The Foothills School Division Sports Academy gave an optimistic presentation at school division board meeting two weeks. This year the program was offered for grades 7-9 boy's hockey at Ecole Okotoks Junior High School, and there are plans to grow by adding female programming and moving into Foothills Composite High School next year.

Director of the Foothills School Division Sports Academy Jamie Fox says the program deals with much more than athletics.

"There's three components actually to the program. So it's not just your typical hockey program, it's very much an academic program first. The three components are of course the sport-specific, the multi-sport component that we do so we teach skills in the other sports, and maybe the most important component that we do is the leadership component that we do with the program."

He says the program focuses on leadership and academics as well as sports, to prepare young athletes for post-secondary institutions.

"What we've done and what we're attempting to do is create a different learning experience for student athletes and help them on their journey to becoming students athletes at the post-secondary level as they move through junior high, high school and on to those college and universities."

Fox says there's lots of plans for the program to grow.

"I guess the excitement of moving in to number one the female market, and number two moving into the Composite High School and expanding into other grades and potentially into other sports. So we could provide this opportunity for not just hockey players, but aspiring could be golf players like we have at Springbank or lacrosse players, whatever it may be."

Fox says the sports academy is excited to expand into more grades next year and potentially into other sports like golf or lacrosse.

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