The Sporting Pathways Program, one of the first in the state outside Melbourne, offers selected students the chance to pursue physical fitness and the development of sports skills in lieu of other classes. 

The program will facilitate 25 students at each year level from year seven up to year 10 and the sports on offer will be AFL, soccer, cricket, netball, tennis, golf, basketball and hockey.

Warrnambool College assistant principal Adam Matheson, who led the program, said interest levels had been high.

“Warrnambool and the south-west has always been a really high sporting culture area and generation to generation sport has played a huge role in student’s lives,” he said.

“We’re just trying to tap into that culture to improve the outcomes of Warrnambool College students.”

Through the program, students will complete a minimum of three advanced fitness sessions and two sport-specific training sessions that will take place before and after school.

The program has a distinctive element to ensure students stay committed to their other subjects.

“Other schools with a sporting program have a grade point average system where it’s based on academic results, whereas ours is based on attitude and effort across their subjects,” Mr Matheson said.

“Research shows that if students put in the attitude and effort the results will follow.”

Students will be taught by qualified fitness instructors and elite-level coaches, and former Warrnambool College students who have had successful careers as elite athletes have agreed to be involved in the program.

“We’ve got numerous former students who have made it to the elite level that are now supporting the philosophy behind the program,” Mr Matheson said. “That’s really exciting for our students to see that these students have gone and achieved.”

A pilot program for year nine students will begin next term.

The school’s high performance centre, which will include spin cycles and weight-training facilities, is almost finished.