporting talent to perform in peak condition. To enable this mentoring, the College has sourced some of the best sporting coaches available.

One specific component of the programme is the importance of strength and conditioning. The coach, Scott McLaren, recently won a national decathlon title and, as a premier athlete himself, he brings a wealth of specific knowledge to the role. Assisted by John Wilson, Scott works with most of the Premier College teams focussing on sport specific programmes with the students. The main purpose is to have our young sportsmen and women physically and mentally ready for competition on a weekly basis to compete in some of the hardest school competitions in New Zealand.

By 6:30am, every morning, the Weights Room is a hive of activity with a team warmed up and ready to work on everything from speed, power and weightlifting to conditioning, with a big emphasis placed on the individual student’s movement patterns. It is essential that they learn to perform all exercises correctly to help prevent injury and increase the longevity of their sporting career. Education plays a big part with students gaining an understanding as to why they do a certain exercise and what it will achieve. This acquired knowledge will have a flow on effect when they leave the College and carry on with their chosen sport; they will be equipped with the right tools to continue to compete at a high level with a greatly minimised risk of injury.

Friday morning is the biggest session of the week, when all teams combine out on the field for a full school ‘speed’ session. Before the sun is even up, boys and girls with a passion for their chosen sport are hard at work.  Every sport requires a big element of speed; an element that is not always coached well at school level. In the Friday sessions, in excess of 100 students are learning the biomechanics and principles of sprinting correctly to improve their performance on the field, court, turf or track - also getting the chance to try this new found speed against their friends from different sporting codes.

Strengthening and conditioning training also contains another very important element; it is recognised that young sportspeople also need to be well educated about the importance of recovery. They learn about correct stretching and recovery methods, allowing the students to get the best out of their bodies from the hard work put in.

Through professionalism, correct biomechanics and education about performing at the highest level, strength and conditioning is leading the way for Saint Kentigern sports teams. With the groundwork well established, many of our premier teams were successful at the highest level last year and are continuing to do so this year. The work done in the gym to prepare their bodies for competition, along with disciplined team training, is setting our Saint Kentigern teams on a path for success.