Abilities Centre launched the Academy for Student Athlete Development (ASAD) in response to the growing demand for high-performance sport programming that aligns with provincial and national long-term athlete development pathways. ASAD is designed for qualifying secondary school athletes who wish to pursue sports competitively while staying dedicated to their academic success.
Daily Structure:
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Student athletes attend ASAD for half of their school day with the remaining half day being spent at the student’s homeschool, within the partnering school board.
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Each student athlete that attends ASAD is considered full time. This ensures the opportunity for academic eligibility at post-secondary institutions both for academics and athletics, within the four-year graduation cycle.
Inclusion & Culture
It is imperative that each student athlete enrolled at the Academy for Student Athlete Development contributes positively to the inclusive culture that Abilities Centre strives to foster. Our goal is to educate student athletes on inclusion and have the students act as role models for inclusion in their schools, clubs and communities. The barrier free environment created in our daily programming further promotes our inclusive culture.
ASAD is proud to be the only full time, high-performance high school initiative in the world that provides opportunities for all aspiring student athletes, regardless of the type of sport student athletes are participating in. Our program is committed to providing opportunities for student athletes in able-bodied sport, parasport or Special Olympic sport. ASAD is committed to ensuring that all student athletes, regardless of gender, socio-economic status, disability, or ethnicity have equitable access to the program.
Through our unique partnership with Canadian Tire Jumpstart Charities, we are pleased to provide the Academy Assistance Program. Through this program we are able to provide financial support to qualifying student-athletes that may be experiencing financial barriers in accessing the program.
Research & Innovation
Research and Innovation is fundamental to ASAD and continued program development. Our staff work closely with national research partners on both short and long-term research initiatives to assess and measure the ongoing impact of the athletic development program. All programming decisions are evidence-based from the research and evaluation conducted.
Expertise from local, national and international partners provides valuable insights and findings that we use to enhance our programs. We focus on the areas of psychosocial impact, physiological effects, sports performance outcomes and behavioural change.
The ASAD program is customized and specific to each student athlete, with the focus on supporting positive academic, athletic and psychosocial outcomes that prepare them for their athletic, academic and professional sport careers.
Research and knowledge generated is shared with partnering school boards and sports. This transfer of information provides excellent insights for athletes, coaches and school boards in a wide variety of areas including participation, motivation, gender integration, psychosocial considerations and inclusion.
We have established an expert advisory committee consisting of key stakeholders including school board representatives, sports and community groups that ensure effective, transparent implementation and evaluation.
For more information please contact asadadmissions@abilitiescentre.org