Sport Policy


Rationale
The aim of offering broad participation in sports at High is to nurture the
personal development of our students. Participation in sport is an educational
activity. We want all boys to be involved in team sports for the lifelong
physical, psychological, social and personal benefits that such participation
can bring. It is particularly important to encourage boys at High to engage in
organised sport because of the initial low levels of measured physical fitness
and motor skills.
High is unique among public schools in its membership of the AAGPS.
Members have mutual obligations to supply facilities, fixtures, officials and
depth in team numbers in multiple sports. In order to fulfil our
commitments we need maximised participation by individuals.
The standard of competition in many GPS sports continues to improve.
Physical and mental preparation for competition is both intense and of longer
duration. Adequate preparation and regular training are required to
maintain and enhance our competitiveness.
Player satisfaction in sports is important. Commitment to the sports
program by students and parents needs to be maintained and strengthened.
Parents are paying co-payments for their sons to participate in sports and
they would like to see good preparation, organisation and participation,
particularly on Saturdays. They also want competent, qualified coaches
running sports training to enhance player satisfaction.
Incoming Students - Sport Selection
Incoming students can select a sport via the following link:
sbhs.co/nss
By choosing to participate in GPS sport, you will be gaining new skills while creating lasting friendships and memories for life.
Objectives
The objectives of the Sports Policy are:
- To raise the general fitness level of our students.
- To provide an enjoyable and successful sports experience for as many boys
as possible.
- To meet our GPS obligations well – by having all teams ready to play their
fixtures.
- To build support for competitive sport among our students and their
parents.
Strategies
- Supply a qualified coach for every team.
- Improve the level of expertise of our coaches.
- Increase the frequency and intensity of our coaching/training sessions.
- Improve the attendance of students at Saturday sports fixtures and at
training sessions.
Actions
- Recruit and / or train qualified coaches for every team or crew
involving students in Years 7-9.
- Where possible recruit a Coordinator or Lead Coach to develop
skills in the Year 7-9 cohort of competitors.
- Engage all students in sport on Wednesdays or Thursdays as part
of the school curriculum. Exemptions on medical grounds can be applied
for in writing to the Principal.
- Encourage all students to participate in GPS sports.
Once a student has committed to a GPS sport, full participation in
that sport is expected and monitored with consequences for non-attendance
without an acceptable reason. Full participation means attendance at all
scheduled training sessions, trial matches and competition fixtures.
These expectations and consequences are communicated online to students before
sport selections.
- Aim for maximum attendance at all Saturday fixtures by recording
and monitoring attendance and following up absentees. [See action 12]
- Aim for maximum attendance at the minimum number of scheduled /
school training sessions for the Year and team level by recording and
monitoring attendance at the training sessions and following up absentees.[
See action 12]
- Insist on full participation. In order to meet full
participation requirements, students must attend at least
the specific number of scheduled/school training sessions each week.
- For GPS 1st and 2nd grade – three
scheduled training sessions/week.
- For Open teams 3 – 10 two
training sessions/week
- For Junior Teams to Year 10: A +
B: 3 training sessions/week; C – J: 2 training sessions/ week
Training Sessions
- One training session is held on Monday
afternoon at 3.30 pm.
- A certified weights program is
considered to be a training session.
- A training session is usually
scheduled on Wednesday afternoon for the senior school 10-12 and Thursday
afternoon for the Junior School 7-9.
- A standard day training session is
Wednesday at 3.30 pm for Juniors (Years 7-9) and Thursday at 3.30 pm for Seniors
(Years 10-12).
- Coaches decide on the intensity and
duration of coaching sessions, but all sessions must conclude by 5pm.[ See bus
schedule for after training sessions]
- Exemptions from some
training sessions for elite athletes may be negotiated with the Principal
- Exemptions for students for scheduled
out-of-school hours training is automatic during relevant examination weeks.
