Demanding school workloads combined with heavy training and competition schedules makes it difficult for student athletes to keep pace and fulfill their dreams.
School District 71 and Navigate (NIDES) has been supporting Grade 9-12 student athletes, dancers and youth by offering free, full credit Ministry of Education-approved courses designed to meet their needs.
Student athletes in B.C. wishing to play at the college or university level are taking PACE (Performance Athlete Custom Education) courses such as Career Life Education Athlete, Applied Skills Athlete, PE 10 and PACE Independent Directed Studies 10-12 to replace mandatory graduation courses. Students can register for PACE courses any time during the year.
A popular course is the Independent Directed Study (IDS). Students and staff develop a self-directed course that targets the athlete’s specific needs. Bill Green, former SD71 principal and Triple Play Athletics professional athletic recruiting consultant, helps student athletes develop IDS’s that focus on what university recruiters are looking for in terms of fitness, skills, academics and promotion. Students have developed courses that may, for instance, consider the best offseason training programs to improve vertical jump.
“Student athletes need to take charge of their futures and PACE allows them to do that,” Green said. “It is important that student athletes are proactive in their recruiting efforts, and don’t sit back and wait to be recruited or hope their coach will get them a scholarship.”
Register at www.navigatepace.com and receive full graduation credit. Most students are in full attendance at their high school but elect to use PACE courses to replace those they could take at their school. This provides them with flexibility to cope with training and competition schedules.
PACE and Triple Play Athletics host a college recruiting information session at Isfeld Secondary on Thursday, Oct. 18 at 7 p.m., Room 420. Parents and student athletes of all sports from Grades 9-12 are encouraged to attend.
An added benefit of PACE courses is promoting positive work habits and time management skills.
“University advisors and coaches are becoming increasingly concerned about the lack of time management skills and self discipline among student athletes,” Green said. “PACE embeds these important skills into each course.”