Elite student athletes will soon have more opportunities to train and compete at the highest level in Abbotsford schools.
The school board has approved a restructuring of the Yale Baseball Academy and the creation of a new basketball program at Rick Hansen Secondary.
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Male students in Yale’s baseball program are currently split into two groups – junior (Grades 9 and 10) and senior (Grades 10 and 11). Next year, they will instead be separated by skill level. There will be an elite under-18 team and a “skills group.”
“Current feedback is that we need to do a better job of separating the elite from the non-elite,” superintendent Kevin Godden wrote in a letter to trustees.
According to Godden, 70 per cent of academy players are at the elite level. Many play for the Abbotsford Cardinals in the BC Premier Baseball League and are gunning for college scholarships and even Major League Baseball team drafts, he said.
The new elite team will be the first of its kind in B.C. to train, travel and compete year-round, Godden said.
“This program model has been very successful across the country and we expect no less here in B.C.,” he said. The bulk of the elite players’ training time will be during school hours, which Godden said would alleviate scheduling pressures on them and their parents.
The total number of players – approximately 59 – in the Yale Baseball Academy won’t change but will be split into 24 student on the elite team and 35 in the skills program. Elite players will pay $11,000 per year, while skills players will be charged $2,350 for a total revenue of $346,250.
A new hoops program at Rick Hansen Secondary will “contribute to a positive narrative of the school” and “start to dispel some of the wrongly held perceptions that continue to swirl around” it, Godden told trustees.
The school board approved a partnership with the North Shore-based 3D Basketball Academy to create the Abbotsford Basketball Academy. The program will cater to the best female players in Abbotsford schools in grades 9 through 11. It will be counted as an Abbotsford Virtual School course and will not be restricted to Rick Hansen students.
Forty athletes will train after school at Rick Hansen three times a week from September through October and compete at two club tournaments. From November through March, they will join their own school’s basketball teams and on-court academy training will be replaced by classroom instruction focusing on mental training, video analysis and nutrition, among other topics. When the regular school basketball season is over, the girls will resume on-court training at Rick Hansen to close out the school year.
Players who want one of 40 spots in the academy will have to try-out in a free “identification camp.” Participants in the Abbotsford Basketball Academy will pay $2,250 per year.
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