- Parents are asked, wherever possible,
not to schedule after school activities for their sons that conflict with
standard, scheduled training sessions – Monday, Wednesday/Thursday afternoon.
Variations to standard training days
The bulk of training for sports should occur on Monday, Wednesday and
Thursday afternoons. Some sports are constrained by availability of specialised
facilities (eg basketball /tennis courts, cricket nets or pitches, swimming
pools, rowing sheds or rifle ranges). By arrangement with members of teams,
after avoiding clashes with other activities, and on obtaining permission from
the Principal, training sessions may be scheduled at other times.
- Improve cardiovascular fitness: by
regularly testing students in a 1.6km. run as part of the PDHPE program; by
recording and monitoring times run by students; by setting individual
targets for improvement; and by setting cohort goals against state standards.
- Lift player satisfaction: by setting
and measuring individual improvement goals in fitness benchmarks or
game-specific skills and by giving feedback to participants on their progress;
by setting and measuring teamwork targets (eg attack and defence statistics);
and by setting and measuring whole sport targets (eg improve competition
standing by one position or reduce negative point differentials by 25% across
all fixtures). Successful achievement of targets and goals is celebrated.
- Expose students to unfamiliar sports by holding ‘Try
Rowing’, ‘Try Rugby’ and ‘Try Weights’ days.
- Promote the benefits of sport and publicise and discuss
the Sports Policy with staff, students and parents.
- Make students accountable. Students are voluntary
members of sports teams but once they have committed to a sport must abide by
its requirements or withdraw.
- Medical Exemption
If a student is injured and
unable to attend training and/or fixtures due to the injury or illness, the
student must follow the protocols below:
- In the case of a one-off injury, provide a note explaining
the absence to the Head Teacher Sport, Mr S Marcos, using the email
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
or in person, directly.
- In the case of an injury preventing attendance at more than one training session or fixture, provide a 'Sydney Boys High School Sports Injury Report and Medical Certificate' signed by the student's doctor. This document may be downloaded from the school's Parent Portal and, once completed, must be provided to the Head Teacher Sport. Or, alternatively
- See the school's physiotherapist for evaluation. The physiotherapist is available on Monday mornings between 07:00am and 09:00am in the school gymnasium
A medical exemption may then be authorised by the Head Teacher Sport.
- Communicate our Sports Selection Policies fully and
clearly
- Maximum team numbers for particular
sports are recommended to the Principal by the Head Teacher of Sport in
consultation with MICs.
- Published, transparent and consistent
policies for all teams are published in each sport. Eg training sessions
attended, skill standards reached, comparative measures recorded
- Trials are held where
nominations exceed the spaces available in the sport
- At the change of season, Trials must
be held promptly to identify unsuccessful students, thus allowing them time to
change sports and allowing coaches adequate time to prepare their teams.
- Organise our activities to help students achieve
balance in their lives
Many students are engaged in a variety of school activities. Our policy is to
facilitate the activities of these all-rounders. Times have been allocated for
co-curricular activities. They have priority and MICs and sports coaches must
respect them.eg
Tuesday
afternoons – cadet parades.
Tuesday and Thursday (mornings) - Year 8 languages.
Monday to Friday (mornings) - music ensembles
Monday & Wednesday (mornings) - Extension 2 mathematics
Coaches are at liberty to negotiate with their teams to find suitable morning
timeslots but must not:
- Pressure any individual student into
withdrawing from an activity to attend a morning training session
- Imply that he is standing in the
way of what all the others in the team want to do
- Indicate directly or indirectly that
attendance at such a session will be a part of any selection policy for a team.
Coaches who make arrangements for morning training times must inform the
Principal of the arrangements – who is involved, when will they happen and where
such training sessions will occur.
- Expand our sports offerings.
Our first priority is to meet
our commitments to honour our AAGPS membership. We also want to offer
educative, healthy and active sporting activities. From time to time,
additional sports will be offered to a limited number of boys on a cost
recovery basis.
As amended 14 September 2018