In September, University Hill secondary will open its hallways and classrooms to the Vancouver Whitecaps.
Between 35 and 40 teenage players with the soccer clubs full-time boys residency program will enroll at UHill for the 2013-14 semester in part because the public school is located within kicking distance of the Caps new training grounds at he University of B.C.
UHill opened at its new location on Ross Drive in January, making it the first Vancouver school built in the 21st century, said principal Alex Grant.
The location was critical. The fact that UHill is recognized as a really high-performing academic school was also a real benefit, he said. When youre trying to encourage students and their parents to leave their home and relocate, they want to make sure that theyre getting a good quality academic program as well.
The nearly four-dozen young players drafted to the Whitecaps residency U16 and U18 teams are drawn from across Canada. The club is currently looking for Vancouver billets.
The Whitecaps are relocating their practice facilities from Burnaby to UBCs Thunderbird Park where the club will share a new field house as well as two new turf and three refurbished grass fields with university varsity teams and recreational leagues. The site will also serve as the western Canada training centre for the mens and womens national soccer programs.
The provincial government chipped in $14.5 million to the Whitecaps $15 million.
UHill can accommodate a student body of 1,000 and will not receive any additional funding from the Whitecaps. As was the case when the young athletes attended Burnaby Central secondary, they will not require a specialized schedule or specific facilities at UHill since their sport training happens off-site.
Whitecaps director of soccer development Dan Lenarduzzi said players will be able to maximize the balance between their studies and their training.
Our residency program is fully committed to developing players both on and off the field, and their education is a crucial part of that, Lenarduzzi said in a news release.
Grant was previously the principal at Magee secondary where the SpArts program accommodates 140 elite athletes and artists who study in the morning and leave in the afternoon to train in their respective sport or creative practice.
UHill will eventually be the site of the Sport School, a Canadian Sport Institute program that will teach and support a high-performance lifestyle for 20 student-athletes identified as Olympic prospects. The program was scheduled to open in September but has been delayed to give the national sport organizations more time for recruitment.
Integrating high-achieving athletes into the broader school population can benefit other students, said Grant.
I see it as being really a win-win situation because Ive had some experience with this sort of a program, he said, citing his tenure at Magee. What I noted there was the majority of the students in the SpArts program had to be organized.
SpArts students have to maintain a B average. You can have a very busy schedule and if youre organized, not only can you excel academically, but you can balance that off with some really healthy activities, said Grant.
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