The sports and wellness chain The St. James is opening an academy for young athletes at its Springfield location starting in fall.
The St. James Performance Academy will combine academic instruction with athletics, conditioning, nutrition, and more for young athletes in grades 6 through 12 in a number of sports, including basketball, baseball, figure skating, golf, and swimming.
“It was always a part of the plan,” says Kendrick Ashton, a co-founder and co-CEO of the St. James. He says the outfit needed the kind of growth it’s seen in the past few years to get the academy started, but the goal “has always been to build as comprehensive collection of offerings for dedicated, committed athletes of all ages as we could.”
Right now, says Craig Dixon, the St. James’ other co-founder and co-CEO, families of athletes are “running to one place to take their child to a lesson or session, and then they take them to another place for school. They’re in school during the traditional school day, and then after school, they’re going to do something else. And there’s a lot that creates a lot of tension, a lot of stress,” as well as conflict between academic and training requirements.
“This approach removes all of that,” Dixon says, “because there’s flexibility, and the schedule is laid out in a way that very nicely integrates those different experiences in one place.”
Ashton compares the academy to conservatories that cater to artistically inclined students, with “a blended academic model which is personalized and individualized” as well as high-level athletic training that allows students to concentrate on their individual sport.
According to a sample schedule on the St. James website, students will spend around four hours a day in an academic classroom. Ashton says the individualized academic attention means students will learn as much at the St. James, which is accredited by the Virginia Department of Education, as in a traditional school.
The curriculum has been developed in partnership with TPH, which runs its own academies for athletes nationwide.
“TPH has a deep, deep body of experience in delivering this kind of product, both on their own and with partnerships around the country,” Dixon says.
He adds that he and Ashton were impressed by “the rigor of the approach that they took to both the academic and the athletic developmental experiences.”
In a traditional school model, Ashton says, “you have to account for the diversity that exists within any one classroom of 15 or 20 or 25 students and bake that into the school day, the school week, the school month, etc. When you have a much more individualized, personalized design, you can really focus the time without compromising the quality rigor and comprehensiveness of the academics.
“How do we enable students to maximize their potential? And part of that is increasing the likelihood they will have an opportunity to participate in sports in college. And so we’ve been focused on a curriculum rigorous enough to enable students to achieve whatever their academic ambition is.”
So far, Ashton says, it seems to be popular. “We’ve got very good enrollment already,” Ashton says, adding that about 300 families are evaluating the application process and more than 50 families have already applied. “We’re excited about what it’s going to do for young people that have a chosen passion, and are looking for ways to really deepen their engagement with it.”
Featured image courtesy The St. James
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