"Promising and talented Southland athletes
nurtured in a quality 'performance' environment,
developing their sporting talent and
achieving excellence in sport"

The Academy Southland – Talent Xcelerator Programme is a joint venture between Excellence in Sport South Island, Sport Southland, the Community Trust of Southland and the ILT Foundation.

The goal of the programme is to fast-track the athletes on a performance pathway, increasing their understanding and readiness for the high performance environment, and becoming carded.

There are two main components to the service and support offered to selected athletes involved in the two year programmes:

1. Performance related workshops

2. Group and Individual services.

The majority of servicing offered in year one is centred on group services/workshops. These workshops focus on developing the athlete and coaches support service knowledge and increasing their understanding of the key principles of elite training and performance. Athletes and coaches will have the opportunity to gain greater insight into a wide range of services, ensuring the foundations of an elite performance pathway are in place.
Workshops have in the past included the following topics:

• Becoming A High Performance Athlete: overview of the demands, expectations, requirements placed upon the elite athlete
• Performance Lifestyle (Achieving Excellence in Sport): planning for demands of sport, study and/or work (time management, goal setting, fundraising etc)
• Fuel: overview of sports nutrition and supplementation
• Gaining the Mental Edge: overview of sports psychology
• Principles of Training: overview different types of training (e.g. strength, power, endurance, speed)

Individual services: 

All athletes will have individual access to the Performance Lifestyle Programme. This programme assists athletes to manage their lives effectively in the pursuit of sporting excellence, in addition to minimising sport-life barriers that can adversely impact on performance.

An Individual Performance Plan (IPP) is developed for all athletes in Year 2 of the Programme replicating the present system used for planning support services for "carded” athletes.

Application Forms

Academy Southland