At the end of 2021, initiated by the BOT, Hillcrest undertook a strategic review of Sport and created a new strategic plan to be implemented by our new Director of Sport, Grant Bradburn.
Hillcrest High School has a proud sporting and academic history. The school is renowned for producing well balanced young people and offers a large variety of sports for students to choose from. We believe engaging in sport helps our students foster interpersonal skills, intelligence, emotional confidence and social skills, striving towards creativity and development of key attributes of grit, determination and perseverance.
Hillcrest High School is striving to raise our game in recognising and supporting key sports that we will be renowned for. While all sporting codes are important to us, Hillcrest will aim to lift performance and participation in 5 key tier one sports by initially prioritising Pathways and Specialist Coaching in those sports. These sports are:
- Football
- Futsal
- Netball
- Volleyball
- Cricket
A foundation for ‘Raising our Game’ in specific areas will be built upon a greater priority of Health & Wellbeing. Current progress has seen the appointment of an Strength & Conditioning Coach at school, while our aim to provide programs of Healthy Minds + Healthy Bodies will promote more awareness of Physical Movement, being Fit, Energised, Resilient, Happy and Connected. Our outcome goals are to produce well rounded students who are equipped with the skills to success in the life they choose.
Some of our initial focusses will be around increasing participation:
Participation In Sport
- Participation numbers in organised sport at Hillcrest is a really important measure of success for us. While the school sporting census numbers show a ‘COVID decrease’ across all schools since 2000, Hillcrest currently sits slightly below the National (48%) and Regional (51%) average at 46% of students involved in sporting codes. Our aim over the next 3 years is to consistently sit at least 10% above National and at least 5% above Regional average, which for Hillcrest we will focus on a target of 60%.
To bridge that current gap, we expect Participation Numbers to grow via multiple strategies.
Creation of a Health + Wellbeing Program for all year 9’s and 10’s
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- We recognise that our typical student intake at Hillcrest is lacking in base physical capabilities of movement, spatial awareness and hand/eye coordination. The Health + Wellbeing future focus will involve all year 9 and 10 students and will offer beneficial categories of holistic development including Food as Fuel, Hydration, Sleep, Energy, Resilience, Grit, Connections on top of physical capacities. We are determined that Hillcrest programs will tackle directly the alarming New Zealand figures of obesity and youth suicide and ensure that Hillcrest High School is forward thinking in providing a foundation program of awareness and action.
- In turn we firmly believe our Health + Wellbeing program will create a more positive outlook for students becoming involved in organised sports at school, which will grow participation numbers.
House Sports
To create greater House Pride at Hillcrest and to mitigate Covid related sports cancellations, our House leaders have already begun putting more emphasis on House Sports Competitions which is playing a pivotal role in showcasing sport in a positive light and in turn will grow organised sports participation.
Quality Sports Structures
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- Hillcrest will continue to offer a wide range of sports to our student population. A greater focus on enrolments and making that a far easier process is already underway. It is imperative we make organised sport attractive and accessible to students and parents and we are confident our new Sports Code and enrolment systems will help grow participation numbers.
5 Tier One Sports
- Our ‘Raising Our Game’ vision outlines the 5 sports that we believe can be flagships for Hillcrest High School and become sports that are a compelling reason for students to choose Hillcrest. Through an initial focus of Director of Coaching, Director of Code and Head of Coaching roles, we aim to surround these 5 sports with quality people and coaching expertise to grow both Performance and Participation.
