Western Heights students step into new era of high-performance sport

ALMOST four years after it was promised, a new competition-grade gymnasium is giving Western Heights College athletes an elite training environment.

Specialist sports program students stepped onto the new court for the first time last week, marking the end of years of anticipation.

More than 500 students participate in the school’s specialist programs, including almost 100 netballers.

Previously, students travelled by bus several times a week to train on competition-standard courts at an external venue.

Year 9 student Jack Te Paa, who is in his second year of the netball program, said the opportunity was helping prepare students for future careers in sport.

One of the region’s emerging young umpires, he said the program’s coaches and facilities help students reach their potential.

“We have such amazing coaches and facilities that we’re able to achieve what we want to,” he said.

“We focus on the basics and how to excel in the basics rather than going straight to intense structures.”

Ellie Rundle joined the program this year after aspiring to be part of it for several years.

She said access to high-level coaches and facilities had been invaluable to her development.

“I’ve wanted to do all this development stuff for a while and it’s just been amazing,” Ellie said.

“[Our coaches] have all got different points of views and we can learn something from each of them.”

Head netball coach and former Australian Diamond Susan Meaney said she wished programs like this had existed when she was a young player.

She said developing athletes as people remained central to the program and the new facilities would help continue to elevate the school’s offering.

“When you’re in this environment, [we want to see] the habits around ‘I want to be giving it a go, I want to be resilient when things don’t come off well’, and that’s really the crutch of a lot of things – the life skills that the kids have,” Meaney said.

The Victorian government announced funding for the high-performance gymnasium in 2022. The facility includes a sprung court, gym, fitness testing areas and a rehabilitation room, which is nearing completion.

The school is now turning its attention to developing a new soccer pitch, further reducing the need for students to travel off campus for training.