EXPANSIVE sporting facilities, state-of-the-art gym equipment and sophisticated training programs run by elite coaches are turning independent schools into breeding grounds for world champions and Olympians.
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Keen to develop the next generation of sports stars, schools are investing in sporting facilities and top-notch coaches.
Former NSW and world junior sprint champion Renee Robson is the director of sport at Wenona girls school. Robson, who was selected for the 4 x 400-metre relay team for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, has trained with, and competed against, Cathy Freeman, Jana Rawlinson (Pittman) and Tamsyn Lewis.
Now she oversees Wenona's high-performance training programs, where circuit training, recovery, strengthening, conditioning, nutrition and goal-setting sessions support a wide range of sports offered, including athletics, soccer, hockey, swimming and water polo.
''If girls have talent in a particular sport, we can develop that talent and enable them to carry on after school,'' Robson says.
Emily Scott, a recent graduate, honed a talent for water polo in the school's indoor heated pool and three gymnasiums.
The 19-year-old is now a specialist water polo coach at her alma mater. ''My biggest achievement has been to make the Australian junior world championships team during my HSC year,'' Scott says.
Similarly, Trinity Grammar student Philip Chircu cites selection in the Australian junior world championships basketball team as his biggest feat.
Chircu's talents are being developed by Trinity's basketball coach, former Sydney Kings player Ben Morrissey, and Andrew Murphy, the director of athletic development.
Retired triple jumper Murphy is a three-time Olympian and world indoor championships bronze medallist.
At Trinity, he has established athletic development programs based on a ''training age'' rather than a chronological age.
''We want to bring a sporting institute-style program to a school environment,'' Murphy says, adding that past students have gone on to win gold and silver medals at the Commonwealth Games in track and field and gymnastics.
Trinity has rugby and cricket ovals, a sporting complex and a new fitness centre featuring a 60-metre indoor running track.
More importantly for Chircu, it has five basketball courts. ''I'd like to play for Australia at a professional level,'' he says. ''That's my ultimate goal.''